RALEIGH, NC. - The Carolina Hurricanes will have Frederik Andersen defend their net on Saturday as they begin their Round 1 series against the New York Islanders.
Andersen has been lights out since returning from a blood clotting issue in early March, going 9-1 with a league-best .951 save percentage (min. 10 GP).
On the regular season as a whole, he went 13-2 with a 1.84 goals against average and a .932 SV%. Last year during the postseason, "Zilla" allowed a total of just 18 goals in nine games.
In front of him, two questions remain:
- Who will center Teuvo Teravainen and Martin Necas?
- Will Brendan Lemieux be in the lineup?
The last two days at practice the team switched between Jack Drury and Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the "2C" role.
Whichever of the two does not play, will they be a healthy scratch, or will they play wing opposite Stefan Noesen on the "fourth line" with Evgeny Kuznetsov?
If the answer is a healthy scratch, Lemieux would be expected to play.
If the answer is that they'll play wing, Lemieux would be the odd man out.
On defense, no changes are expected to the team's usual six that they used almost every game in the final 50 games of the season.
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Tonight's Betting Odds
Odds at Time of Publishing, provided by Fanatics Sportsbook: Canes -240
To view more Fanatics Sportsbook betting lines, click here.
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Tonight's Projected Lineup...
Forwards
Guentzel - Aho - Jarvis
Teravainen - Drury/Kotkaniemi - Necas
Martinook - Staal - Svechnikov
Drury/Kotkaniemi/Lemieux - Kuznetsov - Noesen
Defense
Slavin - Burns
Skjei - Pesce
Orlov - Chatfield
Goaltenders
Andersen
[Backup: Kochetkov]
Injuries
Jesper Fast (Upper-Body)
Scratches
Jackson Blake
Tony DeAngelo
Scott Morrow
Bradly Nadeau
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PP1: Aho, Guentzel, Jarvis, and Teravainen with Burns
PP2: Kuznetsov, Necas, Noesen, and Svechnikov with Skjei
