Prediction published on 1/8/26, 2:45 PM
 by
Edgar Jibran
in
NHL Picks
Next Thursday night will bring a fantastic opportunity for the Carolina Hurricanes to regain the top spot of the Eastern Conference, as they will face the Anaheim Ducks, which is a team that lost all the momentum they built by the beginning of the regular season. However, the Hurricanes should significantly improve their offensive performance, as they have scored more than three goals in only two of their last five games.
Despite this, the Carolina Hurricanes were able to defeat two very competitive teams like the Dallas Stars and the New Jersey Devils, but it shouldn’t be ignored that not winning this game would most likely take them down to the third spot in the Eastern Conference’s standings. To avoid that scenario, Logan Stankoven and Nikolaj Ehlers are expected to keep earning points just like they did during the last two Hurricanes’ games.
Meanwhile, the Anaheim Ducks currently are one of the three Western Conference teams that haven’t been able to win any of their last five games, but due to the great job they did at the beginning of the season, they still are tied with teams like the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks. Nevertheless, it’s notable that Leo Carlsson hasn’t been able to recover his offensive impact for the Ducks after the injury he suffered in December.