Carolina did not skate on Friday morning and when asked by reporters who would be in net for his team, Rod Brind'Amour playfully declined to answer.
"I'll let you guys sweat it out," the head coach quipped.
Antti Raanta has started all five games this series, but in an effort to keep both he and Frederik Andersen healthy, rotating starts between the two was a priority over the last month of the season.
Raanta has played well in this series, giving the team a chance to win every game, but could we see Andersen or Pyotr Kochetkov step in to give him a break tonight?
Andersen has not played in any of Carolina's 19 postseason games since joining the club during the summer of 2021. On the other hand, he should be fresh, not having started a game since the team's regular season finale on April 13.
Kochetkov has not played in an NHL game since March 28. However, what he has going for him is that he played in four games during the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when both Andersen and Raanta were injured.
In front of the crease, the Canes are expected to have the same 18 skaters that dressed in Game 5.
Brind'Amour did answer that question this morning, saying he did not foresee any changes to his group from their most recent effort.
Jack Drury practiced with the group yesterday in a no-contact sweater but is not ready to return to the lineup after suffering an upper-body injury in Game 4. The team brought rookie Vasily Ponomarev with to New York as an extra body, but given that he did not practice with the group on Thursday, it would be a surprise if he stepped right into the lineup.
The Canes projected lineup for tonight's 7 p.m. puck drop is:
Forwards:
MacEachern - Aho - Jarvis
Martinook - Kotkaniemi - Necas
Noesen - Staal - Fast
Stepan - Stastny - Puljujarvi
Defense:
Slavin - Burns
Skjei - Pesce
Gostisbehere - Chatfield
Goalies:
TBD
Injuries:
Jack Drury (Upper-Body Injury)
Teuvo Teravainen (Broken Hand)
Injured Reserve:
Jake Gardiner (Upper-Body)
Ondrej Kase (Concussion Protocol)
Max Pacioretty (Torn Achilles Tendon)
Andrei Svechnikov (ACL Injury)
Scratches:
Dylan Coghlan
Calvin de Haan
Vasily Ponomarev
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