The Carolina Hurricanes couldn't beat the Colorado Avalanche in either of their two matchups last season, but both teams look a bit different this year
The Carolina Hurricanes have been highly touted to make a run for the Stanley Cup, but that poses a good challenge for the Colorado Avalanche — who have also been mentioned in that company.
Colorado is coming into Saturday night's game undefeated and off a 4-0 shutout win against the Chicago Blackhawks. Carolina lost 7-4 to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday and have a 3-2-0 start to the season.
The Avs went 2-0-0 against the Canes last season but both teams made some offseason moves and got players back from injuries.
"It's gonna be a tough game. Hard hockey game, physical. They have really good lineup," forward Mikko Rantanen said after Saturday morning's skate. "I think their D (defense) is a lot better than they had last year so we gotta get after them and try to forecheck them — force some mistakes."
No doubt the team and coaching staff studied video and did their homework to know what they're up against, players get ready on their own too.
"They are very hard to play against. They battle hard and we need to be ready for it," forward Tomas Tatar said. "We are trying to prepare individually for every team. We know their strengths, we know their weaknesses and that's where we can try that."
Hurricanes forwards Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov are out with injuries and goaltender Frederik Andersen is also out with an upper-body injury. But the Canes still pose a threat to give the Avs their first loss of the season.
"Really, really good team. Going to be a challenge tonight," forward Ryan Johansen said. "Saturday night in our barn — I think we're all looking forward to this one. Just with them and how they've been for a chunk of years. Great challenge to see where we're at."
Tatar is slated to start on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Head coach Jared Bednar made that move in Thursday night's win against the Blackhawks and thought he played well on that line. He also said he thought Jonathan Drouin improved when he moved him to the third line with Miles Wood and Ross Colton.
Avs goaltender Pavel Francouz had both wins against the Hurricanes last season, while Antti Raanta was in net for both losses for his team.
Raanta is expected to start for Carolina and this will be the first time the Canes go up against Alexandar Georgiev — who has only allowed four goals in the first four games of the season. The puck drops at 7 p.m.