The Carolina Hurricanes will travel to the BankAtlantic Center to take on the Florida Panthers. These 2 teams will have a home-and-home series with each other. The Panthers are suddenly gaining confidence since they have won 3 of their last 4 games and they’ll look to continue their strong play when they host the Hurricanes on Friday night. The last game the Panthers played, they beat the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3 at home. The Panthers led 3-0 during the game, but the Thrashers scored 3 straight goals to tie the game. Michael Frolik would score the game winner late in the 3rd period. The Hurricanes are coming off of a win themselves, beating the Dallas Stars 5-3 at the RBC Center. Tuomo Ruutu would score his first career hat trick in his career. The Panthers have one of the worst home records in the NHL at 5-6-5 but have shown improvement lately, going 3-1-5 in their last nine at the BankAtlantic Center. These 2 teams have split 2 meetings this each with each other. For the Canes, they’re just 1-12-4 on the road this season and they were held to 3 goals or fewer in 16 of those games. The first time they met, the Canes destroyed the Panthers 7-2 at RBC Center. The last time they met however, the Panthers shutout the Canes 3-0 at BankAtlantic Center. The Canes has a league-low 22 points, but has been better of late, going 3-2-1 in its last 6 after a five-game skid. Cam Ward will start tonight for the Canes while Tomas Vokoun will start for the Panthers. For the Canes to win tonight, they must somehow score on the road and shut down both Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss. For my prediction tonight, I think the Panthers will beat the Canes 4-1.

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