The NHL’s hottest team looks to gain some momentum on the road when the Carolina Hurricanes visit the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Carolina (41-22-4, 86 points) has won its last seven games, pulling six points ahead of the New Jersey Devils for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Hurricanes posted an eight-game streak from Oct. 22 to Nov. 7.
As well as the Hurricanes have played this season, most of their success has been built around an elite home record. The team’s 14-15-3 away record is far more modest, and it stands out as a possible weak link as the playoffs approach.
Carolina has been off since a 5-0 road win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. It was the first game of a four-game trip.
“Generally (time off is) not what you want when you’re going good. You want to keep rolling,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “But I think in the long term, (we’ve) got a real crazy month of hockey left. … So it’s a good mental break for what we’ve got coming up.”
The extra time has also allowed some injured players to recuperate. Dmitry Orlov (upper-body injury) practiced Wednesday and could be ready to return after missing five games. Andrei Svechnikov (upper-body injury) is still questionable and may miss his fourth straight game.
A trip to San Jose has been a salve for many teams this season, as the Sharks (18-41-9, 45 points) are at the bottom of the NHL standings. The Hurricanes are 7-0-1 in their last eight meetings with San Jose, including a 3-2 win in Raleigh on Dec. 10.
The Sharks are 1-4-0 in their last five games. San Jose also had four days off between games, coming off a 5-1 home loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
Rookie star Macklin Celebrini is the face of the Sharks’ rebuild and the team’s leader with 50 points (21 goals, 29 assists).
Another newcomer is expected to make his NHL debut on Thursday, as the Sharks have called up defenseman Luca Cagnoni from the AHL. Cagnoni was a fourth-round pick for the Sharks in the 2023 NHL draft, and he has 47 points (13 goals, 34 assists) over his first 56 games in the AHL.
“(Cagnoni’s) tool set is something that we don’t have a lot of, in the sense of being a puck-moving defenseman, running a power play, bringing some offense to our group,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky told the San Jose Mercury News.
Goalie Georgi Romanov is expected to make his first NHL start on Thursday. Romanov has made three relief appearances for the Sharks over the last two seasons, including playing the last two periods against Washington after starter Alexandar Georgiev was pulled.
Frederik Andersen likely will start for the Hurricanes. Pyotr Kochetkov delivered a 26-save shutout against Philadelphia, but Carolina has been rotating the two goalies for the last two months.
Brent Burns will be playing in his 911th consecutive game on Thursday, giving the Hurricanes’ defenseman the fifth-longest ironman streak in NHL history.
–Field Level Media
