The Carolina Hurricanes will host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, Dec. 5, in the teams’ second and final matchup of the 2024-25 regular season. Their previous matchup was on Nov. 9 in Denver where the Hurricanes dropped the contest 6-4 after a five-goal second period. This time around, the Avalanche come to Lenovo Center where the hosts will look to even up the season series. The Hurricanes didn’t conduct a morning skate Thursday, but the Avalanche did have an optional skate.
From the looks of who was in the starter’s crease, we could see Scott Wedgewood in the net for the visitors. Regarding the Hurricanes, it could be Pyotr Kochetkov if the team goes from their practice lines on Wednesday, Dec. 4. What are the main things for the Hurricanes going into the game? Also, The Hockey Writers was able to ask Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar some questions after the post-optional skate in the morning.
Hurricanes Look to Get Back to Winning Ways
The Hurricanes are coming into the game on a three-game losing streak and a brutal 4-2 loss on Tuesday, Dec. 3 against the Seattle Kraken. Putting up seven shots in the first 40 minutes did not help the home team despite the overturned Jack Drury goal due to goalie interference which took away the initial lead. Going into tonight’s contest, the Hurricanes will need to get back to their game which sees them sitting at 16-8-1 on the season even with their current losing streak. Before the current stretch of games, they were averaging around four goals a game but have only five in the last three combined.
Related: Get to Know Hurricanes’ New Netminder Dustin Tokarski
If they want to turn it around, the defensive structure needs to be back and that includes everyone from the forwards group as well. Furthermore, only getting two shots on goal in one period of back-to-back games doesn’t help much either. Outside of Martin Necas putting up a multi-point game versus the Kraken, a pleasant trend this season, the team seems off all around. Kochetkov is finally back after missing games due to concussion protocol. The hope is that he is the rock the team needs moving forward, especially against an Avalanche team who came back from 4-0 down Tuesday in a dramatic 5-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Bednar’s Post-Avalanche Practice Scrum
Bednar spoke with the media after their optional morning skate. The Hockey Writers was able to get his thoughts on a couple of aspects going into the game Thursday night, including on how it’ll be coming into the Lenovo Center to face not only the Hurricanes but the atmosphere of the “Loudest House” in the NHL.
“It is a great place to play, it’s always fun coming in here because the crowd is always enthusiastic. For us, their game plan doesn’t change, you have to focus on our team to have success,” he said. “Even though it’s fun, it is a great environment to come in and play which it certainly is, their record at home speaks to that and of course, the last few years. I mean it’s a difficult team, it’s a hard building to come in and get points. It just makes us, you know, focusing on our process out much more important.”
It goes to show how important the home crowd can be, especially in the NHL where teams thrive off of that and the Hurricanes are no strangers to succeeding at home, being 9-3-0. However, two of those losses have come during this current skid. If they want to grab that 10th home win of the season, they will need to get the fans into the game early and often.
Related: Jared Bednar Becomes Colorado Avalanche’s All-Time Leader in Games Coached
When asked about comparing players like Devon Toews and Jaccob Slavin, Bednar stated, “Taser… his hockey IQ if off the charts. He understands what you need to do to create offense, how he can help that, what you need to do to shut down with the other team. Whether it’s a rush attack in the zone, and I mean, he’s got a great skill set when it comes to his skating. He sticks to the things that they talk about. Same thing for Slavin… he can be physical when he needs to but its his brain is what makes him so good; the understanding of the game and then having the tools that he can apply in the game and situations at all times and be thinking one step ahead — this is what makes you so good.”
The comparison of the two is not surprising given that they are considered some of the NHL’s best defensive defensemen. This goes to show why both men were named to their respective 4 Nations Face-Off teams (Slavin for the USA and Toews for Canada). It’ll be interesting to see these two go up against the best players on each other’s respective teams.
When it comes down to it, will it be the momentum-riding Avalanche or the upset Hurricanes coming out as the victor tonight? Only time will tell as the two sides are always in the playoff discussions every season.
Which Storm Will Win?
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. EST tonight and can be viewed on FanDuel Sports South for Carolina and Altitude Sports for Colorado. The radio will be on 99.9 The Fan for the home side and Altitude Sorts Radio for the visitors. This will be one game you will not want to miss.
