Mind the Gap
For the Hurricanes, a scheduling quirk that resulted in four spare days in between home games fell at an inopportune time. The team had snapped a five-game winless skid in Chicago and was riding the high of their overtime victory over that same team at home on Monday.
"We need to get right back at it. That's always the worry when you take this much time in between games," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said earlier this week. "We had a good one, a victory, and everyone was feeling good. You can't take the foot off the gas. We need to, for a few days, to mentally get away from it, but we have to make sure we get back to where we were. Otherwise, it's going to be rough."
PROJECTED LINEUP
The team
spent Tuesday at Fort Bragg
, a Veterans Day team-building opportunity. Practices on Wednesday and Friday sandwiched a lighter, off-ice workload on Thursday.
"It takes you a little while to get back to that pace. That's just human nature. You can't afford to do that in this league. We've talked about it and guarded against it," Brind'Amour said after Friday's skate. "That's the challenge."
The Last Meeting
These two Metropolitan Division opponents last met on Oct. 5 in Columbus. Both teams were on the second half of a back-to-back, with Columbus opening at home after an overtime win in Detroit the night prior and the Canes coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to the Islanders in their home opener.
The start of the contest was delayed by an unresponsive bank of game lights, but once they turned on and the puck dropped, it was all Hurricanes. They took a 1-0 lead not even two minutes into the game and claimed a 3-1 victory. Sebastian Aho and Micheal Ferland each recorded a goal and an assist, and Curtis McElhinney made 31 saves against one of his former clubs in his first start with the Canes.
The Opposition
After that victory in Columbus, the Canes are 13-3-4 in their last 20 games against the Blue Jackets and are riding a six-game point streak against Columbus (4-0-2). Aided by a 6-2-2 record in their last 10 games and a 6-2-1 record away from Nationwide Arena, the Blue Jackets currently reside atop the Metropolitan Division with 24 points (11-6-2).
"They've got a great team. They have it all covered. They have great goaltending, D and some dynamic forwards. They're big and can skate," Brind'Amour said. "It's a good team. We're going to be up against it."
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS KEYS TO THE GAME
