About Last Night
The best way to describe what transpired on Friday night in Raleigh was captured in five simple words from Hurricanes captain Justin Williams.
"That was just not us," he said.
From start to finish, from top to bottom, from the first goal against to the eighth, that was not the Hurricanes, certainly not the team that has experienced a renaissance in the new year.
"We didn't have anything going. I don't think there was one part of our game that was any good. We were getting beat right from the beginning," Justin Faulk said. "We made it very, very easy on them."
The Jets used a pair of goals in the first 5:48 of the game to springboard their offensive attack. They added two more goals in the opening frame to take a 4-0 lead to the locker room at the intermission. Another goal late in the second plus three more in the third stretched their margin of victory.
"Every grade-A we gave up, it went in the back of our net. We couldn't recover," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "The game was almost over before it got started, unfortunately."
About Tonight
The scheduling demands of the Hurricanes' 14th of 17 back-to-backs this season will force the team to not ruminate on an 8-1 score for long.
Instead, the Canes are afforded the opportunity to return to the frozen sheet less than 24 hours later and bury the result from Friday night just as quickly as it happened.
PROJECTED LINEUP
"We've always answered the bell this year so far, and it's time to do it again," Williams said. "This time of the year, a game like that can go one way or the other."
"Guys come in, come to work and bring maximum effort every day. That's how we get through that and how we've managed to be where we are today. That's the only way we can look at it tomorrow," Faulk said. "We just need to work and compete. You do that, it's OK. It looks right. Everyone's on board. That's not OK."
The Last Meeting
The Hurricanes and Predators met for the first time this season on a Sunday afternoon nearly two months ago. Sebastian Aho potted a hat trick, which included an even-strength goal, a power-play goal and a shorthanded, empty-net goal, to lead the Canes to a 6-3 victory, their seventh in eight games at the time.
The Opposition
Nashville won consecutive games over the Minnesota Wild in the shootout on Sunday and Tuesday to improve to 39-25-5 (83 points) on the season. The Predators, who occupy second place in the Central Division, are 22-12-1 at home this season.
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS KEYS TO THE GAME
