NHL Game of the Week: Carolina Hurricanes vs. Colorado Avalanche

The Hurricanes look to continue their hot streak as they go on a little west coast trip starting off in Colorado against the struggling Avalanche to start off the season.

The Hurricanes have taken the league by storm at the start of the season only losing two of their first 12 games. They are looking to continue an eight-game winning streak.

The Avalanche have been plagued at the start of the season off to a tough 6-8-0 start on the season.

The Hurricanes were getting written off coming into the season. Many thought this was going to be a down year for the Canes with key departures in Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce, Jake Guentzel and Teuvo Teravainen.

There was little doubt of being a good team, and most likely remaining at the top of a weaker looking metropolitan division, but they have come out with something to prove so far.

The early season surge has been led by an unlikely hero who wasn’t even sure he would be suiting up in a Hurricanes uniform again. Martin Necas leads the team in points with 21 and finds himself sixth in the league.

The Hurricanes have seen the lower guys on the depth chart step up with Necas, and Pyotr Kochetkov stepping up in Frederik Andersen’s absence. Kochetkov has put up a 7-1 record giving up a 2.51 GAA and an .896 save percentage.

The Avalanche have been bitten hard by the injury bug at the beginning of the season. With key injuries everywhere, they have relied heavily on their top guys.

The Avs have missed players like Devon Toews, Jonathan Drouin, Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen and Ross Colton. Missing most of their top nine forwards has made it hard to get depth scoring on a team that is known for a high powered offense.

They have only reached the four goal mark three times in 14 games, which makes it hard to win in a game that is focused on scoring.

Gabriel Landeskog has started the season on IR, and the guys they do have are starting to get injured too. Cale Makar and Miles Wood are both hoping to be available for this game.

The Avs have also struggled in between the pipes with three different goalies already having occupied the crease. Alexandar Georgiev, who was supposed to be the answer, has struggled early going 1-5 with a 4.05 GAA and a measly .847 save percentage.

They seem to have plugged the leak a little in net with Justus Annunen who is 5-2 with only a 2.64 GAA and a solid .893 save percentage, but he can’t start every game, and they need a better backup.

The top guns have delivered for the Avalanche though with Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar both in the top three in the league in points. Mikko Rantanen rounds out their top three weapons with 17 points.

Despite all the injuries to the Avalanche, they still have a lot of fire power and can hang with the best of them.

The Hurricanes thrive on a heavy load of shots at the goalie and scoring dirty goals and scoring in bunches. If the Avalanche aren’t careful, they could find themselves having to crawl back from a multiple goal deficit quickly.

In order to keep this close, the Avalanche are going to have to make this game a track meet and hope to outscore a scary Hurricanes offense.

Tune in on ESPN+ at 9 P.M. on Saturday.

Tristan Kunec is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email tqk5432@psu.edu.