2025-26 Regular Season, Games 74 & 75 Preview: Carolina Hurricanes vs. Columbus Blue Jackets

Last Game: The Carolina Hurricanes couldn't complete their weekend sweep on Sunday with the Montreal Canadiens in town. The script read similarly to their loss in Montreal on Tuesday. The Canes got on the board first when Andrei Svechnikov clapped a shot over Jakub Dobes' shoulder to get them off to a quick start. They were the far better team in the first period, but it all crumbled down in the second. Nick Suzuki tied it early in the second. Cole Caufield snapped one late in the period to give Montreal the lead. Suzuki added another in the final seconds of the middle frame on the power play. This would prove to be more than enough. The Canes continued to struggle for offense against Dobes, who stopped 34 shots in a 3-1 win for the Canadiens to complete their season sweep of Carolina.

Injury Report

Sean Walker: He collided with Juraj Slafkovsky during Sunday's loss, but it's unclear the severity of his injury, or if there is one to potentially keep him out.

The Opponent: Columbus Blue Jackets (38-24-12, 88 Points; 4th in the Metropolitan Division)

Last Meeting: Two weeks ago, these two met in Columbus, and the home team ran away with it. They scored twice on the power play in the opening period to get them off and running. Mason Marchment broke the ice, and Charlie Coyle got one in the final minute to put the Canes in an immediate hole. Nicolas Deslauriers, who was making his Hurricanes debut, tried to give his group life by fighting Mathieu Olivier, and it seemingly worked. Andrei Svechnikov scored soon after to pull the Canes within a goal. There was a tiny bit of controversy late in the second. Danton Heinen tripped Brandon Bussi behind the net, forcing the Canes' netminder to lose an edge. He never fully recovered, and Heinen scored soon after. Denton Mateychuk added another less than a minute later to make it 4-1 after 40 minutes. Olivier got one more for insurance purposes, sealing a 5-1 win for Columbus. Coyle finished the game with four points, and Jet Greaves made 27 stops to help Columbus extend its points streak to 10 games.

Since We Last Met: Their streak would hit 12 games with two more wins on home ice, but things haven't been as good over the last few games. The Blue Jackets have just one win over their last five games, entering Tuesday night with three straight losses. Their defeat on Sunday was particularly brutal, leading 3-0 before allowing three straight goals and falling to the Bruins, 4-3, in a shootout. This recent rough patch has opened the door for a few teams below them in the Wild Card race. The Blue Jackets hold a two-point lead over Detroit, Ottawa, and Philadelphia for the final playoff spot, adding another layer of intrigue to an already tense situation. It doesn't help that over the last week, both Damon Severson and Dmitri Voronkov have been declared week-to-week with injuries, and Mathieu Olivier exited Sunday's loss early. All three are incredibly valuable pieces to their group, so losing them for any length of time, especially this time of the year, is brutal. Their high-end talent remains the driving force for their team, so guys like Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko will be relied upon even more to get the job done down the stretch.

Stories to Watch

1. How does Tuesday in Ohio set the tone for Thursday in NC?

Usually, we see home-and-homes happen on back-to-back days. This scheduling quirk has the two teams meeting with a day in between. We're almost guaranteed to see both Brandon Bussi and Frederik Andersen in the net for the Canes, but we may see Jet Greaves for both games on the Columbus side. I'm curious to see how the first game affects the second one. If the Canes play well and get to Greaves on Tuesday, should he be the starter, how does that change Thursday's game plan? Will a bad game in Columbus make Rod Brind'Amour change things up offensively? How physical a game will we see on Tuesday, and does Nicolas Deslauriers play a part at some point?

2. Can the Canes match Columbus' urgency?

One thing that I felt certain about after both Montreal losses is that the Hurricanes were unable to meet Montreal's level of desperation. I felt the same to be true when the Canes lost two weeks in Columbus. They can't allow that to continue in either game against the Blue Jackets. The Canes still have plenty to fight for, especially with the race for the top spot in the conference growing crowded with Tampa Bay and Buffalo. The Canes don't hold tiebreakers over either team, so they need to finish with more points, and two wins over a division foe could go a long way to making that happen.