Preview: December 17 vs. Washington

Canes and Caps to meet for the first time this season

By Walt Ruff

@WaltRuff Hurricanes.com

December 17, 2023

RALEIGH, NC. - The Carolina Hurricanes will try to move their point streak to four games on Sunday as they host the Washington Capitals at PNC Arena.

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When: Sunday, December 17

Puck Drop: 6 p.m. ET

Watch: Bally Sports South, Bally Sports App

Listen: 99.9 The Fan, Hurricanes App

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Canes Record: 16-12-2 (34 Points, 4th, Metropolitan Division)

Canes Last Game: 6-5 Loss (OT) to the Nashville Predators on Friday, December 15

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Capitals Record: 14-9-4 (32 Points, 5th, Metropolitan Division)

Capitals Last Game: 3-1 Loss to the Nashville Predators on Saturday, December 16

NSH@CAR: Aho scores goal against Kevin Lankinen

Last Time Out

Returning home after a 12-day, six-game road trip, the Canes' offense put on a show for the home crowd on Friday night. Unfortunately, the Predators also had no trouble scoring in the affair. At one point during a six-goal second period, Carolina led 4-2, but Nashville eventually tied the contest at 5-5 and forced overtime. In the extra session, Filip Forsberg scored on the only shot, giving the Canes their first loss in six days.

Raanta Placed On Waivers

Allowing six goals in the affair, a move that came in the aftermath of the loss was goaltender Antti Raanta being placed on waivers Saturday. Playing in 14 games this season, the veteran netminder has produced a record of 6-5-1, but an .854 save percentage. Teams will have until 2 p.m. Sunday to claim the netminder. If unclaimed, he could still be on the team's roster for tonight's game.

Penalty Kill Trending In The Right Direction

Also in the defeat on Friday night, Carolina had their perfect penalty streak ended. Tim Gleason's units have had a fantastic month, now 22-for-23 since the start of December, leading the NHL with their 95.7% success rate during that time. After a rocky start to the season, they now rank 14th among all 32 teams at 80.2%.

Drury's Heating Up

Forward Jack Druryenters the contest with points in five consecutive games. A career-long, it is also the longest streak by a Canes player this season.

In Net

Pyotr Kochetkov is likely to be between the pipes this evening for a variety of reasons. With Raanta being on waivers on Saturday, it would also be #52's turn to get back in the cage after having the night off on Friday. The 24-year-old was fantastic both Tuesday in Ottawa and Thursday in Detroit, allowing just one goal in each of those outings. With Frederik Andersen (blood clotting issue) still on the sidelines, Kochetkov is likely to have a big responsibility in net for the Canes moving forward.

On The Other Side

Although the Capitals have scored just 66 goals this season (31st in the NHL), they are very much so in the too-soon-to-be-looked-at playoff race. Part of that reason is because they've done a good job of keeping the puck out of their net, allowing just 77 goals this season (5th in the NHL). A reason why the offense has struggled is because their power play has operated at a 9.2% success rate (31%) and Alex Ovechkin has just five goals in 26 games.

Injury Updates

Goaltender Frederik Andersen is sidelined indefinitely after the team announced on November 6 that he is dealing with a blood clotting issue.
Forward Andrei Svechnikov will be "out for at least a while" after suffering an upper-body injury on December 4.

What Are We Wearing?

The team will be wearing their black sweaters tonight. A complete uniform schedule for the season can be found here.

Additional Game Information

Coming to tonight's game? Save $15 on parking by purchasing in advance. Click here to buy.
Want to remember tonight forever? Purchase a commemorative ticket here.

What's Next After Tonight?

The Canes are scheduled to practice on Monday and return to game action Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The #Canes promo schedule is here! We promise you won't want to miss these nights ⤵️

Tickets » https://t.co/en2xq5hfL7 pic.twitter.com/sKSJi4c3aX
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 5, 2023