RALEIGH, NC. - Goaltender Frederik Andersen will make his return to the crease tonight for the Carolina Hurricanes, starting against the Seattle Kraken at PNC Arena.
"Zilla" began the season 2-0 before unfortunately taking a puck to the mask last Tuesday in San Jose, forcing his removal from the game. Earning victories over Ottawa and Los Angeles, Andersen has allowed just three goals in two career games against Seattle.
Antti Raanta will back him up after Pyotr Kochetkov was reassigned to Syracuse (AHL) this morning.
In front of the crease, Andrei Svechnikov is not quite ready to make his season debut. Rod Brind'Amour mentioned yesterday that the 2023 All-Star is just days away from playing his first game of the season, but as we know now, it won't be tonight.
On a positive note, Sebastian Aho will play again after returning to the lineup Tuesday in Tampa Bay. Missing three games last week due to an upper-body injury, Brind'Amour said that Aho still isn't comfortable taking faceoffs, likely insinuating that Teuvo Teravainen will play center for a fifth consecutive contest.
As far as the team's defense goes, there could be more experimentation as the group moves forward without Brett Pesce.
Pesce, who will miss 2-4 weeks due to a lower-body injury, has been a staple to the right of Brady Skjei in the lineup over the last three seasons. Tuesday in Tampa, Tony DeAngelo started in that role, but it was a fluid situation. At yesterday's practice, it was more of the same, but Dmitry Orlov spent the bulk of the time alongside Skjei.
Could we see two lefties together tonight on the second pair, and two righties on the third pair?
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Tonight's Projected Lineup...
Forwards
Aho - Teravainen - Necas
Noesen - Kotkaniemi - Jarvis
Martinook - Staal - Fast
Bunting - Drury - Lemieux
Defense
Slavin - Burns
Skjei - Orlov
Chatfield - DeAngelo
Goaltenders
Andersen
Raanta
Injuries
Brett Pesce (Lower-Body)
Andrei Svechnikov (Knee)
Healthy Scratches
Dylan Coghlan
