Carolina Hurricanes vs. Detroit Red Wings: Thursday Lineups and Game Discussion

The Carolina Hurricanes will return home to PNC Arena Thursday night, kicking off a five-game homestand with a matchup against the Detroit Red Wings.

This five-game home stretch will be the Canes’ final one of the season, as Carolina has just seven games left on the schedule. As things currently sit, Carolina holds a two point lead over the Florida Panthers in the Central Division with two games in hand and a three-point lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning with the same amount of games played.

Thursday night the Hurricanes will take on a Detroit team that has beaten Carolina as much as anyone this year, with Detroit holding a 4-3-0 advantage on the season series (Tampa has also beaten the Canes four times).

It’ll be a milestone game for a few members of the Hurricanes Thursday night, as it will be Andrei Svechnikov’s 200th regular season game and Brett Pesce’s 400th. It will also be head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s 200th regular season game behind the bench.

Brady Skjei and Jesper Fast are expected to return to Carolina’s lineup after missing a few games with injury, while James Reimer will be in net.

Here’s how the Canes will likely hit the ice Thursday night:

Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen
Nino Niederreiter - Vincent Trocheck - Martin Necas
Warren Foegele - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Cedric Paquette - Steven Lorentz - Morgan Geekie

Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Jake Bean - Jani Hakanpaa

James Reimer
Alex Nedeljkovic

Injuries and Scratches: Jordan Martinook (lower body), Brock McGinn (lower body), Petr Mrazek (lower body)
Taxi Squad: Jake Gardiner, Max McCormick, Joakim Ryan, Drew Shore

The Red Wings sit second to the bottom of the Central Division, one point clear of Columbus, and have lost six of their last seven games.

Detroit however has had success against the Hurricanes this year, taking a two-game set in Raleigh last time the teams met up. The Red Wings will be somewhat shorthanded Thursday, as Adam Erne sits on the COVID list while Robby Fabbri, Tyler Bertuzzi, Dylan Larkin, Bobby Ryan and Frans NIelsen will all sit with injury.

Here’s how Detroit is expected to lineup Thursday night in PNC Arena:

Jakub Vrana - Michael Rasmussen - Valtteri Filppula
Vladislav Namestnikov - Filip Zadina
Richard Panik - Joe Veleno - Sam Gagner
Darren Helm - Luke Glendening - Evgeny Svechnikov

Dennis Cholowski - Filip Hronek
Marc Staal - Troy Stecher
Danny DeKeyser - Gustav Lindstrom
Alex Biega

Jonathan Bernier
Thomas Greiss

Injuries and Scratches: Christian Djoos (healthy), Adam Erne (COVID list), Tyler Bertuzzi (upper body), Robby Fabbri (upper body), Bobby Ryan (upper body), Dylan Larkin (upper body), Frans Nielsen (lower body)
Taxi Squad: Mathias Brome, Calvin Pickard, Kaden Fulcher