Carolina Hurricanes vs. New Jersey Devils: Game 5 Preview, Lineups and Game Discussion

For the second straight series, the Hurricanes have an opportunity to close out an opponent in game 5 on home ice. A victory tonight would send the Hurricanes back to the Eastern Conference final for the first time since 2019, Rod Brind’Amour’s first year as the Hurricanes head coach.

Of course, the Canes only need look back to their last series, when the Islanders were able to force a game 6, to know that closing out a playoff series is never an easy task, and they’ll have to match the Devils’ desperation tonight.

There won’t be any changes to the Hurricanes’ lineup, with Frederik Andersen set to start again, though Rod Brind’Amour noted that Antti Raanta is healthy enough to back up tonight.

With no morning skate for the Devils today, or full practice yesterday, their lineup is a bit more unknown, as is whether or not the Hurricanes will see Akira Schmid or Vitek Vanecek in the opposing crease tonight.

Game Notes

• With nine points (three goals, six assists) in this series, Jordan Martinook enters game 5 red hot. After tallying three points in game 4, he’s the first player in franchise history with four straight multi-point playoff games.
• Jesper Fast and Jordan Staal are both also entering this game on four-game point streaks.
• A win tonight would improve the Hurricanes to 4-1 all time in playoff series against the Devils, and send them into their fourth Eastern Conference Final in team history.

Carolina Hurricanes projected lineup:

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

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

Frederik Andersen
Antti Raanta

Injuries and Scratches: Antti Raanta (ilness), Calvin de Haan (healthy), Dylan Coghlan (healthy), Teuvo Teravainen (IR hand), Max Pacioretty (LTIR Achilles), Andrei Svechnikov (LTIR knee), Ondrej Kase (LTIR concussion), Jesse Puljujarvi (healthy)

Black Aces: Vasiliy Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, Jamieson Rees, Ryan Suzuki, Maxime Lajoie, Zach Sawchenko

New Jersey Devils Projected Lineup

Ondrej Palat - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier - Jack Hughes - Dawson Mercer
Tomas Tatar- Michael McLeod - Erik Haula
Miles Wood - Nathan Bastian

Jonas Siegenthaler - Dougie Hamilton
Luke Hughes - Damon Severson
Kevin Bahl - John Marino
Brendan Smith*

Akira Schmid
Vitek Vanecek