Carolina Hurricanes vs. Florida Panthers: Lineups and Game Discussion

In the final game of 2022, the Carolina Hurricanes are looking to make history by accomplishing something they haven’t done in the preceding 363 days — or, for that matter, in any of the previous 43 years of the franchise’s existence.

Five previous times, the Hurricanes have won nine games in a row. Never has the streak reached double digits. The last time the Hurricanes had a chance to win ten straight, last November after a 9-0 start to the season, they lost to – you guessed it – tonight’s opponent, the Florida Panthers.

The big news yesterday was that Max Pacioretty practiced without a yellow jersey, and it sure seems like we are within a week or two of seeing Pacioretty make his Hurricanes debut. It won’t be tonight, though. Jack Drury has been sent back to Chicago, so the Canes are down to a single healthy scratch as they look to set a record tonight.

A reminder: tonight’s game is an ESPN+ exclusive and begins at 7:30 p.m. If you don’t have ESPN+, radio is your only option.

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Here’s how the Hurricanes will line up:

Teuvo Teravainen - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Andrei Svechnikov - Paul Stastny - Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Derek Stepan - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Stefan Noesen

Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Calvin de Haan - Jalen Chatfield

Antti Raanta
Pyotr Kochetkov

Injuries and Scratches: Dylan Coghlan (healthy), Frederik Andersen (IR lower body), Ondrej Kase (IR concussion), Max Pacioretty (LTIR Achilles)

The Panthers come to town already with a chance to win the season series, in their only visit to Raleigh this season. Six weeks ago, Spencer Knight shut out the Hurricanes in a 40-save whitewashing, by far his best performance of the season. Knight is likely to get the call again tonight, given that Sergei Bobrovsky played last night in the Panthers’ 7-2 romp over the Canadiens. It would only be Knight’s second start since December 6.

Aleksander Barkov posted his fourth career hat trick last night as part of a five-point night, and the Hurricanes will face Matthew Tkachuk for the first time since his trade to Florida in the offseason. Tkachuk was serving the second game of a two-game suspension when the Hurricanes visited Sunrise in November.

Since they played yesterday the Panthers did not skate this morning, so the lineup is subject to change, but here’s how they looked last night when they skated the Canadiens off the rink:

Carter Verhaeghe - Aleksander Barkov - Colin White
Eetu Luostarinen - Sam Bennett - Matthew Tkachuk
Anton Levtchi - Anton Lundell - Sam Reinhart
Ryan Lomberg - Eric Staal - Nick Cousins

Gustav Forsling - Aaron Ekblad
Marc Staal - Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura - Radko Gudas

Spencer Knight
Sergei Bobrovsky

Injuries and Scratches: Matt Kiersted (healthy), Zac Dalpe (healthy), Chris Tierney (concussion), Patric Hornqvist (LTIR concussion), Anthony Duclair (LTIR Achilles)

Tonight’s Officials
Referees: Tom Chmielewski #18, Kyle Rehman #10
Linesmen: Ryan Daisy #81, Travis Toomey #90