Gold: Canes open 5-game road trip in Winnipeg

By Adam Gold radio host 99.9 the Fan

Welcome to Winnipeg where today’s daytime high temperature is got all the way up to 10 degrees -- Fahrenheit! Or, as they say on the tundra, “freaking cold, eh.”

Not that I’m with the club in Manitoba, but it’s a good thing the Carolina Hurricanes and Winnipeg Jets will be playing indoors. It also marks the start of a 5-game road trip through Central and Western Canada that ultimately ends in Minnesota.

These teams have a lot in common. They’re each very real contenders in their respective conferences. They each have a plethora of highly skilled and speedy forwards. They’re both strong down the middle of the ice.  And, they’ve each posted a bunch of goals after struggling a bit.

The Canes scored just 5 goals during a 3 game losing streak before busting one on Buffalo in a 6-3 rout. If we’re being honest, Carolina probably played better in all three of those losses – to Washington, Dallas and Ottawa – than they did against the Sabres. But, sometimes hockey is dumb. The puck went in on Saturday while it didn’t in the previous three.

The Jets have had it worse, until recently. Winnipeg went through a 1-5-1 stretch in which they scored just 9 goals – 4 of them in one game – and were shut out twice. But, they came out on the other side by hanging 14 goals on the Devils and Maple Leafs in a pair of confidence-building wins.

The deluge featured Mark Scheiffele posting 6 points including a hat trick in the win over New Jersey. Blake Wheeler dished for 5 assists. Nikolai Ehlers scored a trio of goals and Neia Pionk had 4 helpers. To be honest, it’s harder to find players who didn’t score than those that did.

The Jets, who are tied with the Blues for 4th place in the Central division with 28 points (12-8-4), are led in scoring by Kyle Connor. The Michigan native has 15 goals and 27 points in 24 games. Pierre-Luc Dubois is next with 22 points (12g, 10a). Scheiffele’s 4th career hat trick snapped a 7-game goal drought and more than doubled his season total in that department. He added another marker in the win over the Leafs and now has 6 goals in 18 games this year.

Inexplicably, 8-time 20-goal scorer Blake Wheeler is still looking for his first celly of the season. Tonight will be his 20th game and though he does have 12 assists, it’s hard to imagine someone not paying the price for this unusual scoring lapse. Hopefully, he won’t do damage on Carolina, though there is history as Wheeler has 14 goals in 38 career games against the Canes.

For the Hurricanes Jordan Staal has had great success against the Jets. Carolina’s captain has 17 goals in 36 career games vs. Winnipeg the second most against any other NHL team. Vincent Trocheck has also enjoyed his matches against Manitoba’s team with 5 goals in 10 career games.

Frederick Andersen will get the start tonight after Antti Raanta went the last two for the Hurricanes. Andersen is 11-2-2 in 16 appearances against Winnipeg with a 2.96 GAA/.904 SV%.

Line 'em up...

Niederreiter-Aho-Teravainen

Jarvis-Trocheck-Necas

Svechnikov-Staal-Fast

Lorentz-Kotkaniemi-Stepan

Slavin-Cole

Skjei-Chatfield

Smith-Bear

Andersen

Wanna bet...

Winnipeg -110; O/U 5.5 goals.

Storm Watch starring Alec Campbell starts at 7:30 on 99.9 the Fan. Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy have the call of the action at 8:00. Don’t forget to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. A new episode drops the #MorningAfter every Hurricanes game.