Just the facts
- When: Tonight, 8 PM
- Where: Lenovo Center – Raleigh, NC
- How to follow: ESPN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
- Opposing perspective:Canes Country
Know your enemy
- 9-2-2, 20PTS, 1st in the Metropolitan Division
- Sebastian Aho: 7G-11A-18PTS; Jackson Blake: 2G-11A-13PTS; Andrei Svechnikov: 6G-6A-12PTS
- Pyotr Kochetkov: 7-0-0, 1.70 GAA, .916 save percentage
Game notes
- If you considered the recent Dallas game a measuring stick match-up, then you can consider this one Measuring Stick Match-Up II: This Time In North Carolina. The Bruins visit Raleigh to face the Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes, a team whose title defense is off to a hot start.
- The Hurricanes and Bruins were the #1 and #2 teams, respectively, in the NHL prior to Monday night’s action. The Canes have one more point and have played one more game than the B’s.
- Carolina has had a weirdly away-heavy start to their title defense. The Hurricanes have played 13 games, with nine of those 13 coming on the road. They’re 7-1-1 away from Lenovo Center and 2-1-1 on home ice.
- Former Bruin Taylor Hall, who was placed on injured reserve earlier this month, was activated on Monday and is expected to return to the Carolina lineup tonight. The Canes also recently got Seth Jarvis back, as he missed the first several weeks of the season recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
- Carolina signed holdout defenseman Alexander Nikishin to a one-year, $3 million contract this weekend. The Russian blueliner will need some time to ramp up to game action, so don’t expect to see him tonight.
- Brandon Bussi, a recent addition to the “Bruins Should Have Kept” Hall of Fame, is off to a relatively tough start to the season. Bussi is 2-2-2 in six starts, posting a 3.27 GAA and .865 save percentage. The Canes have rotated Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov on the young season, but given the two-day layoff and Kochetkov’s continued strong play, I’d imagine we see him tonight.
- The Canes lost Jordan Staal to a calf injury a couple of weeks ago, with the Carolina captain expected to miss up to two months.
- While he just missed out on a top-three spot in the team scoring list above, Logan Stankoven is off to a great start in his second full season with Carolina. Stankoven has eight goals in 13 games, nearly halfway to the 21 he scored in 81 games last regular season.
- Both the Bruins and Hurricanes are top-five teams in terms of team offense and defense. The B’s have the league’s third- and second-best GF/G and GA/G figures, while Carolina is fourth-best in both categories.
- As a reminder (and I double check every time now), this game appears to be an ESPN exclusive, with the game getting a national broadcast over a regional blackout. Please double check your own listings and don’t get mad at me if I’m wrong. Blame corporate media.
See ya tonight!