Game Day Preview: Carolina Hurricanes at Columbus Blue Jackets

Carolina Hurricanes (21-15-7) vs Columbus Blue Jackets (29-9-4)

The Carolina Hurricanes take on the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight at Nationwide Arena. In their previous meeting, the Hurricanes defeated the Blue Jackets by a score of 5-3. Tonight will be the second meeting out of three in a two-week span. The Hurricanes are playing dominant hockey and are charging towards a postseason spot. They extended their hot streak on home ice to 14-1-1 and need to translate that to their road performance.

Game Day By the Numbers

	Hurricanes	Blue Jackets
Record	21-15-7	29-9-4
Last Result	7-4 W vs NYI	4-3 L @ FLA
Last 10	6-4-0	6-4-0
FO%	51.7%	47.7%
ES CF%	51.64%	50.05%
GF/GP	2.77	3.31
PP% (Goals)	17.2% (21)	26% (35)
SH% (Goals)	88.7% (5)	83.0% (5)

Who’s Hot

The McGinn-Staal-Lindholm is blazing hot. McGinn was named NHL’s third star of the week after three breakout games where he amassed seven points. Jordan Staal is on a four-game point streak and has nine points over his last six games. Elias Lindholm has a six-game point streak and has been a powerhouse since returning from injury. Watch for them to continue to put the Hurricanes on their backs.

Who’s Not

The power play is still in the gutters. In the Hurricanes 7-4 win over the Islanders on Saturday night, there were no penalties. Their 2-37 slump on the power play is still hanging over their heads going into tonight’s game against the Blue Jackets. With Columbus leading the league in power play conversion, the Canes will need to step up. Special teams often win games and if they Hurricanes power play is non-existent tonight, they won’t be successful.

Storylines

The Hurricanes are one point out of the last wild-card spot. They trail Philadelphia who will be idle on their bye-week. The Hurricanes have three games in hand on the Flyers and hold their fate in their own hands.

Hurricanes goalie prospect Alex Nedeljkovic was called up yesterday in a move that sent Michael Leighton down to Charlotte. This is likely a move to get Leighton some game time with the Canes riding Cam Ward. This will also be a good chance for Nedeljkovic to get some mentoring from Ward and soak up as much experience as he can.

Lineup

	Hurricanes
	Forwards
Skinner	Rask	Ryan
McGinn	Staal	Lindholm
Aho	Teravainen	Stempniak
Nordstrom	McClement	Stalberg
	Defense
	Slavin/Pesce
	Faulk/Hainsey
	Hanifin/Tennyson
	Goalies
	Ward
	Nedeljkovic

How To Watch

Nationwide Arena: Puck Drop at 7:00 pm ET

Watch: Fox Sports Carolinas / Fox Sports Go app

Listen: 99.9 FM The Fan / WRALsportsfan.com

LiveTweet: @CardiacCane