What - Game 70 (43-20-6)
When - 7 p.m., Thursday, March 21
Where - PNC Arena; Raleigh, NC
How to Watch - Bally Sports South
The Carolina Hurricanes are looking good and feeling good as they look for win number five in a row as well as their eighth win in their last nine games.
Facing them will be the Philadelphia Flyers (35-26-8) in what could be a potential first-round matchup.
The Flyers surprised everyone by having held onto a playoff spot for the last few months. However, that grip is starting to slip with the loss of quite a few pieces.
The team is coming off of a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night however.
There's also drama in the air surrounding Philadelphia as head coach John Tortorella healthy scratched newly named captain Sean Couturier on Tuesday and looks to be doing it again tonight.
Carolina is winners of their last four and things couldn't be going better with both goalies playing well and the new additions of Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jake Guentzel fitting in seamlessly so far.
The Canes will be without Jesper Fast tonight as well as the continued absences of Teuvo Teravainen and Jack Drury so there may be some trickiness with running an 11-7 group out tonight.
Only time will tell.
Streaks
- Seth Jarvis (5g) has scored in four straight games.
- Jake Guentzel (2g, 6a) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (2g, 3a) have points in four straight games.
- Sebastian Aho (2g, 5a) has points in three straight games.
- Martin Necas (1g, 1a), Brady Skjei (3a) and Jaccob Slavin (2a) have points in back-to-back games.
- Frederik Andersen has won his last four starts while allowing two or fewer goals in each.
Milestone Watch
- Sebastian Aho is two assists shy of 300 career assists.
- Brent Burns is three points shy of 100 points as a Carolina Hurricane.
- Dmitry Orlov is three points shy of 300 career points.
- Brett Pesce is three points shy of 200 career points.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov registered his 400th career assist Tuesday night against the New York Islanders.
Game Notes
- Carolina is 2-1-0 against the Flyers this season having had a 3-2 win on Oct. 30, a 3-1 loss on Nov. 15 and a 4-1 win on Nov. 28.
- Sebastian Aho (13g, 28 pts in 28 games) and Jake Guentzel (12g, 30pts in 29 games) are point-per-game players against Philly.
Key Matchups
Starting Goalies
- Frederik Andersen: 8-1-0; 0.917 Sv%; 2.17 GAA
- Sam Ersson: 20-14-5; 0.898 Sv%; 2.68 GAA
Leading Scorers
- Goals - Sebastian Aho (27) / Travis Konecny (27)
- Points - Sebastian Aho (75) / Travis Konecny (58)
Power Play
- Carolina - 26.4% (3rd)
- Philadelphia - 12.9% (32nd)
Penalty Kill
- Carolina - 85.8% (2nd)
- Philadelphia - 84.5% (3rd)
Hurricanes Projected Lineup
Jake Guentzel - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Andrei Svechnikov - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook - Jordan Staal - Stefan Noesen
Brendan Lemieux - Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Dmitry Orlov - Jalen Chatfield
Tony DeAngelo
Frederik Andersen
Spencer Martin
Injuries and Scratches: Pyotr Kochetkov, Jack Drury (LBI), Teuvo Teravainen (UBI), Jesper Fast (undisclosed)
Flyers Projected Lineup
Owen Tippett - Morgan Frost - Travis Konecny
Tyson Foerster - Ryan Poehling - Garnet Hathaway
Joel Farabee - Scott Laughton - Bobby Brink
Nicolas Deslauriers - Noah Cates - Olle Lycksell
Cam York - Travis Sanheim
Egor Zamula - Erik Johnson
Adam Ginning - Ronnie Attard
Sam Ersson
Felix Sandstrom
Injuries and Scratches: Sean Couturier, Cam Atkinson, Dennis Gurianov, Marc Staal, Jamie Drysdale (UBI), Rasmus Ristolainen (UBI), Nick Seeler (LBI)