TEAM COMPARISONS<\/p>\n
2025 was a year to remember for the Canadiens, both collectively and individually. As a team, Montreal closed out the calendar year with a 44-26-14 record, the seventh-best mark in the NHL. On an individual level, Lane Hutson rewrote franchise record books, Cole Caufield netted 37 goals, and Nick Suzuki finished with 97 points, cementing himself among the league\u2019s top Canadian performers. Fittingly, the year ended on a high note, with the Canadiens storming back for a dramatic win in Florida \u2014 a comeback powered by Hutson, Caufield, and Suzuki all playing pivotal roles. Here\u2019s hoping they carry that momentum into the new year and kick off 2026 with a win in Carolina.<\/p>\n
Carolina has once again shown why it\u2019s considered one of the league\u2019s elite, climbing to the top of the Eastern Conference as the season approaches its midway point. The Hurricanes don\u2019t feature a roster full of point-per-game players \u2014 with Shayne Gostisbehere the lone exception \u2014 but their balanced attack has them ranked inside the NHL\u2019s top 10 in scoring. Defensively, they\u2019ve been just as steady, sitting 11th overall despite Jaccob Slavin being limited to just five games this season. Seth Jarvis is also sidelined for Thursday\u2019s game, while Gostisbehere\u2019s status remains uncertain after he missed Carolina\u2019s last outing, a 5\u20131 loss to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
SEASON SERIES<\/p>\n
Jan. 1 @ CAR:<\/p>\n
Mar. 24 vs. CAR:<\/p>\n
Mar. 29 @ CAR:<\/p>\n
PLAYERS TO WATCH FOR<\/p>\n
And exhale. Nick Suzuki was officially named to Team Canada\u2019s Olympic roster on Wednesday, bringing relief after what he admitted was an anxious wait. With that weight lifted, the Canadiens captain is free to play loose, and if his performance in Florida is any indication of what\u2019s to come, look out.<\/p>\n
For the Hurricanes, the spotlight falls on Brandon Bussi. Yes, that Brandon Bussi \u2014 Carolina\u2019s 27-year-old rookie netminder, who enters tonight\u2019s matchup with a 13-1-1 record, a 2.08 goals-against average, and a .912 save percentage.<\/p>\n
BY THE NUMBERS: HABS-CANES<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how the Canadiens and Hurricanes match up by the numbers:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEAM COMPARISONS 2025 was a year to remember for the Canadiens, both collectively and individually. As a team,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-382048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}