The Carolina Hurricanes will take on the New York Islanders tonight, so we're going through each position group to see how they match up head-to-head.
Here's the forward matchup.
Top Line
Jake Guentzel (30g, 77pts) - Sebastian Aho (36g, 89pts) - Seth Jarvis (33g, 67pts)
61.2% CF, 65% xGF, 80% GF
Casey Cizikas (10g, 23pts) - Bo Horvat (33g, 68pts) - Mat Barzal (23g, 80pts)
59.9% CF, 57.7% xGF, 57.7% GF
The Canes' top line of Guentzel-Aho-Jarvis has been everything the team could have dreamed of coming out of the trade deadline.
They've dominated possession, scored at will and have been so dynamic.
If there play continues into the postseason, Carolina could easily go all the way.
The Isles' top line is no joke though.
Since moving Barzal to the wing with Horvat, the two have formed a dynamic duo and the addition of Cizikas, although not much of a scoring threat, gives them a solid puck possession/retrieval type of player to complement Horvat and Barzal.
It will be a treat to get to watch two high-end lines.
Second Line
Teuvo Teravainen (25g, 53pts) - Jesperi Kotkaniemi (12g, 27pts)- Martin Necas (24g, 53pts)
57% CF, 52.9% xGF, 40% GF
Hudson Fasching (4g, 14pts) - Brock Nelson (34g, 69pts) - Kyle Palmieri (30g, 54pts)
52.1% CF, 59.5% xGF, 53.8% GF
There's a lot on the line here in terms of the depth scoring for both teams.
Last year, the Canes' second line got buried by Palmieri and Nelson and the duo are just as threatening this year.
The Hurricanes can't let that happen again and they have to at least match the production that New York will get from their second line.
There's two players on this line who Carolina is looking to take big steps for the team and they need to contribute offensively.
Kotkaniemi seems like he will get the chance to earn that second center spot again, at least to start, so he needs to prove he can carry the load and then it's high time that Necas starts being an impact player in the postseason.
Third Line
Jordan Martinook (14g, 32pts) - Jordan Staal (10g, 30pts) - Andrei Svechnikov (19g, 52pts)
68.5% CF, 69.7% xGF, 60% GF
Anders Lee (20g, 37pts) - JG Pageau* (11g, 33pts) - Pierre Engvall (10g, 28pts)
58.9% CF, 60.7% xGF, 0% GF
What's usually Carolina's shutdown specialist line, the combo of Staal and Martinook is now being supported by a heavy playing, scoring threat in Svechnikov.
This could be a sneaky line for Carolina as the usual issue is that the Staal line can't score, but Svechnikov can certainly be expected to pot a few.
JG Pageau is a day-to-day with a lower-body injury and his absence could certainly change the complexion of things for New York.
Lee has had a bit of a bounce back season with 20 goals, but Engvall has continued to struggle with putting the puck into the net.
Fourth Line
Jack Drury (8g, 27pts) - Evgeny Kuznetsov (8g, 24pts) - Stefan Noesen (14g, 37pts)
New Line
Matt Martin (4g, 8pts) - Kyle MacLean (4g, 9pts) - Cal Clutterbuck (7g, 19pts)
40.5% CF, 47% xGF, 60% GF
The Isles' identity line continues to stick around despite time very clearly taking a toll on them.
They'll come out hitting, like they usually do, but Carolina's depth of talent should be able to take advantage of what's been a fairly vulnerable line.
Extras
Jesper Fast* (6g, 19pts), Brendan Lemieux (3g, 5pts), Bradly Nadeau (0g, 0pts), Jackson Blake (0g, 0pts)
Simon Holmstrom (15g, 25pts), Ruslan Iskhakov (0g, 1pts), Oliver Whalstrom (2g, 6pts)
Power Play
With how bad the Isles' PK is, Carolina needs to be able to score more than a few power play goals. The power play was fine last year, but it could have provided a quicker dagger for the Canes if it was clicking right.
The Hurricanes' top-2 PP (26.9%) should make quick work of New York's abysmal PK, while the Isles' 19th ranked man-advantage (20.4%) should have a much harder time against the Canes' number one PK.
