Welcome back to another edition of NHL Predictions. Each day our writers here at Last Word on Hockey take a look at the games, breaking down the key matchups and providing relevant analysis to how they might play out. In this Halloween matchup, the Boston Bruins travel to Raleigh to take on the Carolina Hurricanes. Be sure to keep up with our NHL Predictions throughout the 2024-25 season.
NHL Predictions
Boston Bruins at Carolina Hurricanes
Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
TV: SportsNet, SportsNet 360, FanDuel Sports Network South, NESN, ESPN+
The Bruins travel down to North Carolina to take on the Hurricanes on Halloween. This is the first meeting between these two Eastern Conference teams. Carolina will be returning home after a pretty successful road trip, going 5-1. Meanwhile, Boston comes in following a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers and holding a record of 4-2-1 on the year. This will be a home game for Carolina, but Boston faithful usually show up pretty well at Lenovo Arena.
The Bruins Story
The Bruins have started the season with a somewhat inconsistent start. They sit at the bottom of the Atlantic Division and have struggled to score at a pace they would like to. Their 2.70 GF/GP and 14.3% power play has them near the bottom of the league in both categories. Now that Jeremy Swayman is in net there is always a strength between the pipes and he most likely will get the start here. Unsurprisingly, David Pastrnak leads the team in goals with six and points with eight. The Bruins will be looking to get some footing in their divisional race here.
The Hurricanes Story
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have found a rhythm of late winning their last four in a row. Their success remains reminiscent of every Hurricanes team coached by Rod Brind’Amour. They excel at most advanced analytics and possession metrics while limiting other teams’ effectiveness offensively. Their 2.38 GA/GP has them near the top of the league in that category which comes with little surprise. Even with the turnover in the offseason, Carolina still looks like the team of yesteryears. Sebastian Aho continues to impress in overtime while Shayne Gostisbehere has been hot on the back end. Martin Necas leads the team in points (11) and is tied for the lead in goals (4) with Jack Roslovic. While their special teams may have some room to improve, they both have been pretty solid to start the year with a 23.1% success rate on the power play and 86.7% on the penalty kill.
While the first line has been pretty strong, it has really been solid team games that have gotten the Hurricanes going of late. It will take nothing less to pull out a win here. Both goalies have played well but Frederik Andersen tweaked something and may be out for a short time. With his injury seemingly small, there is still no need to push it at this point of the season. Don’t be surprised to see Pyotr Kochetkov take the start here.
Prediction
Any Boston-Carolina game should provide some excitement for all involved on both sides. These teams have faced each other in the playoffs many times lately and always put on a heavy grinding show. With Swayman in net and players like Pastrnak and Brad Marchand up front, Boston is always a threat. They will be fired up to get a win here. But Carolina will be riding with confidence of late. If they don’t fly too high and can adjust to playing back at home, their complete team game could take over here.
Prediction: Carolina wins 3-2
Prop Bets of the Night
Looking at the bets for the night according to FanDuel, the over/under is set at 5.5 with the under coming in at +104 which is probably a safe bet. Also, look hard at Elias Lindholm as an any time goal scorer with +320 odds to score against the team that drafted him. A smart play would be Andrei Svechnikov for Carolina in the same category at +210 as he has been pushing the play of late really well at 5v5 and on the man advantage.
Main Photo Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
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