Carolina Hurricanes vs. Nashville Predators: Game five lineups and discussion

Following back-to-back double-overtime losses to the Nashville Predators to even the series, the Carolina Hurricanes will return home to PNC Arena Tuesday night for a pivotal game five.

The Canes saw their 2-0 series lead slip away on the road, as the Predators battled to even things up at 2-2 with the two extended victories. For the Canes, getting back home should be a good lift as they look to grab the advantage again.

As has been the case with every other game of this series so far, rookie Alex Nedeljkovic will be in net for the Hurricanes in game five. The great news for Carolina is that it looks like defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who missed games two, three and four, might be back on the ice Tuesday.

Slavin is a game-time decision, but if he goes here is how Carolina will lineup for the most important game of the season so far:

Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen
Nino Niederreiter - Vincent Trocheck - Martin Necas
Warren Foegele - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Jordan Martinook - Steven Lorentz - Brock McGinn

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

Alex Nedeljkovic
Petr Mrazek

Injuries and Scratches: Cedric Paquette (lower body), Antoine Bibeau, James Reimer, Max McCormick, Drew Shore, Joakim Ryan, Maxime Lajoie, Joey Keane, Jake Gardiner, Roland McKeown, Ryan Suzuki, Morgan Geekie

Nashville didn’t fold after dropping the opening two games of the series in Raleigh, instead fighting back with the overtime thrillers.

Matt Duchene had the double-overtime winner in game three to keep Nashville’s hopes alive, and Luke Kunin tallied in double overtime of game four to make it a whole new, three-game series.

The home team has won every game so far, but the Predators will hope to change that Tuesday night and set up the chance to upset the Canes and win the series at home Thursday.

While Nashville hasn’t announced a starting goalie officially, it’s fairly safe to assume that Juuse Saros will be back in net for the Predators. In the lineup, Viktor Arvidsson, who missed game four with injury, did not skate Tuesday and is listed as day-to-day.

With Saros in net, here is how Nashville may lineup Tuesday (based on the Predators lineup from game four):

Filip Forsberg - Ryan Johansen - Matt Duchene
Eeli Tolvanen - Mikael Granlund - Luke Kunin
Nick Cousins - Erik Haula - Calle Jarnkrok
Yakov Trenin - Colton Sissons - Mathieu Olivier

Roman Josi - Alexandre Carrier
Mattias Ekholm - Ryan Ellis
Ben Harpur - Matt Benning

Juuse Saros
Pekka Rinne

Injuries and Scratches: Viktor Arvidsson (upper body), Tyler Lewington, Brad Richardson, Rem Pitlick, David Farrance, Rocco Grimaldi, Jeremy Davies, Erik Gudbranson, Michael McCarron, Dante Fabbro, Tanner Jeannot