Carolina vs Chicago: Central Division leader to win the sixth straight game

Carolina have beaten Chicago in the last three consecutive head-to-head meetings by a combined score of 15-8. Will Jeremy Colliton’s team be able to break such a bad streak in the upcoming encounter? We predict that the Hurricanes will be closer to success once again.

Carolina will still win the Central Division at the end of the regular season, which will be a big success for them since they only just started to make the playoffs, and here they have already done it from first place. The most important thing for the Hurricanes is to approach their cup battles in good shape, and there are many indications of that. In the last five meetings, they did not lose a single point, although there were no opponents at the top level, the stability suggests that Rod Brind’Amour’s boys are ready to fight for high places. They currently lead the Central Division standings, trailing their nearest pursuer by four points.

Chicago are quietly finishing the current regular season without any tournament goals. For a long time, they looked surprisingly good and competitive, but then they lacked any kind of consistency which makes the final stretch of the season a mere formality for them. In their last six games, they failed to get a single win, which made them lose even their last mathematical chance to make it to the Cup Final Four. Chicago now sits just sixth in the Central Division standings, ten points behind the playoffs with three games left in the regular season.

The rivals have three games left to play before the end of the regular season, so the issue of tournament motivation is especially important now. If Carolina are still fighting for the first place in the Central Division, so the points are extremely important for them. Chicago have no tournament prospects, so they quietly finish the season. Of course, in the current situation, the favorites are the Hurricanes, as they proved in the two previous games, beating the Hawks 5-2 and 6-3. We suggest betting on Carolina’s victory with a handicap (-1.5) at the odds of about 1.80.

The battle between Chicago and Carolina this season turns out to be very productive, although previously they were not distinguished by high scoring activity. In their seven previous meetings, the opponents combined for 51 goals (7.29 average per game), which is a very respectable number by NHL standards. Also, the teams overcame the bookmaker’s Total Over (83%) on six occasions in that period. Based on this, the best option for the prediction seems to be Total Over 6.5 pucks at odds of about 2.30.

Vincent Trochek moved from Florida to Carolina at the end of last season, but he did not fit into the team’s game, scoring only 4 points (1 goal + 3 assists) in 15 games. After that, there was no understanding why such a young and ambitious team needed him at all at his 27. Fortunately, the management of the Hurricanes thought otherwise and retained the forward, but in the current regular season, he scored 43 points (17 goals + 26 assists) in 44 games, being the team’s second scorer. In such a situation, it’s worth considering betting on Vince Trocheck’s Total Over 0.5 points at odds of around 1.85.