Colorado Avalanche at Carolina Hurricanes: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 11/17/2022

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC

Where to watch: BSSO, ALT

DraftKings: Hurricanes -125, Avalanche +105

FanDuel: Hurricanes -137, Avalanche +114

BetMGM: Hurricanes -120, Avalanche +100

Caesars: Hurricanes -125, Avalanche +105

Avalanche: 8-5-1 (17 points)

Hurricanes: 10-5-1 (21 points)

Avalanche: lost 3-2 vs. Blues on Tuesday

Hurricanes: won 3-0 at Blackhawks on Monday

The Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes will meet for the second time in less than a week, this time with the home-and-home shifting to Carolina on Thursday for another entertaining Stanley Cup Final preview in Raleigh.

Colorado was on a four-game winning streak but had it snapped to the suddenly surging St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Monday behind a 45-save masterpiece from Jordan Binnington. Cale Makar had assists on both Colorado goals, but they couldn’t get that last shot past him.

"I feel like we did a lot of good things. We did the right things to win that game," Makar said. "Just a couple unfortunate errors by me, and an unfortunate bounce off my stick and in the net. Like I said, that's hockey. You're going to probably get those back at some point, but for us, definitely an easily winnable game. I feel like we did everything right. Just didn't come out with it."

The start to the year for the Avalanche hasn’t gone the way, sitting 8-5-1 heading into this game. But there’s always a chance for the defending champs to get things going at the opportune time. Mikko Rantanen, for example, has 14 points in his last 5 games. Yes, you read that correctly. Nathan MacKinnon has 11 assists in five games. The offense is coming; that’s what you’d expect from a team that scored 20 goals in a four-game winning streak.

"I felt like our intensity, like when the game was on the line, our attack mentality was probably better than it was at times during the game," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "But at the same time, I thought we created lots of chances, enough chances to win. Their goalie made some saves, we missed out on a few opportunities. It is what it is."

The Hurricanes haven’t had the string of winning that the Avalanche have had. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Carolina has lost three of five since their four-game winning streak, but it bounced back in a solid way with a 3-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday. Goaltending has been a slight issue for Carolina with Frederik Andersen going down with an injury, but Pyotr Kochetkov made 27 saves for his first NHL shutout.

That’s the kind of performance the Hurricanes needed, being at a 10-5-1 record is certainly a good start. But Carolina, at least my guess, knows things could be better on all fronts as they try to navigate through the waters with their No. 1 goalie.

"Pyotr made a lot of great saves tonight," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "He really kept us, I don't want to say in the game. We didn't have to panic. A real huge performance by him. He was dialed in. They had a lot of good looks. You can kind of tell with a goalie, he was already there, even with a couple of backdoor plays. He was solid. You've got to give him a lot of credit. I don't think we were great after the first little while, but we were good enough, and he was great."

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the home team get a nod here. Carolina is at home in a battle of inadequate goaltending, and that usually bodes well if Carolina does get its scoring touch back. I like the Canes. Hurricanes win 5-4

Avalanche are 155-125 on the road in non-conference games since 1996.

Avalanche are 270-237 on the road off an under since 1996.

Hurricanes are 176-173 at home after winning two of three all-time.

Under is 159-121 when the Hurricanes play in November all-time.

Avalanche:

Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen

Alex Newhook -- Evan Rodrigues -- Martin Kaut

Andrew Cogliano -- J.T. Compher -- Logan O'Connor

Sampo Ranta -- Jayson Megna -- Dryden Hunt

Devon Toews -- Cale Makar

Jacob MacDonald -- Josh Manson

Andreas Englund -- Erik Johnson

Alexandar Georgiev

Hurricanes:

Andrei Svechnikov -- Sebastian Aho -- Seth Jarvis

Stefan Noesen -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Martin Necas

Jordan Martinook -- Jordan Staal -- Jesper Fast

Paul Stastny -- Jack Drury -- Derek Stepan

Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns

Brady Skjei -- Brett Pesce

Maxime Lajoie -- Jalen Chatfield

Antti Raanta

Points: Mikko Rantanen -- 26

Goals: Mikko Rantanen -- 11

Assists: Nathan MacKinnon -- 20

Goalie: Alexandar Georgiev -- 7-2-1, 2.70 GAA, .924 SV%

Points: Martin Necas -- 19

Goals: Andrei Svechnikov -- 12

Assists: Martin Necas -- 12

Goalie: Frederik Andersen -- 5-3-0, 2.72 GAA, .891 SV%