The Carolina Hurricanes and the Nashville Predators will continue their battle in the Stanley Cup playoffs on Tuesday. The heavily-favored Hurricanes have blown a 2-0 lead in the first-round series and need to regain momentum on home ice.
The two teams have played out back-to-back games in double overtime and bookmaker Bovada has the odds at +310 for Game 5 to go past regulation as well.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 24th, 7:00 P.M. (EST)
Carolina started the series with a pair of very comfortable wins. Jordan Staal scored twice in a 5-2 victory to kick off the series and Alex Nedeljkovic posted a 32-save shutout in a 3-0 win in Game 2. However, the tide has turned with the experienced Predators finding an extra gear.
The series has perfectly summed up Nashville’s season as they have had plenty of struggles but there’s always been that one big result, which has helped the team to get going again.
It’s been a nice team effort in the playoffs by the Predators with nine different goal-scorers and seven different skaters with at least three points through four games. They have shown off great depth, which is always important in the postseason.
Carolina has also received good scoring throughout the lineup, which has helped to ease the load on Sebastian Aho’s shoulders. He’s been in great form personally as well with three goals and five points so far, but with others chipping in, the team can feel confident of eventually finishing off the job in the series.
Nashville has shown great character to bounce back, but Carolina is still expected to advance into the second record. Rod Brind’Amour simply seems to have a bit more quality at his disposal and the Hurricanes also hold the home advantage if Game 7 is needed.
Even before the playoffs started, home ice was historically a big factor in this matchup. The Hurricanes have posted a particularly dominant home record with 12 wins in the last 14 outings. Following the Predators’ success in the previous two games, the home team has now won 10 of the last 11 meetings between the two.
It looks likely that the trend will continue here with Carolina having played great hockey on home ice throughout the year and despite suffering two defeats on the ice, they still have a spectacular head-to-head record against Nashville with 15 wins in their last 20 meetings.
