Hurricanes host Jets: Preview, Odds, How to Watch, Game Thread

What better way to celebrate the day after (American) Thanksgiving and the official start of the holiday season than some early evening hockey? The Carolina Hurricanes will take on the Winnipeg Jets in Raleigh at an earlier start time—5 PM—to continue a long homestand that started with a disappointing 4-2 loss against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.

Is it possible that the multiple injuries and players sitting are starting to catch up to Carolina? The Canes are only 5-3-2 in their last ten, and 2-2-1 in their last five. They’re no longer at the top of the Metro Division. The good news is that tonight starts a stretch of very winnable games to allow the team to grab some momentum.

There is possible good news on the front of missing players, as the Canes held an optional practice on Thanksgiving. On the ice was Captain (Not General) Jordan Staal who had been taken out with a bug of some sort the last two games, and his presence had been missed. The 0-2 streak the Canes are on coincide with his missing games, and he was really missing in the faceoff dot on Thursday. At one point Sebastian Aho was 0-6 and the Hurricanes in general lost 54.1% of the faceoffs. In that optional skate, Jesperi Kotkaniemi was also out and working in a yellow sweater for the third consecutive day. However there was still no sign of Jaccob Slavin or Pyotr Kochetkov.

The Canes perhaps have a problem between the pipes as Freddie Andersen has not had the strongest start to the season. Anyone watching knows he didn’t necessarily cost Carolina the game—he made several key saves and on two of the goals he gave up the defensive miscues are more likely to blame—but there have also been multiple times when you’d want a goalie to make stops and he hasn’t. Perhaps the best way to describe the struggles of Andersen is in this state provided by Gary Marbry—who if you aren’t following his heavily stats-driven Substack, you should.

The Canes don’t have a morning skate today, so we’ll see with Rod Brind’Amour’s media availability later in the day who is in and who is out for the team. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Brandon Bussi in net with the relatively short turnaround and still no sign of Kochetkov.

On the other side, the Jets are the last team the Canes were able to score a victory with a week ago. It was also Bussi’s last start, where he made 25 of 28 saves as the Canes came back from a one goal deficit in the first to win 4-3. The Jets have been struggling themselves, as last week’s game against the Canes was their first one since it was announced that Connor Hellebuyck will be sidelined due to a surgery. The Jets haven’t won since as they lost to both Minnesota at home and to Washington on the road. Tonight it’s expected that the Jets will let Thomas Milic make his NHL debut between the pipes. What’s funny as Mike McIntyre points out, Hellebuyck’s first ever start was also in Raleigh, although that came ten years ago against a slightly different roster.

The Jets also will be skipping the usual morning skate, but based on the report from McIntyre it appears the Jets were working for the rookie to make his debut. He’s 5-2 so far with a 2.14 GAA and .921 save percentage for Winnipeg’s AHL team, and with an unfamiliar goalie you never quite know what to expect. Having lost three straight and with the rookie netminder the Jets will likely have all hands on deck, but they also have a game tomorrow night in Nashville—apparently the NHL didn’t want to go for the funnier NAS CAR back-to-back—and this will be game two of a three games in four nights on the road situation. We’ll see what sort of focus the Jets have.

The Canes will be in their black sweaters tonight, and if you’re going to the game, note that hoodies and fleece will be 40% off at the team store. If you can’t make it, here’s how to catch the action.

Time: 5 PM

TV: FanDuel Sports Network. Mike Maniscalco will handle play-by-play alongside Tripp Tracy doing color. Hanna Yates and Shane Willis will provide off-ice reports as well as host pregame starting at 4:30 and postgame that will run for about 30 minutes after the conclusion.

Streaming: FanDuel Sports Network App for fans in the Carolinas. Outside of the area, the ESPN app has you covered as they have every out-of-market hockey game available to watch.

Radio: The pregame on 99.9 The Fan starts at 4:30. At 5PM the Hurricanes Radio Nework (consisting of 99.9, 730 The Game in Charlotte, ESPN New Bern 107.5/1490, and ESPN Greenville 107.5/1570) picks up the FDSN feed. You can also stream the call on the Hurricanes app.

Odds: Hurricanes -215 Moneyline, Puckline Hurricanes -1.5 (+112)/Jets +176 Moneyline, Puckline +1.5 (-138), O/U 6.5 (-110 either side)