The Carolina Hurricanes are set to begin a series of three games in four nights as they host the Nashville Predators on Saturday. The game will take place at 7:00 p.m. ET and can be viewed on FanDuel Sports Network South or listened to on 99.9 The Fan and the Hurricanes App.
The Hurricanes currently hold a record of 16-8-2, placing them second in the Metropolitan Division. Their most recent outing resulted in a 5-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. Seth Jarvis scored his team-leading 16th goal during that match, with assists from Shayne Gostisbehere and Sebastian Aho.
Injuries have affected the Hurricanes’ lineup early this season, but there is optimism for the return of key players. K’Andre Miller missed Thursday’s game due to illness but was back practicing with Sean Walker on Friday. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, sidelined since November 14 with an ankle injury, has progressed in practice and skated between Taylor Hall and Eric Robinson.
Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov also returned to practice this week after recovering from a lower-body injury, potentially giving head coach Rod Brind’Amour all goaltending options for Saturday’s game. Brind’Amour commented on Kochetkov’s status: “It’s kind of in (the players’) hands… When they say that they can play, then we’ll make that determination. Until that time, I don’t know. But he looks good to me.” When available this season, Kochetkov has recorded a 4-0 record with one shutout.
The Nashville Predators arrive in Raleigh at the bottom of the Central Division standings with a record of 10-13-4 but have shown improvement recently by winning four out of their last five games. Ryan O’Reilly leads Nashville’s offense with eight points over those five games and is first in team scoring for the season with 21 points in 27 games. Luke Evangelista has also contributed multiple multi-point performances lately.
Juuse Saros has started most games for Nashville and earned wins in each of his last three appearances; however, following a demanding performance earlier this week, Justus Annunen may start against Carolina.
Other injury updates include defenseman Charles Alexis Legault missing several months due to hand surgery after suffering lacerated tendons, while Jaccob Slavin remains out with a lower-body injury but participated in practice wearing a no-contact sweater.
Carolina will wear their black uniforms for Saturday’s contest. After facing Nashville, they will play again Sunday against the San Jose Sharks at Lenovo Center.
