Carolina Hurricanes @ New Jersey Devils: Game Preview and Hub

If you’re wondering how things are going for the New Jersey Devils this season, one look at the homepage of our sister site, All About the Jersey, gives you a fairly solid picture.

“Season in the gutter.” Trade deadline talk, frustrating losses, and musing about moving on from the goalie who was supposed to help lead them forward. The Devils sit dead last in the Metropolitan Division, losers of four straight, with little confidence that the ship will be righted this season. A disastrous 4-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes might not have been rock bottom for the Devils, but it was a rough go for a team with aspirations of clawing out of the League’s basement.

So of course they’re probably not looking forward to facing the red-hot Hurricanes, who’ve bounced back from their own rock bottom. Three convincing wins, where the Hurricanes outscored their opponents 17-5, have shown the resilience of this team, who will come into this one with a ton of confidence.

Not even a rare North Carolina snowstorm can stop the Hurricanes when they’re on a roll, and after their 6-3 win over the Rangers, they should be coming in hot to this one. (Well, despite the snow.) With Antti Raanta still out, that means Jack LaFontaine could be making his first career NHL start, if the team doesn’t want to go to Freddie Andersen for the second night in a row.

Rod Brind’Amour said Friday they would make the decision today, and he won’t speak with the media until this evening with the Canes not flying out of RDU until this morning.

Let’s see how the teams match up:

Game Notes

• Thanks to the weather in North Carolina, the Hurricanes are electing to travel on Saturday to New Jersey rather than Friday night as anticipated.

• This is the first meeting of the Hurricanes and Devils this season. The last time these teams met was February 14, 2020, a Valentine’s Day Hurricanes win.
• At the time of writing, Teuvo Teravainen was questionable for this game. Stefan Noesen, recalled from the Wolves to the taxi squad, could possibly be inserted into the lineup.
• Last night’s game was the first time the Hurricanes gave up more than one goal while shorthanded since their November 6 loss to the Panthers.
• Three different Hurricanes players are sitting on nine goals for the season: Vincent Trocheck, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Jesper Fast. (Petition for Trocheck to change his name to some variation on Jesper?)
• New Jersey captain Nico Hischier is on a three game point streak (two goals, three assists).
• The next assist for Devils defenseman Damon Severson will be his 200th assist.

Projected Lineup

Carolina Hurricanes

Lines as used in yesterday’s game.

??? — Sebastian Aho — Seth Jarvis
Andrei Svechnikov — Vince Trocheck — Nino Niederreiter
Steven Lorentz — Jordan Staal — Jesper Fast
Josh Leivo — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Derek Stepan

Jacob Slavvin — Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei — Brett Pesce
Brendan Smith — Ian Cole

Jack LaFontaine or Frederik Andersen

Out: Martin Necas (COVID-19 protocol), Jordan Martinook (COVID-19 protocol), Antti Raanta (upper body), Jake Gardiner (LTIR)

Questionable: Teuvo Teravainen (lower body)

New Jersey Devils

Projected lines based on last game:

Pavel Zacha — Nico Hischier — Tomas Tatar
Yegor Sharangovich — Jack Hughes — Jesper Bratt
Andreas Johnsson — Dawson Mercer — Janne Kuokkanen
Jimmy Vesey — Mikey McLeod — Nate Bastian

Jonas Siegenthaler — Damon Severson
Ryan Graves — P.K. Subban
?? — Christian Jaros

Mackenzie Blackwood

Out: Jonathan Bernier (hip), A.J. Greer, Dougie Hamilton (jaw), Tyce Thompson (upper body), Miles Wood (hip)

Questionable: Ty Smith (upper body)