A year ago yesterday the
Carolina Hurricanes (1-0-1) were playing on the road against the
Winnipeg Jets. (2-2-0) The Hurricanes started strong and took a 4-1 lead only to watch the Jets claw back and win it 5-4 in OT. Despite that one blemish, the Hurricanes have done well recently against the Jets and hold a 3-0-1 in their last four meetings.
This will mark the second straight game the Hurricanes will be without defenseman
Trevor Van Riemsdyk who was diagnosed with a concussion earlier this week. It is reported that he did travel with the team for the road-trip. Klas Dahlbeck will fill in for Van Riemsdyk on the third defensive pairing again.
The Hurricanes aren’t the only team with some injury troubles though. The Jets might be without their top D
Dustin Byfuglien who missed the last two games with a lower-body injury. Also,
Matt Hendricks has been on the injured reserve since early October.
Looking at this game, it appears that the match-ups and special teams could play a significant role. The Jets have two solid top-six lines that can provide tons of offense – last year the Jets were 7th in the NHL with 3.0 goals per game (GPG). They’ve continued with a similar offensive pace and average 3.5 GPG throughout their first four games.
It will be interesting to see how Coach Bill Peters elects to use the
Sebastian Aho-Jordan Staal-Elias Lindholm line. This line has been used as the teams “shut-down” line against the opponents top line this season. They were used significantly throughout the night to slow down the Blue Jackets top line of
Cam Atkinson - Alexander Wennberg - Artemi Panarin on Saturday and held them to a total of four shots on goal.
Given that
Bryan Little is the Jets best center for face-offs (57.6 FO%), it seems most likely that it will be the Staal’s line that goes against them. Both Lindholm and Staal have been used interchangeably at center and should provide a tough match-up in the dot.
While the play in the dot is important, what will be more critical is shutting down Little’s wingers,
Mathieu Perreault and Patrik Laine. Perreault leads the team in Corsi (EV) with a 57.4 CF%, and Laine is second for forwards with a 53.0 CF%.
They have great speed and have strong chemistry together. Laine, at 6’5, also possesses the type of size the Hurricanes have had a tough time matching up against traditionally too.
The Little line will certainly challenge the Hurricanes, however, the top offensive producing line for the Jets is
Nikolas Ehlers - Mark Scheifele - Blake Wheeler. The three of them are the top three in team points – Ehlers (4g, 1a) and Scheifele (3g, 2a) are tied in first with five points each.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Coach Peters tried to use the
Teuvo Teräväinen - Victor Rask - Janne Kuokkanen’s line against them heavily. This combination has led for an outstanding two-way line with all three of them possessing a Corsi EV of 65 CF% or better.
Don’t be shocked if you see
Justin Williams on this line though, as he has played on the RW with them some in both games. Coach Peters has switched the combinations of the Rask and
Derek Ryan lines both games after the first period and throughout the game.
Based on how Coach Peters tries to shut down the Jets top two lines could create a favorable match-up for the
Jeff Skinner - Ryan – Williams line, as it might go against the Jets third or fourth line.
Their bottom six have not had favorable possession metrics, as
Brandon Tanev has the best Corsi EV with a 40.7 CF% of them all and
Marko Dano is last with a 25.7 CF%. Based on the heavy even strength offensive zone starts for the Ryan line, the Jets will have to figure out how to match-up against three well-balanced lines.
The real question tonight seems to be the Jets top-six offensive abilities against the Hurricanes ability to make the Jets bottom-six pay.
It wouldn’t be shocking to see Coach Peters use the fourth line against the Jets top lines to get good match-ups against the bottom-six. They have been used significantly in a shut-down role, and all three are central to the Hurricanes strong PK unit.
While this line is traditionally defensive-minded, they have found ways to contribute offensively this year. Most strong fourth-lines in the NHL can play two-way hockey and mostly not be a defensive liability. This embodies the Hurricanes fourth line this year. Tonight, when they aren’t in a defensive setting, it could be a game-changer if they can contribute offensively.
The last item that could swing the outcome of the game tonight is the special teams. The Jets are not very disciplined and have taken seventeen penalties in their first four games.
The teams with speed appear to be the ones that have given the Jets the most problems – this could be key for a speedy Hurricanes team, as will moving the puck quickly in transition to force penalties.
The potential for a lot of powerplay chances comes at a timely opportunity for the Hurricanes. While the powerplay went zero for three on Saturday this was mostly because of big-time saves by
Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Jets could be the perfect team for the Hurricanes to find their powerplay chemistry and groove against though. This is because the Jets are 28th in the league on the penalty kill (70.6%) and because the last time the Hurricanes didn’t score a powerplay goal on them was eight games ago on February 4th, 2014.
Exactly how good is the Jets PK for the Hurricanes PP – the Hurricanes have six powerplay goals on seventeen opportunities over the last three match-ups.
Overall, tonight should be a good test for the Hurricanes as they begin their four-game road trip. Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm ET and will be on FSCR.
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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