Road Warriors:Playing their first road game of the calendar year, the Canes also have at least one point in their last 11 road games. They are 7-0-4 dating back to November 14, the second-longest streak in franchise history. The current run only trails the streak of points in 12 consecutive road games from 2004.
Brick Walls:Friday night's shutout of Florida was the fourth clean sheet in the month of December for the Canes. After Pyotr Kochetkov had two of his own in back-to-back games (12/10 -12/13), the Canes became just the third team in NHL history to have two goaltenders post consecutive shutouts in a team's first 36 games of the season. It was just the second time in Raanta's career he's had back-to-back perfect games and he now has a shutout streak of 127:35.
Can't Go Wrong:Antti Raanta is now 6-0-0 in his last six decisions and has started four consecutive games for Carolina. Despite Kochetkov's impressive 10-1-4 record and being second in the NHL in both goals against average and save percentage, Rod Brind'Amour said on December 23 that Kochetkov wasn't 100%, hence the decision to stick with Raanta. Kochetkov has participated in each practice and morning skate during Raanta's run, but with the veteran playing as well as he has, there's no wrong answer on who the Canes could go with in net.
On The Other Side:After getting off to a 19-4 start, the Devils have gone 4-7-2 since the start of December. They've averaged just 2.54 goals per game through the eight contests, 27th out of 32 teams for the month. 2019 first overall pick Jack Hughes has been a bright spot for the team as he continues to take his game to new heights, totaling 41 points in 36 games. Former Hurricane Dougie Hamilton leads the team's defense in scoring with 30 points in 36 contests and Brendan Smith has three points in the last five games.
