Carolina Hurricanes @ New Jersey Devils: Game 4 Preview, Lineups, Game Discussion
Carolina Hurricanes vs. New Jersey Devils 2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 4 Carolina leads series 2-1 Tuesday, May 7, 2023 — 7 p.m. ET Prudential Center — Newark, NJ Watch: ESPN Listen: 99.9 The Fan Follow Canes Country on Social Media Twitter @CanesCountry
The second round matchup between the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils has been a series of blowouts so far, with the closest games still having differentials of four goals.
Saturday’s matinee matchup saw the Hurricanes defensively implode and surrender the first four goals of the game before they started having any sort of pushback. The 8-4 loss was one of the worst playoff losses the Canes franchise has had simply from a goals against standpoint.
However, Carolina did score three shorthanded goals in the game so there were a handful of positives to take away from it.
The Hurricanes hope that if they can tighten their game back up and play their brand of hockey, that they will be able to bring back a 3-1 series lead to Raleigh.
Game Notes
Sebastian Aho, the team’s leading scorer this postseason, is currently on a six-game point streak. The Finnish forward is on the cusp of being a playoff point per game player for his career with 56 points in 57 games so far.
Often unsung hero, Jordan Martinook, became just the third player in franchise history to have a multi-point streak of three games or more joining Sebastian Aho and Bates Battaglia.
The three shorthanded goals by Carolina in Saturday’s game were also a franchise record. Jordan Martinook, Jordan Staal and Seth Jarvis all tallied goals while on the penalty kill.
In fact, Martinook’s penalty shot goal was the first in franchise playoff history.
Projected Lineups
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes did not hold a morning skate today, so we’ll have to wait and see if these lines hold up.
Stefan Noesen - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Jordan Martinook - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Jesper Fast
Jack Drury - Jordan Staal - Martin Necas
Derek Stepan - Paul Stastny - Jesse Puljujarvi / Mackenzie MacEachern*
Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Brady Skjei** - Brett Pesce
Shayne Gostisbehere - Jalen Chatfield
Frederik Andersen
Pyotr Kochetkov***
Injuries and Scratches: Antti Raanta (ilness), Calvin de Haan (healthy), Dylan Coghlan (healthy), Teuvo Teravainen (IR hand), Max Pacioretty (LTIR Achilles), Andrei Svechnikov (LTIR knee), Ondrej Kase (LTIR concussion)
Black Aces: Vasiliy Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, Jamieson Rees, Ryan Suzuki, Maxime Lajoie, Zach Sawchenko
*MacEachern practiced yesterday on the fourth line, rotating with Jesse Puljujarvi, so we may see a swap there tonight.
**Brady Skjei was not at practice yesterday and is obviously nursing something. He’ll probably go today, but if not Calvin de Haan is expected to draw in.
***Antti Raanta hasn’t been the backup for a few games no due to illness, but he was practicing with the team yesterday. He may be back in, but that’s another wait and see case.
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils held an optional skate this morning and head coach Lindy Ruff confirmed that the Devils will go 11/7 again.
Ondrej Palat - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier - Jack Hughes - Dawson Mercer
Tomas Tatar- Michael McLeod - Erik Haula
Miles Wood - Nathan Bastian
Jonas Siegenthaler - Dougie Hamilton
Luke Hughes - Damon Severson
Kevin Bahl - John Marino
Brendan Smith*
Vitek Vanecek
Akria Schmid
Mackenzie Blackwood**
Injuries and Scratches: Ryan Graves (Day-to-Day), Curtis Lazar (healthy), Yegor Sharangovich (healthy) Jesper Boqvist (healthy), Jonathan Bernier (LTIR hip)
*Brendan Smith drew in last game in addition to Luke Hughes for the injured Ryan Graves. Ruff said this morning that Graves could be an option to go back in tonight.
**At the optional skate, Mackenzie Blackwood and Akira Schmid were the goalies on the ice. Maybe Vitek Vanecek just took the morning off because he is starting or maybe there is something else there, who knows.
Source: Canes Country
