The Carolina Hurricanes face the St. Louis Blues in a matchup between two teams playing great in recent games. The Hurricanes have a 12-6-5 record and with back-to-back wins, have leaped near the top of the Metropolitan Division. The Blues have an 11-11 record and seven wins in their last 10 games, they have made up ground in the Central Division. The Hurricanes look to continue to improve in the Metropolitan Division while the Blues are looking to continue to make up ground in the Central Division and the upcoming game looks to be a good one as result.
The Hurricanes are having a promising season but hope the offense can improve, scoring only 2.70 goals per game. Martin Necas, Andrei Svechnikov, and Sebastian Aho have scored 34 goals and 40 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has let the Hurricanes down this season. Only three skaters have scored five goals or more while only five skaters have scored seven goals or more and opposing defenses can limit the top-heavy offense with ease.
The offense has struggled but the defense has stepped up, allowing only 2.74 goals per game including only four goals in their last two games. Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce have combined for 3.5 defensive point shares and 50 blocked shots while Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin have combined for 3.2 defensive point shares to give the Hurricanes two great defensive pairings. In addition, goaltender Antti Raanta has stepped up in the net with a& #xA0;.901 save percentage and a 2.47 goals-against average on 203 shots.