Hurricanes vs Panthers Picks & Props

They'll have a big challenge to get back on track Thursday night when they meet the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla.

One way the Hurricanes have identified to find their groove again would be better outings away from home.

"It's obviously tougher playing on the road," coach Rod Brind'Amour said.

The Hurricanes have won just one of their last four games overall following Tuesday night's 4-3 shootout loss at Columbus.

More troubling for Carolina is a 1-6-2 record in its last nine road games and 8-9-2 for the season.

"We have to figure out what's going on on the road games right now," Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi said. "It has been happening for a while now. We have to find a way out of it. Have the same mindset we have for the home games."

Florida last played on Monday, defeating the visiting New York Rangers 5-3.

That should give Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky plenty of time to be ready for the team's first game of 2025.

"He has been very, very good," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "I think his last nine or 10 starts, he's fantastic for us."

For the Panthers, flipping the calendar is notable after they won the Stanley Cup in 2024.

"We've had a spectacular and memorable year," Maurice said.

Florida has scored in a game's first five minutes 12 times this season.

The Hurricanes have had good patches of play in some recent games even without the results. That's what gives them a sense of good things to come in 2025.

"There are certain ways we want to do things, and they're trying to do it that way," Brind'Amour said of his players. "It's not always going to work out."

The outcome in Columbus was characterized, from the Carolina standpoint, by "some weird goals that cost us," Brind'Amour said.

On the last two days of November, the Panthers beat Carolina twice. There was a 6-3 victory in Raleigh, N.C., and then a 6-0 home rout in the rematch.

"We were really bad the last two games against them," Kotkaniemi said. "We need to fix that."

Spencer Martin, who is back in the minor leagues, was the losing goalie in both of those matchups. Florida split the goalie assignments, with Spencer Knight logging the 20-save shutout. That marked one of two games this season that the Hurricanes have failed to score.

Carolina forward Jack Roslovic has scored three goals across the past two games. The line he's on has been clicking.

"They've been fairly dynamic and we need them on the scoresheet," Brind'Amour said. "He has been good all year."

Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola, who already has compiled a career-high four goals, missed the past two games with an upper-body injury. He was back on the ice earlier in the week. He's a player who Maurice has referred to as the team's top defenseman this season.

"Not an injury we're worried about becoming chronic," Maurice said. "It's more pain tolerance. That's not even fair because he'd play with it. We need him to heal a little bit and then he'll come back and won't come out."

--Field Level Media