South Raleigh News

The Carolina Hurricanes are set to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 7, 2025, at Amalie Arena in Tampa. The game follows a significant overtime victory for the Hurricanes against the Pittsburgh Penguins, which marked their third multi-goal comeback win of the season. In that match, Sebastian Aho achieved his 600th career point with an overtime goal.

Aho is now one of three players in franchise history to reach this milestone, joining Ron Francis and Eric Staal. Aho's achievement came after playing 638 games, notably fewer than Staal's record. Meanwhile, Brent Burns is poised to tie Steve Larmer for the sixth-longest consecutive games played streak in NHL history as he approaches his 894th consecutive game.

In terms of goaltending, Dustin Tokarski contributed significantly to Carolina's recent victory by saving 16 out of 19 shots. Should Coach Rod Brind'Amour decide not to start Tokarski again tonight, Pyotr Kochetkov might take over as goalie. Kochetkov has a past victory against Tampa Bay from November 2023.

The Lightning have experienced four straight losses coming into this game and scored only one goal in each of their last three matches. Despite these setbacks, they maintain a strong position within their division due to a positive goal differential and contributions from key players like Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.

Tampa Bay is likely to rely on Andrei Vasilevskiy as their starting goaltender against the Hurricanes following Jonas Johannson’s performance in their recent loss against Anaheim.

Injury updates for Carolina include William Carrier missing Sunday’s game due to a lower-body injury and Tyson Jost being sidelined long-term since December 31st with another lower-body injury. Shayne Gostisbehere was placed on injured reserve following an upper-body injury sustained late December.

Following tonight's matchup against Tampa Bay, the Hurricanes will head back home for practice before facing off against the Toronto Maple Leafs later this week at Lenovo Center.