After a break, the Canes look for their eighth straight win in San Jose.
The Carolina Hurricanes (41-22-4) traveled to the west coast and will play the San Jose Sharks (18-41-9) tonight as they start a brief west coast swing. Game time is 10:30 P.M. Eastern.
The Hurricanes are riding a seven game winning streak but have not played since Saturday night when they steamrolled the Flyers, 5-0. They are 8-2-0 in their last 10.
Pyotr Kochetkov got the shutout in that game so it would seem to indicate that Frederik Andersen would get the start next if they stay in their rotation, but with so much rest between games could they go with Kochetkov again?
Both goalies have been on their “A” games of late but Kochetkov has won five games in a row and he has a 10-2-2 record in his last 14 games.
I have not seen anything official as of this posting but Dmitri Orlov was practicing with the regulars and looks to draw back into action tonight. That would leave Scott Morrow the odd man out on the blueline.
Andrei Svechnikov was in a yellow jersey the last practice and most likely will remain out.
San Jose has had a rough season with a league low 45 points earned and a -77 goal differential. They are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games.
The Sharks have announced that they will be starting goalie, Georgi Romanov tonight, which will be his first NHL start.
San Jose rookie, Macklin Celebrini is a player to watch.
Brent Burns returns to a place he is very familiar with. It is weird how these things work at times but he will play in his 911th consecutive game and will move past former San Jose teammate, (and Hurricane great) Patrick Marleau. That puts him at 5th place on the league’s all-time list.
Newcomer, Mark Jankowski, who just set an NHL record with his 4 for 4 shooting since becoming a Cane, will play in his 400th career NHL game.
Have a cup of coffee and join us on the game thread tonight.
Team’s Preview – https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news/preview-march-20-at-san-jose