Carolina's results lately have been lopsided. The Hurricanes are 4-1 in their last 5 and have won 4 straight as of today, with 2 shutouts along the way: 4-0 at St. Louis and 7-0 over Winnipeg. The 2 games in between were 2-1 over Boston and 3-2 over Columbus, both at home. They can win the close ones and they can run up the score. The only loss in that stretch was a 6-5 game in Edmonton, the one night the defense let a game get loose.
The Islanders' big story is on defense. Ryan Pulock is out 2-4 weeks with an upper-body injury he picked up in the 1st period of a 4-3 overtime win in Minnesota. That's a big hole. Pulock plays heavy minutes, and without him the rest of the defense has to cover those minutes against a Carolina forward group that has been hard to keep up with. On Thursday the Islanders also wear their new Hometown Remix jerseys for the first time, so expect a lively building.
Carolina is short-handed too. Jordan Staal is on injured reserve with a calf tear and is out indefinitely, which takes away the matchup center Rod Brind'Amour leans on in tough minutes. Taylor Hall got hurt again at a morning skate and will miss a few more games. Alexander Nikishin still hasn't made his season debut. The Hurricanes have kept winning without all 3, which says a lot about the depth, but Staal is exactly the kind of player you'd want for a grinding Metro road game.
Puck drop is 7:00 PM ET. The game comes down to 2 questions: what Carolina looks like after Nashville, and whether the Islanders' defense can hold up without Pulock long enough to make it a goalie game. If Kochetkov gets the start and keeps playing like he has, the Islanders will need more than a loud crowd.
