New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes: Preview and game thread

A loud Lenovo Center will be packed to welcome the Carolina Hurricanes tonight after a tough road trip and holiday break. The New Jersey Devils and Canes are right back at it again, this time on the Canes’ home ice after the Devils won the third round 4-2 last night.

The Canes return to Lenovo after a four-game road trip in which they went 1-3, with their lone win coming against the struggling Rangers. The Canes are currently 5-6-0, and after a hot start, the Canes have fallen to a solid third place in the Metropolitan Division. They’re five points behind the Washington Capitals and eight points behind these Devils – although the Devils have still played three games more than the Canes and the Canes will still have three games in hand after tonight.

The Canes will look to improve on their 13-4-0 record at Lenovo and rebound against New Jersey’s sophomore goaltender Jake Allen. Allen is currently 5-5 on the season with a 2.79 GAA and a .900 save percentage. He has suffered his last three defeats in a row and has conceded 12 goals in those three starts. In addition, he has not been between the pipes since December 19th. The hope is that the Canes can play the same game as Friday, but this time against a goalie who can’t make the saves of Jacob Markstrom

On the other side of the ice, the Canes will likely face Dustin Tokarski on the second night of the matchup. He is 1-1 so far this season after a win over Columbus in Nashville last Monday. Their win against Columbus was outstanding and the home crowd should help provide the support they need.

The bigger problem for the Canes is the guys who recently signed big contract extensions: Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis are largely gone from a scoring perspective. Even though Brind’Amour mixes more than a Smoothie King, these players just couldn’t be impressed. There’s still plenty of time left, and the Canes have the luxury of beating the Pittsburgh Penguins by six points to clinch fourth place in the metro to settle matters.

After tonight, the Canes will receive their final two-day break in two weeks, as the Canes play eight games in the thirteen-day span from December 31st to January 12th. While five of the eight games will be played at home, the two away games will pit them against the two Florida teams battling on the Atlantic, including the rescheduled road game against Tampa Bay. The real excitement of the season has begun and the sooner the Canes can break out of their panic and start running, the better.

So those are the stakes tonight as the red-sweater-clad Canes take on the Devils. The game will be sold out. So if you’re not there, you can follow what’s happening as follows:

• Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
• Location: Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC
• TV: FanDuel Sports Network South with Mike Maniscalco, play-by-play; Tripp Tracy, color analyst; Hanna Yates, in-game reporter; Shane Willis, analyst.
• Radio: 99.9 The Fan
• Line: ML: CAR-135; PL: CAR -1.5 +190