Carolina faces Florida in a Black Friday tilt (discounted tickets presumably available) that wraps up a weird 6 game home stand that stretched over 2 full weeks and included a 4 day rest in the middle. The NHL schedule monkey finds new ways to out-weird himself every year. And there's two more 3-day breaks coming up in December. The Canes will be the freshest, rustiest team in the league by New Years.
Carolina comes into this game having won 2 in a row and 4 out of 6, which given the anxiety level surrounding the team seems weird. McIllhinney presumably gets the nod tonight have been solid+ for two starts in a row. I'd think everything else stays basically the same as well, with Rask working his way in slowly. The Canes are now 10-8-3 and have slipped back up into the middle of the Metro Division with those two wins. Goal scoring and special teams still trend in the lower 3rd of the league for those categories, but Carolina's goals against is now Top 10 in the league ... despite below average overall goaltending. I get the feeling that the team is far more satisfied with where they are than a lot of the fans and media.
Florida ... meh. NHL .500 at 8-8-3, the Interstate Kitties are similar to the Canes with reverse image issues overall. Their goaltending is decidedly iffy with Luongo finally starting to show his age, but the team D isn't as strong so they give up goals in clusters. Meanwhile their offense has been largely reliable, led by solid starts from Hoffman, Barkov and Dadonov and a resurgent performance from Keith Yandle. That guy really re-found himself in Florida last season and is cooking at a point per game pace early on. Of Florida's 8 wins, 5 game in consecutive games to start November. That surge was derailed when they dropped 3 of their last 4 games, giving up nearly 6 goals a game in the process. Yuck. Their last game was a 7-3 drubbing from their Florida rivals the Lightning. Suffice to say that they're not in the happiest of Holiday moods. If you'll recall, Florida are a team that likes to get cheap and chippy when things aren't going their way so this will be a good test of Carolina's newly installed team backbone.
Remember ... 7:30 start and they wear black on Fridays. God, but I hate that promotion.
Carolina comes into this game having won 2 in a row and 4 out of 6, which given the anxiety level surrounding the team seems weird. McIllhinney presumably gets the nod tonight have been solid+ for two starts in a row. I'd think everything else stays basically the same as well, with Rask working his way in slowly. The Canes are now 10-8-3 and have slipped back up into the middle of the Metro Division with those two wins. Goal scoring and special teams still trend in the lower 3rd of the league for those categories, but Carolina's goals against is now Top 10 in the league ... despite below average overall goaltending. I get the feeling that the team is far more satisfied with where they are than a lot of the fans and media.
Florida ... meh. NHL .500 at 8-8-3, the Interstate Kitties are similar to the Canes with reverse image issues overall. Their goaltending is decidedly iffy with Luongo finally starting to show his age, but the team D isn't as strong so they give up goals in clusters. Meanwhile their offense has been largely reliable, led by solid starts from Hoffman, Barkov and Dadonov and a resurgent performance from Keith Yandle. That guy really re-found himself in Florida last season and is cooking at a point per game pace early on. Of Florida's 8 wins, 5 game in consecutive games to start November. That surge was derailed when they dropped 3 of their last 4 games, giving up nearly 6 goals a game in the process. Yuck. Their last game was a 7-3 drubbing from their Florida rivals the Lightning. Suffice to say that they're not in the happiest of Holiday moods. If you'll recall, Florida are a team that likes to get cheap and chippy when things aren't going their way so this will be a good test of Carolina's newly installed team backbone.
Remember ... 7:30 start and they wear black on Fridays. God, but I hate that promotion.
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