Carolina Hurricanes at Ottawa Senators: Game Preview, Lineups and Discussion

The Hurricanes will continue their four-game road trip tonight with a trip to Canada’s capital to take on the Senators after dropping a 4-3 overtime contest in Toronto last night. It’s the back half of a back to back for the team, and get used to that: including tonight, the Hurricanes have six back to backs remaining this year.

While we won’t hear from Rod Brind’Amour and the team doesn’t have a morning skate today, it seems likely that Antti Raanta will start in net for Carolina tonight with Andersen playing in Toronto.

Ottawa is also coming off a back-to-back, having beaten the New Jersey Devils 4-1 at home last night.

Game notes

• The Hurricanes are 3-2-1 in the back half of a back-to-back this year, while Ottawa is 3-4-1 in that situation.
• If Raanta does indeed start for the Hurricanes, he’ll do so with a milestone on the line; his next victory will be his 100th NHL win.
• The Hurricanes are 59-37-8-5 all time against the Senators, with a 25-24-4-3 record in Ottawa.
• This is the third and final meeting between the Hurricanes and Senators this regular season. The Sens picked up a 3-2 regulation win in Raleigh on Dec. 2, while the Hurricanes won a 3-2 shootout contest in Ottawa Jan. 27.
• Ian Cole brings a three-game assist streak into tonight’s matchup.
• The Hurricanes are 15-5-2 on the road this season, with the highest road points percentage (.727) in the NHL.

Projected Lineups

With both teams playing last night, we won’t have any morning skate info to go on, though it seems likely both would start different goalies tonight.

For the Hurricanes, that would mean Antti Raanta getting the nod. The team’s lineup could also look a little different, though we’ll know more on that once we hear from Rod Brind’Amour at 4:45 p.m. Teuvo Teravainen did not play against the Leafs, but was a game-time decision, so it’s possible he could go tonight.

It’s also possible Ethan Bear could draw back in for Brendan Smith on the blue line.

Here’s how Carolina lined up up against Toronto, though, again, this could change later. For now, we’ll assume Raanta starts.

Jordan Martinook - Sebastian Aho - Martin Necas
Andrei Svechnikov - Vincent Trocheck - Seth Jarvis
Nino Niederreiter - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Steven Lorentz - Derek Stepan - Josh Leivo

Jaccob Slavin - Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Ian Cole - Ethan Bear

Antti Raanta
Frederik Andersen

Covid Protocol: Jesperi Kotkaniemi

TBD: Teuvo Teravainen

Healthy scratch: Brendan Smith

**Update 5:10 p.m.: It will be Raanta getting the start, while Ethan Bear will be back in (presumably for Smith). No update on Teuvo Teravainen.

It looks like Ottawa will ice the same lineup it did in last night’s win over the Devils, with the exception of Anton Forsberg starting in net in place of Matt Murray.

Here’s how the Sens will line up:

Brady Tkachuk - Tim Stützle - Adam Gaudette
Alex Formenton - Nick Paul - Connor Brown
Zach Sanford - Dylan Gambrell - Austin Watson
Chris Tierney - Mark Kastelic - Tyler Ennis

Thomas Chabot - Nikita Zaitsev
Nick Holden - Artem Zub
Erik Brannstrom - Josh Brown

Anton Forsberg
Matt Murray