Carolina Hurricanes at New York Islanders: Game 6 Preview and Lineups

The last time the Hurricanes were at UBS Arena, five days ago, they snapped a streak of road playoff losses that stretched back to the 2020-21 season. If they can put a road winning streak together with a victory tonight, it won’t only be their first road winning streak since those 2021 playoffs, but it will punch their ticket to the second round of the 2023 tournament.

With two days off to think about how they were rattled - again - by a combination of Islanders physicality and, ahem, suboptimal officiating, the Hurricanes know what they have to do tonight. On Sunday, they shut the crowd up early with a quick power play strike, then put their foot down and didn’t let up the rest of the way. Do that again, and they’ll be in good shape.

Or don’t, and they’ll be right back at PNC Arena on Sunday for a winner-take-all contest.

No pressure.

Game Notes

• Rod Brind’Amour wouldn’t commit to a starter this morning. Only once this year did Antti Raanta play five games in a row — his white-hot streak in late December that included back to back shutouts — and he didn't play six in a row at any point. If Frederik Andersen is ready to go tonight, it probably stands to reason that he’ll get the call.
• Not to read into anything, but Andersen was in the starter’s crease yesterday at practice. The Hurricanes didn’t skate this morning, so that’s all we have to go on. But given the choice between playing Andersen now and throwing him into a potential Game 7 without having played previously, tonight seems like the logical opportunity for him to start.
• One player we know won’t be playing tonight is Jack Drury. The forward doesn’t have a concussion, according to Brind’Amour, but he will miss tonight’s game regardless. Vasiliy Ponomarev will be the extra forward on the trip, and Derek Stepan will remain in the lineup.
• Playoff man-games missed: Hurricanes 22 (not including Jake Gardiner), Islanders 7. Just in case you’re scoring at home.
• Tonight will be OGWAC Brent Burns’ 100th career playoff game. He will become the fourth Hurricanes player on the roster with a century of playoff games under his belt, joining Jordan Staal (127 including tonight), Stepan (114) and Paul Stastny (109).

Projected Lineups

Hurricanes

Mackenzie MacEachern - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Jordan Martinook - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Martin Necas
Stefan Noesen - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Derek Stepan - Paul Stastny - Jesse Puljujarvi

Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Shayne Gostisbehere - Jalen Chatfield

Frederik Andersen
Antti Raanta

Injuries and Scratches: Jack Drury (upper-body), Pyotr Kochetkov (healthy), Calvin de Haan (healthy), Dylan Coghlan (healthy), Vasily Ponomarev (healthy), Teuvo Teravainen (IR hand), Max Pacioretty (LTIR Achilles), Andrei Svechnikov (LTIR knee), Ondrej Kase (LTIR concussion)
Black Aces: Ville Koivunen, Jamieson Rees, Ryan Suzuki, Maxime Lajoie, Zach Sawchenko

Islanders

Anders Lee - Bo Horvat - Mathew Barzal
Pierre Engvall - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise - J.G. Pageau - Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech - Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho - Scott Mayfield
Alexander Romanov - Noah Dobson

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

Injuries and Scratches: Parker Wotherspoon (healthy), Josh Bailey (healthy), Simon Holmstrom (healthy), Ross Johnston (healthy), Samuel Bolduc (healthy), Oliver Wahlstrom (IR lower body)

Tonight’s Officials
Referees: Chris Lee #28, Steve Kozari #40 (standby: Graham Skilliter #24)
Linesmen: Steve Barton #59, James Tobias #61 (standby: Scott Cherry #50)