The NHL season continues this week as the Carolina Hurricanes host the Columbus Blue Jackets at the PNC Arena in North Carolina.
The Hurricanes have had an excellent campaign so far and come into this game with a 17-9-2 record, while the Blue Jackets have had a more difficult time of things and have a record of 13-10-6.
Both teams will be desperate for a victory, and we’ll provide you with our best free NHL betting picks to try and earn you some extra cash while you enjoy the action on the ice.
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The Hurricanes had an excellent 2024/25 season, before losing the Eastern Conference final series 4-1 against eventual Stanley Cup winners the Florida Panthers.
They have bounced back from that disappoinment in the 2025/26 sesaon so far, and they claimed a win in each of their first five games of the campaign against New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings. The first defeat came against the Las Vegas Golden Knights, and that sparked a run of four in six games.
Carolina recovered with four consecutive wins against the New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs, before the Washington Capitals condemned them to their second defeat of the season. The team then went 3-2-2 in their following games, before closing out November with two more wins.
So far in December, the Hurricanes have been poor. A 6-3 win over the Nashville Predators was sandwiched between disappointing 5-1 and 4-1 defeats against Toronto and San Jose, and now they are desperate to get back to winning ways.
Columbus didn’t have the greatest season in 2024/25 and they started the new campaign poorly. The Blue Jackets opened with three defeats in their first four games, with their sole victory coming against Minnesota.
But the team bounced back with five wins in their next six games, defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo and Toronto to end the month of October with a 6-4 record.
November started with a victory against the St Louis Blues, but their next four games were all on the road and Columbus failed to win any of them, losing against the New York Islanders, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers.
The rest of the month proved to be a mixed bag for the Blue Jackets, as they claimed victories against the likes of Seattle Kraken, Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton, suffered defeats against Winnipeg Jets and Washington and went to overtime against the likes of Pittsburgh, New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings for a 5-5-5 record.
So far in December Columbus have gone 2-1-1, but are winless in their last two games, and will be keen to get back to winning ways quickly to get the season back on track.
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Both teams are coming into this game on the back of some recent poor form, but the Carolina Hurricanes will be looking at this fixture as a real opportunity to get back to winning ways.
Carolina has a 9-5-1 record at home so far this season, while the Blue Jackets have a 7-7-3 record on the road, which suggests the Hurricanes are in a good spot. They’re also strong offensively, with the fifth-ranked best offense in the NHL when it comes to goals scored, while they rank second for shots, with an average of 33.44 per game.
They’ve also scored the fifth-most goals in the NHL this season so far, and they rank second for goals scored in the first period, which means they start games quickly. That could be an issue for Columbus, who rank 27th in the NHL for goals allowed in the first period, and it could leave them a big mountain to climb when they’re currently low on confidence and chasing results.
It’s clear that Carolina are the better team of the two, and if they both play well they should find victory. But recent form hasn’t been the best and it may see them try and ease into the game.
Their record ATS this season has been poor, which puts me off looking at that market too much. But at -189, there is good value on them to just come away with the victory at home and get their campaign back on track, so take that while you can.
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About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
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