Tip: Hard-working Carolina Hurricanes grind down tired Columbus Blue Jackets!

We are sixty rounds into the NHL regular season, and the standings are starting to tighten up even more. In the Metropolitan Division, it's the New York Rangers who have taken control, closely chased by the Carolina Hurricanes. On the night to Friday, the Hurricanes face the same team the Rangers defeated yesterday, Columbus Blue Jackets.

Everything points to an away win

There's not much to suggest that Columbus Blue Jackets will be able to withstand a hard-working Carolina Hurricanes. It's always risky to assume that matches in a league as even as the NHL are decided in advance, but it's equally hard to see the Blue Jackets holding up against one of the league's best teams when they played a game less than 24h ago in New York.

Columbus put up an okay fight against New York Rangers yesterday, but it's likely to be a tough match for them to recover from. They also put their first-choice goalie, Elvis Merzlikins, in goal against the Rangers and are likely to rotate in Daniil Tarasov today. When Carolina Hurricanes also play a very tough style of hockey to face, I envision a Columbus Blue Jackets that won't be able to resist. Unlike Columbus, Carolina has all the ingredients to challenge for the Stanley Cup later this spring. Good forwards and depth in the forward group, perhaps the league's best backup setup, and with Frederik Andersen on his way back in goal, even solid goaltenders. It's also no surprise that Carolina, like previous seasons, continues to have among the best underlying numbers. In addition to creating a lot offensively, they are the team in the league with the absolutely lowest xGA (expected goals against), meaning they allow very little defensively. Combined with facing a relatively blunt Blue Jackets who played a match as recently as yesterday, I believe we will see nothing other than a solid victory for the Hurricanes tonight.

Injuries to keep an eye on

Columbus Blue Jackets
Adam Fantilli (OUT)
Patrik Laine (OUT)
Alexandre Texier (DTD)

Carolina Hurricanes
Frederik Andersen (IR) - Has started practicing
Antti Raanta (OUT)

Betting tips and conclusion

I find it hard to argue against Carolina not just getting the job done against Columbus. Everything should, of course, be converted to probabilities and no match is obvious in advance. Columbus, when everything clicks, after all, has some quality, but with the current conditions and against one of the league's best teams, I find it hard to see them stealing any points!

Carolina Hurricanes FT @ -145 on bet365!