The Carolina Hurricanes will seek to restore confidence after a discouraging and destructive training camp, reverse their history of home-opener struggles and win the first half of a divisional home-and-home series with the New York Islanders on Friday night at PNC Arena.
It's an ambitious agenda for the first game of the season.
Minus injured Jeff Skinner and Jordan Staal and benched Anton Khudobin, who will most likely start on Saturday on Long Island, the 'Canes have too much to prove. Eight out of eight experts in The Hockey News' season preview projected Carolina to finish dead last in the Metropolitan Division in 2014-15.
A win over the Isles at home probably wouldn't do too much to shatter such low expectations, but it would at least get the team moving in the right direction.
What critical new aspects should be watched most closely during Friday's game? A breakdown of four particularly pressing questions awaiting answers lies below.
How will Cam Ward handle the pressure?
Cam Ward was unquestionably terrible last season, winning just 10 of 28 decisi ...
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Article written by Mark Jones
4 Key Questions for Carolina Hurricanes’ Season Opener vs. New York Islanders
October 9th, 2014 by Mark Jones Leave a reply »
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