SUNRISE, Fla. - Thursday will be a special day in South Florida, as Juha Jaaska makes his NHL debut for the Carolina Hurricanes.
A tremendous story, the 26-year-old will skate in his first game after an injury to Tyson Jost on Tuesday in Columbus created another void down the middle for the team. Jost did not take part in morning skate and Rod Brind'Amour said that he was sent back to Raleigh yesterday.
Jaaska, who was never drafted, signed with the Canes last spring after playing over 300 games in Finland's top league. Starting the year with Chicago (AHL), he produced 16 points in his last 17 games there.
"He's very competitive. All year I've been watching him. His pace is good," Brind'Amour said this morning. "He's not afraid of the physical stuff, which is good. At the NHL level, you've got to have that."
As for the rest of the lineup, Jack Roslovic enters with a five-game point streak. Scoring his team-leading 17th goal of the season against his former team on Tuesday, a point tonight would match his career's longest streak.
Sebastian Aho arrives at the contest with back-to-back multi-point games and Pyotr Kochetkov (14-7-1 | 2.52 GAA | .899 SV%) will try to get back on track after suffering consecutive losses for the first time this season.
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Tonight's Betting Odds...
Odds at Time of Publishing, provided by Fanatics Sportsbook: Canes +105
To view more Fanatics Sportsbook betting lines, click here.
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Tonight's Projected Lineup...
Forwards
Roslovic - Aho - Jarvis
Svechnikov - Kotkaniemi - Necas
Carrier - Staal - Martinook
Robinson - Jaaska - Blake
Defense
Slavin - Burns
Orlov - Chatfield
Smith - Walker
Goaltenders
Kochetkov
[Backup: Tokarski]
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Injuries
Tyson Jost (Lower-Body Injury | Out "Long-Term" As Of Jan. 2)
Shayne Gostisbehere (Upper-Body Injury | Out "At Least A Couple Of Weeks" As Of Dec. 30)
Jack Drury (Hand | Out "At Least A Few Weeks" From Dec. 12)
Frederik Andersen (Knee | Out 8-12 Weeks From Nov. 22)
Jesper Fast (Neck | Out For 2024-25 Season)
Scratches
N/A
(Riley Stillman was assigned to Chicago on Thursday morning.)
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PP1: Aho, Jarvis, Necas, and Svechnikov with Smith
PP2: Blake, Kotkaniemi, and Roslovic with Burns and Walker
