After a thrilling 5-4 comeback win over the Buffalo Sabers on Tuesday night, the Colorado Avalanche continue their five-game trip to the East with a matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. This will be the second and final game of the regular season between these two teams, with Colorado winning the first game with a final score of 6-4.

Colorado avalanche

As mentioned, Colorado started their road trip in truly incredible fashion as they fell 4-0 to the Buffalo Sabers and stormed all the way back to win with a final score of 5-4. Now call me crazy, I’m not sure if going big early and then charging until the end is an effective way to play hockey in the NHL, but at least it’s fun to watch!

However, comebacks like Tuesday’s may work against teams like the Buffalo Sabres, but they probably won’t work against a good, experienced team like the Carolina Hurricanes. The Avs did this once when they played them earlier this year when they scored five goals in the second period to help secure the win, but I doubt Carolina will let that happen again. You have to start on time against this Canes team tonight.

Projected lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen
Nikolai Kovalenko – Casey Mittelstadt – Valeri Nichushkin
Joel Kiviranta – Ivan Ivan – Logan O’Connor
Nikita Prishchepov – Parker Kelly – Chris Wagner

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Samuel Girard-Sam Malinski
Calvin De Haan – John Ludwig

Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina comes into this game probably looking to get it right against Colorado. They have recently lost three games, including two losses to the Florida Panthers and the Seattle Kraken.

Therefore, it is very likely that they will face the Avs here tonight as they will look to overcome the slump they are currently in, making it even more important for Colorado to start on time. Even if they give up early and manage to fight back, this Canes team knows how to handle such adversity because, as mentioned, they are a good, experienced team. When it comes down to it, coming back from a 4-0 deficit like the Avs did against Buffalo won’t be easy here tonight.

Projected lines

Andrei Svechnikov – Sebastian Aho – Jack Roslavic
Eric Robinson – Jack Drury – Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook – Jordan Staal – Seth Jarvis
William Carrier – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Jackson Blake

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns
Dmitry Orlov – Jalan Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere – Sean Walker

goalkeeper

After coming into the game in relief on Tuesday, Scott Wedgewood had a pretty strong first outing in an Avalanche uniform as he closed the door on giving them a chance to come back in this game, which they ultimately did. That’s why he has the starting shot tonight.

Carolina will likely face Pyotr Kochetkov again tonight, who has had his own issues of late. I would say that I can probably expect a high-scoring game here tonight, but of course it’s always possible that the game still ends 1-0.