"They're a really good team," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said. "We feel they're in the same boat that we are in where they want to be a great team and want to overthrow Tampa. There's a bit of a rivalry, and it should be a fun hockey game tonight."
No matter which metric you're looking at, there's no denying these teams are close on paper.
Entering tonight's slate of games, Carolina (23-7-1, .758%) is sitting first in the league in points percentage, while Florida is right behind in second place (22-7-5, .721%). While the Panthers have scored the most goals in the league (132), the Hurricanes have allowed the fewest (69).
In terms of possession, no teams are better are controlling play. While the Panthers currently rank first in the league with a 56.48 CF% at 5-on-5, the Hurricanes occupy second with a 56.26 CF%. Per NaturalStatTrick.com, no other teams in the league own a Corsi for rating above 55%.
Earning points in each of their last five games, the Panthers saw their four-game winning streak snapped in a 6-5 shootout loss at Dallas on Thursday. Aleksander Barkov scored twice, Patric Hornqvist and MacKenzie Weegar each lit the lamp once, and Jonathan Huberdeau maintained his red-hot pace when he wired home a shot late in the third period to get the game to overtime.
Since Dec. 29, Florida has scored a league-high 29 goals.
Sitting fourth in the NHL in scoring with 44 points (12 goals, 32 assists), Huberdeau is riding a four-game point streak in which he's amassed two goals and nine assists. Looking to keep on rolling tonight, he's tallied 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists) in 32 games against the Hurricanes.
Making his fourth straight start, Seregi Bobrosky, who made 31 saves in Thursday's shootout loss to the Stars, will get the nod against the Hurricanes. In 23 appearances this season, he's posted a solid 15-3-3 record with a 2.56 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
In terms of lineup changes, Aleksi Heponiemi will suit up for the Panthers with Hornqvist now in COVID-19 protocols, and Lucas Carlsson will get back on the blue line in place of Olli Juolevi.
On the second half of a back-to-back, the Hurricanes are coming off a 6-3 win over the Flames on Friday. Against Calgary, Brady Skjei registered three points (one goal, two assists), Andrei Svechnikov found the back of the net twice, and Frederik Andersen turned aside 36 of 39 shots.
Winning each of their last five games in decisive fashion, the Hurricanes have scored at least five goals in four of those contests, including putting up 13 total goals in their last two outings.
With multi-point performances in six of his last eight games, Sebastian Aho leads Carolina in scoring with 35 points (15 goals, 20 assists), while four other players have registered at least 20: Svechnikov (26), Teuvo Teravainen (23), Tony DeAngelo (23) and Vincent Trocheck (22).
With Andersen playing last night, it's likely that Antti Raanta will be between the pipes against the Panthers. In 10 appearances this season, Raanta, who is 1-1-1 in his career against Florida, has gone 5-2-1 on top of a 2.35 goals-against average, .908 save percentage and one shutout.
Facing off for the second time this season, Anthony Duclair recorded a career-high four points (two goals, two assists) to help lead the Panthers to a 5-2 win over the Hurricanes back on Nov. 6 -- an impressive victory that snapped Carolina's season-opening, nine-game winning streak.
"They're a good team," Weegar said. "We're going to have to be prepared to skate tonight. It's going to be a fun matchup. We played against them a lot last year. We got the better of them at home this year, so they're going to be prepared. We've got to be focused and ready to play."
