The two best teams of the Metropolitan Division will meet up in the second contest of their separate back-to-back sets, as the 1st-placed Carolina Hurricanes will pay a visit to the 2nd-placed New Jersey Devils.
A four-game winning streak came to an end for the Carolina Hurricanes (43-13-8), who were blanked with a count of 4-0 by the Vegas Golden Knights at PNC Arena last night. The ‘Canes outshot Vegas 33-24, forced the visitors to block further 19 attempts and killed their only penalty, but went 0-for-1 with the man-advantage themselves, ultimately conceding a snipe in each period before the Knights rounded off the proceedings with an empty-netter 1:24 from time. It was the third shutout defeat of the season for Carolina, which has dropped three of its past seven matchups (4-3-0).
Goalie Frederik Andersen (16-7-0 on the year with a 2.38 GAA and a .904 save percentage) turned aside 20 shots yesterday, but is likely to give way in Carolina's crease to Pyotr Kochetkov ahead of tonight’s trip to New Jersey. Kochetkov, who has posted an 11-4-5 tally for the ongoing campaign with a 2.21 GAA and a .917 save percentage, is 2-1-0 against the Devils in past encounters with a 2.33 GAA and a .911 save percentage. The Hurricanes, meanwhile, are scoring the 11th highest number of goals per game this season (3.33), while giving up the 2nd lowest quantity defensively (2.50). They are 15th in power play (21.7%) and 2nd best in penalty kill (83.7%).
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