Carolina Hurricanes vs. Columbus Blue Jackets: Lineups and Game Discussion

Let’s try this again, shall we? After a bizarre postponement of Tuesday night’s game in Philadelphia, the Hurricanes will do something they don’t do very often these days against the Blue Jackets at home tonight: Play a game of hockey.

The Hurricanes will be mostly full strength tonight, with one glaring absence: Top defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who was placed in the league’s COVID protocol Tuesday.

Brady Skjei, he of the three-game goal streak, will take Slavin’s spot on the top pair alongside Tony DeAngelo. In addition, Jack LaFontaine will officially join the Hurricanes’ roster tonight and back up Frederik Andersen as Antti Raanta remains out.

Here’s how the Hurricanes will line up for this one:

Teuvo Teravainen - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Andrei Svechnikov - Vincent Trocheck - Jesper Fast
Nino Niederreiter - Jordan Staal - Martin Necas
Steven Lorentz - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Derek Stepan

Brady Skjei - Tony DeAngelo
Ian Cole - Brett Pesce
Brendan Smith - Ethan Bear

Frederik Andersen
Jack LaFontaine

Injuries: Antti Rannta

COVID protocol: Jaccob Slavin

Scratches: Jordan Martinook

Jakub Voracek entered COVID protocol for Columbus on Thursday, but other than that the Jackets will bring a mostly healthy lineup to Raleigh.

Here’s how Columbus projects to line up for this one:

Patrik Laine - Boone Jenner - Gustav Nyquist
Max Domi - Cole Sillinger - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Alexandre Texier - Jack Roslovic - Emil Bemstrom
Eric Robinson - Sean Kuraly - Yegor Chinakhov

Zach Werenski - Adam Boqvist
Vladislav Gavrikov - Andrew Peeke
Jake Bean - Dean Kukan

Elvis Merzlikins
Joonas Korpisalo

Scratches: Gavin Bayreuther, Gabriel Carlsson

Injured Reserve: Justin Danforth, Daniil Tarasov

COVID protocol: Jakub Voracek