Carolina Hurricanes vs. St. Louis Blues: Lineups and Game Discussion

Somehow, it’s altogether appropriate that Justin Faulk’s one visit to Raleigh this year comes immediately on the heels of a major event that would never have happened in the lost decade that largely overlapped with his Hurricanes tenure.

After a four-day celebration that went off largely without a hitch (yes, we know things were far from perfect at the entrance gates and entering the parking lots), when the league’s spotlight was squarely on the Triangle and the local community did not shy away from it, tonight the Hurricanes return to the great indoors in what could easily be a letdown game. Rod Brind’Amour was concerned about the distractions on Saturday; tonight, it will almost be the opposite problem, and the Canes will have to be on guard that they are ready to go from the start.

Unsurprisingly, there will be no changes for the Hurricanes after they ran the Capitals out of Carter-Finley, and they’ll line up like this tonight:

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

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

Frederik Andersen
Antti Raanta

Injuries and Scratches: Dylan Coghlan (healthy), Max Pacioretty (LTIR Achilles), Ondrej Kase (LTIR concussion)

The Blues that will come to PNC Arena tonight bear little resemblance to the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2019, or even for that matter the team that took the ice prior to the All-Star break. Two weeks ago, the Blues finally parted ways with Vladimir Tarasenko after an extended saga, reuniting with Sammy Blais in the process, a member of the 2019 champions.

Then, on Friday night, the Blues shipped out captain Ryan O’Reilly to Toronto as part of a three-way trade that used the Wild as a salary broker. The implication is clear: the Blues are waving the white flag on this season and planning for the future.

Marco Scandella will make his season debut tonight after being on LTIR all season with a hip injury. Blues coach Craig Berube says that to ease Scandella into the lineup, he will go with seven defensemen tonight, resulting in Raleigh native Logan Brown being the odd man out of the lineup. Here is how the Blues will take the ice tonight:

Sammy Blais - Luke Schenn - Josh Leivo
Ivan Barbashev - Robert Thomas - Jordan Kyrou
Matthew Highmore - Nathan Walker
Alexey Toropchenko - Nikita Alexandrov - Tyler Pitlick

Nick Leddy - Colton Parayko
Torey Krug - Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella - Robert Bortuzzo
Calle Rosen

Jordan Binnington
Thomas Greiss

Injuries and Scratches: Pavel Buchnevich (lower body), Logan Brown (healthy), Tyler Tucker (healthy), Brandon Saad (IR upper body), Jake Neighbours (IR upper body)

Tonight’s Officials
Referees: Kevin Pollock #33, T.J. Luxmore #21
Linesmen: Matt MacPherson #83, Andrew Smith #51