It’s safe to say the beginning to the Carolina Hurricanes’ six-game Western road trip is off to a bang. Another night with a Canes game, another night with a Canes win. It’s becoming routine at this point.
With the 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks last night, the Hurricanes now sit atop of the NHL as the last remaining undefeated team with a 4-0-0 record. In the first two games of the road trip, Carolina outscored the Ducks and Sharks by a combined 9-2, giving them a league-leading +11 goal differential.
And they are looking to continue that trend Saturday night against a slightly struggling 1-3-1 Los Angeles Kings team. The game will be at 9 p.m. ET on FanDuel Sports Network.
The win over the Ducks was the Seth Jarvis game. Jarvis found the back of the net twice and added an assist on an impressive forced turnover in the offensive zone, putting the puck on a platter for Sebastian Aho. The goal was Aho’s first of the season and put the cherry on top to another dominant performance. Despite both his other linemates netting goals, Nikolaj Ehlers is still in search of his first point as a Hurricane. The highly-coveted free agent signing will once again be on goal-watch against Los Angeles.
As for the Kings — a team that has finished with 99 or more points the last four seasons — Thursday night was not as kind to them. After going up two goals in the first period, the Penguins netted four unanswered to complete the comeback.
In some ways, both the Kings and Canes have had similar fates over the last couple seasons. Perhaps LA is one of the few teams with just as frustrating playoff performances in recent years as Carolina, with the Kings falling to the Edmonton Oilers in the first round in each of the last four postseasons.
But the start to both teams’ seasons this year has been polar opposite. Five games in, the Kings have struggled, managing just three points thus far. But don’t let the record fool you, LA is a strong team looking to find their footing early in the season. The Canes will have their hands full, probably more so than their last two matchups.
LA is led by a strong forward group, including Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe who both have five points this season. Anze Kopitar, who has four points in as many games, did not suit up in the loss to Pittsburgh. Kopitar has a chance to return to the lineup against the Canes Saturday though.
With a 6-5 barn-burning win over the Golden Knights, and two close losses to the Wild and Jets, LA has shown some fight contrary to what the results on paper show.
Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper missed the game against the Penguins with an injury, so anticipate the chance for Anton Forsberg to start in-between the pipes on Saturday. Forsberg has posted a 3.89 GAA and .867 save percentage in two games this year.
If Saturday’s late-night matchup is anything like the last two, it will be more than worth losing some sleep over.