Columbus Blue Jackets (16-17-1, fifth in the Metropolitan) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (24-7-2, first in the Metropolitan)
Raleigh, North Carolina; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Columbus visits Carolina looking to end its three-game road losing streak.
The Hurricanes are 11-4-1 in Eastern Conference games. Carolina averages 9.2 penalty minutes per game, the ninth-most in the Eastern Conference. Vincent Trocheck leads the team serving 43 total minutes.
The Blue Jackets are 5-10-0 against conference opponents. Columbus is seventh in the Eastern Conference averaging 5.4 assists per game, led by Jakub Voracek with 0.7.
In their last meeting on Jan. 1, Carolina won 7-4. Brady Skjei scored a team-high two goals for the Hurricanes in the victory.
TOP PERFORMERS: Sebastian Aho leads the Hurricanes with 22 assists and has 37 points this season. Teuvo Teravainen has four goals and six assists over the last 10 games for Carolina.
Oliver Bjorkstrand has 25 total points while scoring 11 goals and totaling 14 assists for the Blue Jackets. Gustav Nyquist has four goals over the last 10 games for Columbus.
LAST 10 GAMES: Hurricanes: 8-1-1, averaging four goals, 7.4 assists, 3.5 penalties and 8.1 penalty minutes while giving up 2.1 goals per game with a .923 save percentage.
Blue Jackets: 3-6-1, averaging 2.7 goals, 4.6 assists, 3.1 penalties and 6.5 penalty minutes while giving up 3.7 goals per game with an .890 save percentage.
INJURIES: Hurricanes: Antti Raanta: day to day (upper body), Jaccob Slavin: out (covid-19 protocol).
Blue Jackets: Daniil Tarasov: day to day (lower body), Alexandre Texier: day to day (illness).
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