The Carolina Hurricanes return to the RBC Center tonight to begin a six-game home stand, taking on the familiar division rival Washington Capitals at 7:30 pm. This is the fifth of six meetings between the two teams this season; Washington has won three of the first four games, including one overtime win. The Hurricanes won the last meeting, 3-0, at the RBC Center on January 20th.

The Hurricanes (22-26-11, 55 pts.) remain entrenched in the last spot in the Eastern Conference. They are coming off back-to-back weekend games with a 3-2 win at home Friday night against the San Jose Sharks and a 4-3 away loss at the hands of John Tavares the New York Islanders on Saturday night.

The Capitals (29-24-5, 63 pts.) are in somewhat of a surprising slump with a 3-5-2 record in their last ten games. They currently find themselves on the outside edge of the playoff chase, in tenth place albeit only one point behind both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets with games in hand. The Capitals are also coming off a back-to-back weekend, suffering a disappointing 2-1 regulation loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night after defeating the Florida Panthers by the same score Friday night.

As of this morning's skate there are several twists and turns in the Canes line-up, not the least of which is the injury situation of starting goaltender Cam Ward. Ward, stellar in net since the start of the year, began suffering a nagging injury last week that worsened to the point where he was unable to complete Saturday night's game. Today he is officially out of the line-up, and earlier this morning the Hurricanes announced they have recalled Mike Murphy from the Charlotte Checkers to back up Justin Peters. The Murphy press release follows with other game notes and news.

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The Carolina Hurricanes bring their six game point streak to the Island tonight to take on John Tavares and the New York Islanders. The Canes have won two games in a row and have earned points in six in a row, as well as is in 10 of their last 11 games.

The Islanders have had Carolina's number so far this season and have prevailed in all three of their previous regular season meetings. Tavares has had a major hand in each of those wins.

The Hurricanes are coming off a big win against the San Jose Sharks in which their backup goalie, Justin Peters earned the first win for a Carolina backup in over a year. Will he start again tonight? Coach Kirk Muller would not answer that question when asked last night.

It would be expected though that the rest of the lineup will be the same as last night, meaning that defenseman Derek Joslin will play forward again tonight.

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After almost two weeks away from home ice, the Carolina Hurricanes finally return to the RBC Center tonight to play host to the San Jose Sharks. This is the only meeting between the two teams this season. The Hurricanes won the only meeting last season, 5-2, in San Jose on October 19, 2010. The last time the teams met in Raleigh was November 1, 2009, a 5-1 loss on the night Ray Whitney was honored for his 1,000th NHL game.

The Hurricanes have not played since Monday night, an emotional victory in Montreal for Kirk Muller's first return to Centre Bell as Hurricanes head coach. Captain Eric Staal led the way with a three-point night (2g, 1a), and line mate Jiri Tlusty also chipped in a goal as he continues to steadily improve in his new role, with points in five straight games. Unfortunately the game was not without a casualty as leading goal scorer Tuomo Ruutu made an early exit after a hit from Tomas Plekanec. Ruutu suffered an upper body injury and is projected to be out for three weeks.

Meanwhile, the Sharks have embarked on a road trip that will see them log 7,750 miles in 16 nights while playing nine games, including three sets of back-to-back games. They will be facing the Canes in the third game of their road trip, at the end of a back-to-back series. The Sharks faced the Tampa Bay Lightning last night and did not fare well, losing 6-5 in overtime. Goaltender Antti Niemi was called out by his coach, Douglas Murray left with an injury, and to add insult to injury, fog in Raleigh kept the Sharks grounded Thursday night (or perhaps it was the extra cargo weight from picking up Dominic Moore?).

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He scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal in 1993. He served as team captain in 1994-1995. He helped guide the team to the playoffs four out of five years as an assistant coach. Tonight, Kirk Muller returns to Centre Bell for the first time as head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes to face his former team as the Hurricanes (20-25-11) take on the Montreal Canadiens (23-24-9).

Even without the fanfare of Muller's return, the Hurricanes have much to prove in tonight's match-up, having suffered one of their most uninspired performances of the season the last time the two teams met in Montreal, a 4-0 loss on November 16th. The Canes also lost to the Habs in overtime on home ice on November 23rd.

Former Canadien Jaroslav Spacek, who spent part of three seasons in Montreal, also makes his first return since being acquired by the Canes in exchange for Tomas Kaberle on December 9th.

Jiri Tlusty hopes to continue his hot streak with points in four straight games; he has already set career single-season highs for goals (12), assists (10), and points (22).

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The Carolina Hurricanes couldn't high-tail it out of California fast enough after a questionable non-call led to a deflating 3-2 overtime defeat by the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night. From the sun to the snow, they arrived in Denver in the wee hours of Thursday morning and now prepare to face the Colorado Avalanche tonight at 9:00 pm (ET) at the Pepsi Center. This is the only meeting between the two teams this season. The Hurricanes won the solo meeting last season, a 2-1 win in overtime on December 3, 2010 at the RBC Center.

Game notes for tonight follow, along with a few noteworthy news nuggets.

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The circus is in town, which means no ice at the RBC Center, so the Carolina Hurricanes have headed to the left coast for a late night match-up at 10:00 pm tonight against the Anaheim Ducks in the first game of a three-game road trip. This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season. The Canes won the only meeting of the 2010-11 season, 4-2, on December 18 in Raleigh.

The Ducks (20-24-8, 48 points) were a much-improved 9-2-1 in January but lost 2 games to start February before an eight-round shootout win against the Calgary Flames on Monday. Fans will see a familiar face behind the bench in Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau, who joined the Ducks in November after losing his job with the division rival Washington Capitals.

The Hurricanes (20-25-9, 49 points) haven't played since Saturday, when they toughed it out in a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Chad LaRose will be returning to the line-up tonight after missing two games due to illness. He's expected to join a line with Tim Brent and Anthony Stewart, who was placed on waivers Monday and cleared yesterday.

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The Los Angeles Kings, (25-17-10) make their only visit to North Carolina this season as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes, (19-25-9) tonight at the RBC. The Kings are coming off a 1-0 loss last night in St. Louis and should be a travel weary team.

Neither club had a morning skate due to the NC State basketball game, so no starting goalies have been announced, although it will come as no surprise if Cam Ward gets the nod between the pipes for Carolina. Ward is coming off of a franchise record 47 save shutout in Boston and had a brilliant January, accumulating almost a .949 save percentage for the month.

Expect worse than normal ice because of the preceding basketball game.

Chad LaRose did not travel to Boston and it is not known if he will be in the lineup tonight or not. Drayson Bowman, who had been recalled to replace LaRose, is still with the team.

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After an eight day break, the Carolina Hurricanes, (18-24-9) are back in action tonight as they host the New York Islanders, (19-22-7) in a match between bottom feeders of the Eastern Conference. These teams just met on January 21st on the island and the Hurricanes lost in overtime as John Tavares netted the game winner.

The Canes are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games and feel happy with the way they had been playing before the break. They want to continue to pick up points, anyway they can. The Isles are 5-4-1 in their last 10.

Riley Nash was recently recalled from Charlotte while Jerome Samson was sent back down earlier today. Chad LaRose will return to the lineup tonight, but Jaroslav Spacek remains out.

According to Hurricanes writer Michael Smith, Jeff Skinner is getting moved back to winger and the lines will start out as following:

• Tlusty, Staal, Ruutu
• Jokinen, Nash, Skinner
• Dwyer, Sutter, Nodl
• LaRose, Brent, Stewart
• Allen, Gleason
• Faulk, Harrison
• McBain, Joslin

Cam Ward will be starting in net.

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