National Hockey League
Preview
Carolina at Columbus
When: 7:00 PM ET, Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio

The Carolina Hurricanes will look to extend their winning streak to six games when they close their regular season Tuesday night in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.

Carolina (52-22-7, 111 points) doubled up the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Sunday night.

Forward Seth Jarvis scored a pair of goals as the playoff-bound Hurricanes swept the season series against the Blackhawks.

"Just play our game," said Sebastian Aho, who also scored in Sunday's win. "Kind of business as usual. You try to win hockey games, doing it with good habits and just play our game.

"That's pretty simple. You try to build, build your game towards Game 1 of the playoffs. I think we've done a pretty good job of just sticking with it and playing our game. I know it's a cliché. Especially this time of year, it's big to not pick up bad habits."

The Hurricanes, second in the Metropolitan Division, have won eight of their past 10 games and are 25-12-3 on the road this season.

Forward Jake Guentzel has points in eight straight games (six goals, seven assists), while defenseman Jaccob Slavin has a goal and six assists in his past five outings.

Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov is 23-13-4 this season with a 2.33 GAA and a .911 save percentage. In his only other start against Columbus, he made 21 saves in the Hurricanes' 3-2 win on Nov. 26.

"Obviously, we are one of the best teams in this league," said Andrei Svechnikov, who had two assists in Sunday's win. "We've got a great mentality and a great team to do what we did this season, and we're not done yet.

"We've got one more game to go here. Our mentality is the same. We've got to win every game and just stick with that."

Carolina heads to Columbus looking to sweep the season series against the Jackets. The Hurricanes have won all three meetings between the clubs, outscoring the Blue Jackets 10-4.

The Blue Jackets (26-43-12, 64 points), last in the Eastern Conference, have lost four straight games after falling 6-4 to the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

Forward Trey Fix-Wolansky scored twice, and center Justin Danforth added three assists in the loss in Nashville.

"I think there were parts of the game where we competed, and there were parts of the game where we got away from our game a little bit," Danforth said. "This team is just too good. They'll make you pay; their transition is great. They move the puck really fast. They made us pay when we made mistakes."

Columbus has just three wins in its past 14 games and is 16-19-5 on home ice this season.

Fix-Wolansky has three points (two goals, one assist) over his past three games. Defenseman Zach Werenski has two goals and two assists in his past five outings.

Saturday's goals were the first of the season for Fix-Wolansky.

"That was a big weight lifted off my shoulders," he said. "I've been trying to buy one for a while, so it was nice to see two go in (on Saturday)."

Columbus goaltender Jet Greaves is 2-6-0 with a 3.55 GAA and a .906 save percentage in eight games this season.

-Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W/L Strk Home Away Day Night Div
Carolina 52-22-2-5 W5 27-10-2-2 25-12-0-3 5-4-0-0 47-18-2-5 16-5-1-3
Columbus 26-43-10-2 L4 16-19-4-1 10-24-6-1 2-6-1-0 24-37-9-2 6-16-2-1
Last Meeting
Carolina Columbus
Date Away Home Shots Saves PP Shots Saves PP
4/7/24 CLB 0 CAR 3 35 23 1-4 23 32 0-1
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Total Points Player  
Carolina T. Teravainen 2
Columbus R. Ahcan 0
Goals Player  
Carolina S. Aho 1
Columbus R. Ahcan 0
Assists Player  
Carolina J. Guentzel 1
Columbus R. Ahcan 0
Saves Player  
Carolina F. Andersen 23
Columbus M. Subban 32
Season
Total Points Player  
Carolina S. Aho 91
Columbus J. Gaudreau 62
Goals Player  
Carolina S. Aho 36
Columbus K. Marchenko 25
Assists Player  
Carolina S. Aho 55
Columbus J. Gaudreau 49
Saves Player  
Carolina P. Kochetkov 989
Columbus E. Merzlikins 1229
Quickchart Matchup
Carolina Off vs  Columbus Def
3.38 GF
3.64 GA
33.2 Shots
34.3 Shots
66 PP
55 PK
Columbus Off vs  Carolina Def
2.81 GF
2.53 GA
30 Shots
25.6 Shots
32 PP
35 PK