Gold: Canes weekend preview
Posted December 18, 2021 1:31 p.m. EST
The Carolina Hurricanes head to a 2-game weekend in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 41 points. But, if we’re going by points percentage, it’s the Canes in the lead. Washington and New York, first and second, respectively, in the Metro have each played two more games than Carolina.
Of course, if we’re just going by points percentage, the Canes’ .732 is second to Covid-19 which has now claimed more than a dozen games and three whole teams as the Flames, Panthers and Avalanche have all been closed through the holidays.
Somehow, in spite of three separate bouts with the virus and one third of their NHL roster in protocol, the Hurricanes have lost just one game to postponement and are coming off a 2-men down, AHL-laden, 5-3 win over Detroit on Thursday night. Now, they’ll add a couple of additional players and take a full, 18-skater squad into weekend games against the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators.
Tonight against L-A, we’ll see the Hurricanes debut of C.J. Smith and the return of Josh Leivo. Smith has skated 14 NHL games across three different seasons with the Buffalo Sabres. He’s scored a couple of goals and added an assist in his career, but was second in points for the Chicago Wolves with 28 and his 10 goals was tied for second with Stefan Noesen.
Leivo stands fourth on the Wolves with 6 goals and 19 points in just 15 games as this will be his second stint with the big club. He was part of a concentrated effort to improve the organizational depth of the Hurricanes this offseason as Leivo has skated in 209 games with the Maple Leafs, Canucks and Flames over 9 previous seasons with 37 goals to his credit.
Last time we saw them...
The Hurricanes were 5-4 winners over the Kings in Los Angeles a month ago. Seth Jarvis got things going with his 4th goal of the season (also the last time he found the back of the net) to make it 1-0 at the 3 minute mark of the 1st.
The teams traded goals for the remaining 37 minutes of the first two periods. With the Canes leading 3-2 and on the power play looking to extend the lead, Adrian Kempe picked off a lazy pass by Andrei Svechnikov at the blue line and scored shorthanded on Freddie Andersen.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi made it 4-3 less than two minutes later but there was more to come in the period. After Brenden Lemieux scored to make it 4-4 with 2 minutes left in the 2nd Martin Necas blazed in from the left wing to beat Cal Petersen to give the Hurricanes the lead back entering the second intermission.
Andersen then survived a 20-shot onslaught in the 3rd as Carolina held on for the 5-4 win.
Tomorrow, the Canes can go for the season sweep of red hot Nashville. Carolina held on for a 3-2 win over the Predators in the second game of the year. Jesper Fast, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen each scored as Freddie Andersen out dueled Jusse Saros with a 38-save victory. The Preds have won 7 straight games to move within 1-point of Central Division leading Minnesota.
We actually do need a scorecard...
With 7 regulars, plus Jalen Chatfield, out of the lineup Carolina will dress the top five scorers from the Chicago Wolves for tonight’s game. Here’s how it is supposed to look.
Niederreiter-Trocheck-Necas
Teravainen-Kotkaniemi-Fast
Drury-Stepan-Noesen
Leivo-Poturalski-Smith
Slavin-DeAngelo
Skjei-Pesce
Smith-Bear
Andersen
Los Angeles’ stalwart defenseman, Drew Doughty, out more than a month with an injury, came back and was logging heavy minutes. But, he entered Covid protocol on Thursday and will miss both of the games against the Canes this year. Anze Kopitar is fine, however, and had the game winning goal in the Kings 4-1 win in Florida two days ago.
Wanna bet...
Carolina -160.
Over/under: 5.5 goals
Coverage of the Canes and Kings begins at 6:30 on 99.9 the Fan. Alec Campbell will have Storm Watch followed by the live play-by-play with Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy just after 7:00. Don’t forget to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. A new episode drops the #MorningAfter every Hurricanes game.
