The Carolina Hurricanes and the Columbus Blue Jackets meet in NHL action from the Nationwide Arena on Thursday night.
The Carolina Hurricanes will try to snap a four-game losing skid after a 5-3 loss to New Jersey last time out. Martin Necas has a team-high 39 points with 17 goals and a team-high 22 assists while Sebastian Aho also has 20 assists along with 13 goals as part of his 33 points. Andrei Svechnikov also has 34 points with a team-high 19 goals this season. Pyotr Kochetkov is 10-4-4 with a 2.30 GAA and a .914 save percentage while Antti Raanta is 10-2-3 with a 2.63 GAA and a .894 save percentage in goal for Carolina so far this season.
The Columbus Blue Jackets will look to rebound from a 6-3 loss to Tampa Bay in their last matchup. Johnny Gaudreau has a team-high 38 points with 11 goals and 27 assists while Boone Jenner has 22 points with a team-high 11 goals. Elvis Merzlikins has gone 4-11 with a 4.62 GAA and an .865 save percentage while Joonas Korpisalo is 6-7-1 with a 3.10 GAA and a .913 save percentage and Daniil Tarasov has gone 2-8-1 with a 3.40 GAA and an .907 save percentage in goal for Columbus this year.
Carolina is 7-3 in their last 10 road games and 0-4 in their last 4 games overall while the over is 6-0 in their last 6 division games. Columbus is 17-42 in their last 59 games overall and 7-19 in their last 26 division games while the over is 48-22-4 in their last 74 home games.
I get the case to be made for either side in this game, but I’m looking at the over here. I haven’t trusted Columbus’ goaltending all year long and Carolina, despite being the better team in this matchup, haven’t been able to find their footing in the midst of their current losing streak. I think that Carolina likely pots a few here, but wouldn’t be surprised if Columbus did their fair share of scoring either here, so give me the over.