Late Window on the West Coast: Red Wings Open Their Trip in Seattle, Hurricanes Visit a Canucks Team That Owes Them One

SEATTLE

The last two pucks of the NHL night drop on the West Coast, and they drop in buildings with very different October stories to tell. At Climate Pledge Arena, the Detroit Red Wings open a four-game road trip through the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada against a Seattle Kraken team that has been scoring in bunches and leaking results at the same time. At Rogers Arena, the Carolina Hurricanes — 7-2-1 and tied for first in the Metropolitan Division, according to the Hurricanes' own game preview on NHL.com — visit a Vancouver Canucks club at 2-7-1 that has already lost to Carolina 7-2 once this season and cannot afford many more nights like it. Both games were still scheduled, 0-0, on ESPN's scoreboard when Previously checked on Tuesday evening. Follow the night on Previously's NHL hub.

Detroit at Seattle: a point streak goes on the road

Detroit arrives with momentum it has had to fight for. According to the Red Wings' preview on NHL.com, Detroit brings a four-game point streak into Tuesday's road-trip opener, has won two straight, and pushed the streak along with a 4-3 shootout victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday — the club's first multi-goal comeback win of the campaign. The theme out of Detroit's Monday practice, in that same preview, was taking its home game on the road: players pointed to long stretches of patient, structured play at home as the blueprint for surviving enemy buildings, starting in Seattle.

Seattle's side of the matchup is about response. The Kraken are 2-2-0 since their Oct. 9 game against Detroit, per NHL.com's preview, and come in off back-to-back losses — most recently an 8-3 defeat to the Florida Panthers on Saturday. The scoring, at least, has not been the problem: going into Tuesday, Seattle was tied for fourth in the NHL at 3.78 goals per game, with Jared McCann (three goals, five assists) and Kaapo Kakko (two goals, six assists) tied for the team scoring lead at eight points apiece, according to NHL.com. A team scoring like that, at home, after an 8-3 loss, is a dangerous first stop on anyone's road trip — and a fragile one if the defensive details that failed in Florida show up again. Pre-game listings had Seattle at 5-3-1 and Detroit at 3-3-2.

Carolina at Vancouver: first place meets desperation

The second game is a rematch with a fresh wound. Carolina and Vancouver meet for the second and final time this season, 12 days after Logan Stankoven recorded a natural hat trick and the Hurricanes cruised past the Canucks 7-2 at home on Oct. 8, according to the Hurricanes' preview on NHL.com. Carolina's State Fair road trip reaches its midpoint at Rogers Arena, and the Hurricanes arrive looking to start a new winning streak: their last game was a 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Sunday, played without Taylor Hall, Mark Jankowski, Seth Jarvis and Jordan Staal, with goals from Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jalen Chatfield not enough and Brandon Bussi making the team's first 30-plus-save performance of the season in the loss, per NHL.com.

Vancouver's need is simpler and more urgent. The Canucks are 2-7-1 with five points, sixth in the Pacific Division, and their last game was a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, according to NHL.com's preview. At home, against an opponent that hung seven on them less than two weeks ago, the Canucks do not need a statement so much as a foothold — a first period that does not chase the game, and a defensive night that gives Rogers Arena something to build on. Carolina, 5-1-0 on the road in the pre-game listings, has been the wrong opponent for teams looking to feel their way into a game.

The night so far, and what to watch late

The late window closes a busy Tuesday. In the results already final on ESPN's scoreboard when Previously checked on Tuesday evening, New Jersey beat Colorado 4-3, the New York Islanders beat Anaheim 3-2, Los Angeles won 5-2 at Washington and Toronto won 6-2 at Columbus, while Montreal and San Jose were tied 3-3 in overtime at the Bell Centre. That is the company the late games keep: a night of tight, high-event hockey in the East, with the standings points in Seattle and Vancouver still to be decided after much of the league has gone home.

What decides the two late games is not hard to name, even if it is hard to do. In Seattle: whether Detroit's road discipline travels, against a Kraken attack producing at a top-five rate and a home crowd expecting a response to the Florida loss. In Vancouver: whether the Canucks can turn a 7-2 lesson from Oct. 8 into a competitive rematch against the Metropolitan's co-leaders, or whether Carolina's road form — and a quick start to a new streak — makes the gap between these two Octobers look exactly as wide as the records say. Puck drop in Seattle comes first, at 6:40 p.m. Pacific, with Carolina-Vancouver following at 7 p.m. Pacific. The West Coast gets the last word on the NHL night, as it should. Keep up with both on Previously's NHL coverage and the sports front.