Hurricanes (14-3-2) vs Kraken (9-6-1) | 9:00 a.m.

One: Find their legs – The Carolina Hurricanes are fourth in the league for fewest goals allowed at 2.32 per game and do it by smothering opponents before they can even get an attack started. If you watched last spring’s Stanley Cup run, you saw a Carolina squad that would literally shut teams down by limiting them to only a couple of shots per period on a frequent basis.

The Kraken can’t afford to have that happen and need to get in fast and often on the forecheck. Speed is a strong suit for the Kraken and they’ll have had a day more than the Hurricanes to acclimate to the time change in Finland. There is no reason to come out flat with tired legs. If they do, they’ll be in trouble.

They are only 27^th overall at 25.2 shots taken per game and need to start elevating that a bit by getting to the more dangerous areas ahead of opponents. While still a top-10 offense at 3.44 goals per game, some of that is due to a fifth-ranked shooting percentage of 13.4% that’s a couple of points above average.

If that percentage starts regressing to the league mean, the Kraken won’t keep that offense among the league’s better units unless shooting the puck more than they have. The Kraken have scored three goals or fewer (one game saw them credited a fourth goal via a shootout win over Detroit) in eight of their last 10 games. 

It will take at least three and likely more to beat the Hurricanes. Reuniting the fourth line of Ben Meyers, Freddy Gaudreau and Ryan Winterton, as we saw the Kraken do at Wednesday’s practice in Helsinki, could go a long way in setting the right tone early for beating guys to pucks. 

Two: Stop the puck – Joey Daccord allowed three goals on 10 shots against the New York Rangers last Saturday and had a fourth goal against him disallowed. Though the Kraken made a strong comeback attempt, you aren’t going to win many games when trailing by that much that quickly.

The Hurricanes boast the league’s No. 1 offense, tied with Colorado at 4.11 goals scored per game. They love to pepper opponents with shots, leading the NHL with 33.1 taken per game. 

So, Kraken’s goalies can’t keep letting them in at a sub-.900 save percentage rate if they hope to keep pace. Daccord was outstanding last season when the Kraken upset the Hurricanes 2-1 at Climate Pledge Arena. When the Kraken have snagged points this season, it’s usually due to Daccord or Philipp Grubauer allowing fewer goals than “expected” based on shot quality. That needs to continue to beat Carolina again.

We aren’t likely to see defenseman Ryan Lindgren return for this game even though he’s stopped wearing the red no-contact jersey at practices. Kraken head coach Lane Lambert said Lindgren, who’s been out five weeks, is “trending” in that return direction but still had Ville Ottavainen and Josh Mahura on the bottom pairing in practice. 

So, the defense still has some work ahead, primarily Finnish product Ottavainen in front of his homeland’s fans. 

Three: Know your foe – You don’t often see Stanley Cup champions come out looking stronger in the regular season than they did in the playoffs the prior spring. But Carolina at 14-3-2 and leading the Presidents Trophy race has picked up right where they left off in dismantling their playoff foes back in May and June. 

You can’t do much better than the No. 1 offense and No. 4 defense. Usually, one gets sacrificed a bit more so the other can thrive but there’s no real evidence of that here.

The Hurricanes have the NHL’s best goal differential at +33 and only Boston at +27 was within 10 goals of them as of Wednesday’s action. They’ve allowed more than three goals only four times in their first 19 games, more than two goals only seven times. 

Not only that, but they’ve scored four goals or more 12 times in their last 16 contests.

Sebastian Aho returns home to his native Finland leading the Hurricanes with 26 points and sitting second on the team with 10 goals, just one behind leader Logan Stankoven.

They have four players with eight goals or more. Kraken team leader Freddy Gaudreau has seven.

The Kraken have one of the most balanced attacks in hockey across all four lines, with 17 players having scored this season and 14 notching multiple goals. Carolina has 19 players that have scored with 16 notching multiple goals.

The Hurricanes saw veteran netminder Frederik Andersen join the Edmonton Oilers as a free agent after missing the end of the Stanley Cup Final with a knee injury. Andersen promptly got injured in an off-season workout and is expected to be out until possibly January.

Carolina went with Pyotr Kochetkov as their No. 1 goalie and all he’s done is go 11-1-0 with a 1.67 goals against average and .920 save percentage in a dozen games.

Yes, the Kraken will have their work cut out for them. They need to bring their very best.

Projected Lines (not official):
McMann-Beniers-Eberle
Nyman-Stephenson-Samoskevich
Kakko-Catton-Wood
Meyers-Gaudreau-Winterton

Dunn-Larsson
Evans-Montour
Ottavainen-Mahura

Grubauer