Bruins vs. Canes 3/26/23 PREVIEW: Back to Back battles against Weather!

Mar 26, 2023 - 6:55 PM

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Just the Facts:

The Time: 5pm EST

The Place: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina

Place to Watch: NESN, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet West, SN360, TVAS

Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub

An Opposing Viewpoint: Canes Country

Know Your Enemy:

• The Canes are taking up 2nd place overall in conference with 102 points, are 6-4-0 in their last ten, and just recently beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-3 result last night. They’ve clinched their spot, and are set to face the Islanders in the playoffs this year.
• Sebastian Aho is the leading goalscorer for Carolina with 32 goals in 64 games played.
• Martin Necas is the current points leader for the Canes with 67 in 71 games, though he’s currently nursing a three game goal-less streak. He also leads the team in power play points.
• Right behind him however, is Brent Burns, who predictably has had a quiet but very strong season that should cautiously be hailed as a return to form for him.
• The Canes are one-upping the Bruins even in the goaltending department, having to platoon three goalies at once due to a cavalcade of injuries: Antti Raanta who has a .907 SV% in 22 starts, Pyotr Kochetkov who has a .911 SV% in 22 starts, and Frederik Andersen who has a .903 SV% in 28 Starts. Raanta’s out day-to-day, and Kochetkov played yesterday, so there’s a good chance Frederik Andersen will start today.

Game Preview:

It’s Whalers night in Raleigh tonight, meaning we’re almost assuredly in for some of the biggest and weirdest nerds you’ve ever met caping for the honor of Hartford, even though the Whalers brand has officially been a logo for t-shirts and sweaters longer than it ever was the crest of an NHL (or WHA) jersey. My suggestion is that when Jack brings it up on the broadcast, because he has done this with frightening regularity, to mute the game for 45 seconds unless he mentions specifically the great criminals who actually got them moved there: Eddie Johnston for demolishing the half-decent roster they once had, and Steve Karmanos for being Steve Karmanos.

Now that we have that out of the way, Boston’s on a back to back after a playoff preview-style game against the Lightning. Carolina had a similar kind of game against Toronto as well, so both sides are probably going to be more than a little gassed for the first period or so. Still, this will almost certainly be another potential playoff preview; The Canes have had the Bruins’ number for a little while now and it’s starting to feel like now’s as good a time as any to break that particular

Also joining the team either tonight or Tuesday, is Oskar Steen! He was just called up, and will likely be taking the place of somebody in the lineup if he’s made his way down to Raleigh with the team.

It’s going to be a slugfest no matter what, so let’s see how Boston handles the Hurricanes tonight!