Gold: Best meet best tonight at PNC
Posted March 10, 2022 4:23 p.m. EST
Updated March 10, 2022 4:35 p.m. EST
39-12-5 v 41-12-5
That’s what’s on the ice at PNC Arena tonight when the Carolina Hurricanes, who boast the best record in the Eastern Conference, play host to the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are the league’s top team. They lead the league in points with 87 and in points percentage at .750.
Brace yourself for the “could this be a Stanley Cup Finals preview?” take from social media and national coverage. But, don’t cringe at the suggestion, enjoy it.
This is the first meeting between the Avalanche and Hurricanes of the season. It’s actually the first meeting in nearly two years since we all played in a cocoon a year ago. Carolina has won 3 of the last 5 from Colorado and in an odd twist in all five games the winning team has scored three goals.
Theoretically, three goals shouldn’t be a problem for these two tonight. The Hurricanes are 8th in the league in scoring and the Avs are pumping in nearly 4 per game. On top of that, check out the firepower Colorado brings to the rink.
Captain Gabriel Landeskog leads the team with 30 goals and 59 points in 50 games played. Nathan MacKinnon, in and out of the lineup due to injury this year has 60 points in 43 games. The third wheel on that top line, Mikko Rantanen has 27 goals and 67 points in 55 games.
That NONE of those three is the team’s leading scorer should frighten everyone. Nazem Kadri has 72 points (22g, 50a) in 55 games and was named to the All Star team for the first time in his career. Then there’s Cale Makar, who’s only poured in 21 goals and 65 points from the blue line this year. If he’s not the Norris Trophy winner this year it will only be because they decided to name the award after him instead.
The Avalanche are loaded. They have the most mobile defense in the NHL when you consider they also have Devon Toews and Samuel Girard. Toews has 12 goals and 45 points and is a plus-44 (!!!!) in 47 games played on the season.
Filling out the blue line are a couple of former first round picks in Erik and Jack Johnson (no relation). Erik was the first overall pick in 2006 by St Louis, while the Hurricanes took Jack 3rd overall the previous year but he never left the University of Michigan and was eventually traded to the Los Angeles Kings in a package that returned current Carolina assistant coach Tim Gleason.
Carolina will dress the same line up that beat Seattle Sunday night. Antti Raanta will start for the 3rd straight game as Frederik Andersen isn’t quite 100%. Alex Lyon was recalled from the minor leagues on an emergency basis and will dress as the backup tonight. Rod Brind’Amour did say today that Andersen, who did practice today, was close to being ready and that he expected he would be able to play this weekend.
Carolina will host Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. That will be the 7th set of back-to-back games in the last 8 weeks.
The line: Colorado -120. O/U: 6 ½ goals.
Coverage begins on 99.9 the Fan at 6:30 with Storm Watch starring Alec Campbell. Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy follow with the live play-by-play just after 7:00. Make sure to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. A new episode drops the #MorningAfter every Hurricanes game.
