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Fresh off clinching a playoff spot with last night’s overtime loss, the Hurricanes will wrap up their season series with the Stars in Dallas tonight. The Canes come into the game 5-1-1. They’ll also wrap up their current six-game road trip before heading home for five straight; Carolina has picked up at least one point (2-0-3) in every game of the trip so far.
Now that their playoff ticket is punched, the Hurricanes have their sights set on finishing first in the Central Division. They’ll enter tonight’s game looking to maintain or extend their lead on the Florida Panthers (two points, two games in hand) and Tampa Bay Lightning (three points). A victory tonight would also guarantee the Hurricanes can finish no lower than third in the Central Division.
Here’s how these two teams match up:
Vital Statistics
| Category | Hurricanes | Bruins |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Hurricanes | Bruins |
| Record | 54-20-8 | 51-26-5 |
| Goals/Game | 3.38 | 3.08 |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.44 | 2.66 |
| Shots/Game | 34.12 | 36.12 |
| Face Off Win % | 53.9% | 54.2% |
| Power Play % (Rank) | 22.0% (13th) | 21.2% (15th) |
| Penalty Kill % (Rank) | 88.0% (1st) | 81.3% (9th) |
| ES Corsi For % | 43.86% | 56.14% |
| ES PDO | 113.44 | 86.56 |
| PIM/Game | 12:00 | 22:00 |
Goaltender #1
| Category | Frederik Andersen | Linus Ullmark |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Frederik Andersen | Linus Ullmark |
| Record | 35-14-3 | 26-10-2 |
| Save % | .922 | .917 |
| GAA | 2.17 | 2.45 |
Goaltender #2
| Category | Antti Raanta | Jeremy Swayman |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Antti Raanta | Jeremy Swayman |
| Record | 15-5-4 | 23-14-3 |
| Save % | .912 | .914 |
| GAA | 2.45 | 2.41 |
Goaltender #3
| Category | James Reimer | Kasimir Kaskisuo |
|---|---|---|
| Category | James Reimer | Kasimir Kaskisuo |
| Record | 15-5-2 | 0-0-0 |
| Save % | .906 | .000 |
| GAA | 2.66 | 0.00 |
Game notes:
- Including tonight, tonight’s confirmed Hurricanes starting goalie, Alex Nedeljkovic, needs to play four more games of at least 30 minutes this season to become an RFA at the end of the year.
- Sebastian Aho enters tonight’s game on a four-game point streak, with two goals and four assists in that span.
- Stars captain Jamie Benn, who tallied three assists and the overtime winner last night, will be one to watch as he has eight points against the Canes this year.
- Stars rookie forward Jason Robertson enters tonight’s game on an eight-game point streak.
Other than Alex Nedeljkovic starting in net, the Hurricanes’ lineup is unlikely to change from last night, though the team couple opt for a forward such as Drew Shore rather than a seventh defenseman in Joakim Ryan.
Rod Brind’Amour said Tuesday afternoon it was possible but unlikely the Canes would get any of their injured players back, and that no one who is “dinged up” is going to play given the Hurricanes’ position in the standings.
With that in mind, here’s how Carolina projects to line up for this one:
Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho
Nino Niederreiter - Vincent Trocheck - Martin Necas
Cedric Paquette - Jordan Staal - Warren Foegele
Max McCormick - Steven Lorentz - Morgan Geekie
Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton
Jake Gardiner - Brett Pesce
Jake Bean - Jani Hakanpaa
Joakim Ryan
Petr Mrazek
James Reimer
Injuries: Jesper Fast (lower body), Jordan Martinook (lower body), Brock McGinn (upper body), Petr Mrazek (lower body), Brady Skjei (concussion protocol), Teuvo Teravainen (IR, concussion symptoms)
Taxi squad: Drew Shore
Like the Hurricanes, Dallas did not hold a morning skate Tuesday, but here’s how Dallas lined up last night:
Jason Robertson - Roope Hintz - Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn - Jason Dickinson - Denis Gurianov
Andrew Cogliano - Radek Faksa - Blake Comeau
Tanner Kero - Justin Dowling - Mark Pysyk
Esa Lindell - Sami Vatanen
Jamie Oleksiak - Miro Heiskanen
Joel Hanley - Andrej Sekera
Jake Oettinger
Anton Khudobin
Taxi squad: Ty Dellandrea, Nicholas Caamano, Taylor Fedun, Joel L’Esperance, Landon Bow