The Canes look to keep the ball rolling in their first ever trip to Utah.
The Hurricanes meet the Utah Hockey Club for the first time ever Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.
Carolina (11-3-0) looks to keep its hot streak going against a Utah (6-6-3) squad playing its first home game of the month. Utah went 1-2-1 on a four-game road trip to start November, but hopes to harness some home ice advantage tonight.
On the flip side, the Canes got right back to their winning ways with a 5-2 victory over Vegas last time out. Though a defeat at Colorado last Saturday snapped an eight-game win streak, the Canes look to keep the momentum rolling in the last leg of their three-game road trip.
Martin Necas’ point/assist streak remains a focal point of the Hurricanes’ offensive success. He enters tonight riding a career-best 10-game point streak each of those games including an assist. He boasts seven goals and 14 assists during that span with a shot percentage over a quarter at 25.9 percent.
Jordan Martinook also carries a four-game game streak into Delta Center. He and Necas will get a good shot to extend those streaks against Utah whose 3.40 goals allowed per game ranks 25th in the league.
Curiously, Utah also ranks outside the top 20 in power play and penalty kill percentage and goals scored per game but leads the NHL in faceoff percentage. Kevin Stenlund and Barrett Hayton lead the charge in that regard. That duo takes the majority of faceoffs for the squad and do so well with a 65.3 and 61.6 percentage, respectively.
Utah’s 59.4 faceoff win percentage just beats out Toronto for the league best. Carolina, no slouches in their own right with a 50.7 percentage to place 13th in the league, will have to work hard in the faceoff circle.
Puck drop is set for 9 p.m. ET at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.