The Carolina Hurricanes resume their four-game road swing with a stop in Boston tonight. The Canes were able to notch their first win of the season last Wednesday against the Bruins and Tim Thomas in Raleigh. Tonight Coach Claude Julien will go with the younger half of the B's potent tandem, giving the nod to Tuukka Rask.

Chuck Kaiton was on satellite radio's XM Home Ice program this afternoon and confirmed the Canes starting lines. Jeff Skinner will be re-united with the two Finnish forwards, Jussi Jokinen and Tuomo Ruutu. Captain Eric Staal will be flanked by Alexei Ponikarovsky and Chad LaRose on the top line. Cam Ward will start in goal.

The Hurricanes (2-2-1) have a two-game win streak on the line and look to get above the .500 mark. Boston (2-3) went into Chicago last weekend and handed the Blackhawks a loss by a score of 3-2. 

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The Carolina Hurricanes opened the 2011-12 season very much like they spent most of the previous campaign — with back-to-back games. The Canes held their own in both games, but came away with just one point after losing their opener, 5-1, Friday to Tampa Bay at the RBC Center, then falling in overtime to the Capitals on the road, 4-3.

There will be no rest for the weary, as Carolina gets Sunday off but will play a matinee in New Jersey Monday, then return home for Wednesday’s nationally televised home game with the reigning Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins.

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Today marks a couple of firsts for hockey in North Carolina as the Carolina Hurricanes will play in Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena, the home of the club's AHL affiliate Checkers - a first for an NHL game in the Queen City the Queen City's new Uptown arena or for the Hurricanes franchise [*see ed note below] . The Canes welcome the Winnipeg Jets, (who many of you will recognize as the former Atlanta Thrashers), back to the humid climes of the American Sunbelt, for what is the New Jets first match of any sort vs a Southeast Division team.

The Canes are now at 0-2 in the preseason, with losses to Buffalo and Nashville in the last week. Based on practice reports Saturday, Coach Paul Maurice was not pleased with the players' effort Friday night vs the Preds, particularly in transition, unable to quickly move the puck up ice. With many of the same players on Maurice's roster card this afternoon, the group should be primed to make good on their lackluster showing at the RBC Center Friday.

Cam Ward is slated to start in goal and play the full sixty minutes. He gave up one goal on 21 shots in the first two periods vs Nashville, and looked quick and fluid after missing the first several days of Training Camp with "upper body stiffness".

I have the expected line-ups and some notes after the jump.

If you're headed to the game, Canes Country's Guide to 2011 Training Camp - Week 2 is updated to reflect the most recent roster cuts - you can download the 4-page .pdf and, if you like, print it out for reference.

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This is the first and only time that we've been able to watch the Hurricanes prospects in Traverse City on television since becoming part of the tournament, which is organized by the Red Wings, in 2009. This year, the New York Rangers MSG network is carrying all the Blueshirts' games; NHL Network has kindly picked up their coverage. The game starts at 3pm and - if you miss it -  will be repeated at 7pm tonight and 8am Wednesday morning, also on NHLNetwork.

The Hurricanes are winless in two outings thus far, having lost to the Dallas Stars (8-2) on Saturday and the St. Louis Blues by a score of 2-1 Sunday afternoon. The Rangers are putting their 2-0 record on the line, having handily beaten both those same teams over the weekend. Today is the 3rd and final game of the round robin portion of the tournament which will determine seeding for the games Wednesday.

As best I can tell, no matter the outcome of this game, the Canes will face the 4th seed from the other bracket to play for the dubious distinction of 7th place. Similarly, the Rangers will go to the Championship game no matter how they do in this game vs Carolina.

Running the bench, Jeff Daniels is the head coach, joined by Geordie Kinnear, also of the Checkers. During practices, the players have worked with Rod Brind`Amour, Glen Wesley and Tom Barrasso. Jim Rutherford and Paul Maurice made the trip and are evaluating from above.

According to Kyle Hanlin, the Canes media man who is with the team, Daniels will start the same lines as they did vs St Louis, which is to say 2011 draft pick Matt Mahalak will not be in goal today, in favor of undrafted invitee Mavrik Parks. Mahalak played the opening two periods against the Stars Saturday, giving up 7 goals on 26 shots. He hasn't played since.

I've got those lines after the jump, plus links to scoresheet and other stats to follow along.

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With the Rangers' win over the Flyers in a shootout today, here are the scenarios that are potentially in play as a result of tonight's game.

The Carolina Hurricanes are back in action tonight, the third outing of this five-game road swing, and the first game in a weekend pair of back-to-backs versus two Southeast division rivals. The Canes take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:30 tonight, and then fly up to Atlanta for a 5pm date with the Thrashers at the Philips Arena Sunday. Staying focused on the game at hand is part of the challenge.

Coming off two hard-fought, but losing, efforts the team should be feeling the pressure to [continue to] play with desperation and regain the ground that's been lost. They need to find a way to win these close ones. With the Thrashers' come-back win over the Rangers last night, Carolina is back down to 9th in the standings, below that weighty red line, this less than a week after they climbed above it when they beat the Thrashers in overtime last Saturday.

Roster adjustments

With some minor day-to-day injuries, the line up tonight is expected to feature at least two names that were not in action in Philadelphia Thursday. Joni Pitkanen, the Canes minute-munching puck-moving defenseman will return. Brett Carson, who played well in Philadelphia, has been returned to Charlotte as required because of the emergency designation of his call-up.

In addition, solid fourth-line centerman Ryan Carter is getting the day to rest his ailing back following Thursday's game, but the word is he should be good to go Sunday. Tonight, Brett Sutter has been recalled from Charlotte to make his debut in a Hurricanes jersey, and will take Carter's place centering the 4th line. He will wear #42, and we've been told that neither he nor Brandon Sutter will have a first initial added to their nameplates.

John Forslund confirmed on the twitter that Cam Ward will start for the 15th game in a row tonight. Back-up Justin Peters has not seen action since he came in to relieve Ward when the team was embarrassed in Boston January 17th. It would be natural to expect Paul Maurice would use his #2 in Atlanta tomorrow, especially with less than 24 hours between these two games, but with so much riding on the outcome, it's beginning to feel like Mo was only half-kidding when he told reporters in Newark that Ward would get his rest in July. Further, I doubt Ward is unhappy with this scenario, as he takes tremendous pride in working very hard and knowing he is trusted to carry the team.

As for the rest of us on the outside, who know the All-Star goalie has faced more shots and made more saves than anyone else in the League this season, we seem to be the only ones who get a tad anxious as we've watched the consequences of our #1 goalie being "over-worked". Time will tell.

Here's audio from Paul Maurice after the pregame skate today. 

After the jump, injuries in the Bolt's camp means recalls from Norfolk for them, and other game notes.

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No one wants to play the Devils from here on out. They're playing like the elite team they should have been.

- Pierre LeBrun, of ESPN,  on twitter this morning.

The Carolina Hurricanes are currently a playoff team. The New Jersey Devils are not.

The Canes only just moved above the "red line" into the eighth spot on Saturday night, defeating the Atlanta Thrashers in overtime. The Devils (19-30-4) are 13th in the East, but are riding an incredible series of wins having gone 9-1-2 in their last 12 outings. The veteran team has found the confidence to win that most expected of them six months ago, before the wheels fell off of their 2010-11 season. And despite the extreme odds, this 12-game run has opened the door for the Devils and their fans to consider the impossible.

The word out of New Jersey is that the Hurricanes, who they face three times in the next twelve days, are the primary obstacle to the Devils dreams of making the playoffs for the 14th consecutive season (going back to when Jeff Skinner was 4 years old). Though Sportsclubstats puts their odds at ridiculously slim .013% (that's 13 out of 100,000) and allows them only four losses in the 29 games remaining this season, they are seemingly sipping the Koolaid (or at least thinking about mixing up a batch). Unlike Canes fans who are familiar with the need for a strong spring run to make the post-season, this is new territory for the Devils faithful, so forgive them if they are unfamiliar with knowing when it's time to give up. As long as they believe it's possible, these proud players will battle for every point in the standings to save this season.

Tonight's match up (combined with the two remaining games in the season series) is being cast as key to the Devils' achieving the playoffs. After contributing two goals in the  Devils 4-1 win in Montreal Sunday, uber-wing Ilya Kovalchuk put it this way,

"In the next (12) days we've got three games against them. That will probably be the key stretch for us. If we want to make a real push, then we have to get points in those games."

After the jump, the match ups and other news from both clubs.

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The Carolina Hurricanes can't exactly pretend yesterday's fiasco in Boston never happened. The good news is that tonight they are back on home ice to take on the very same Bruins, giving them an immediate opportunity to redeem themselves and their coaches for that beat-down they endured in Beantown. Yesterday's wild matinée included the full gamut of entertainment, much of it unrelated to playing the puck. While one veteran goalie claimed his seventh shutout, in the other net, a feisty rookie demonstrated a fabulous, if illegal, tackle and takedown. In the third period, the exchange of heavy-weight punches between two youngsters (who have danced the dance twice before) followed just 30 seconds after we saw a gargantuan Slovakian celebrate his first career hat trick. Tonight at the RBC Center, the slate is clean, the wounds are fresh. Game on.

Cam Ward, who was pulled after yielding 3 2 goals on 6  5 shots yesterday, will return and get the start. Coach Paul Maurice expects him to be at his best, quoted as saying: "I'm probably more confident in that than anything else that's going on here."

Maurice also said that Jiri Tlusty might be in the lineup tonight, but it would be a game time decision. More in this audio from Mo after the skate this morning. 

Predictions, quotes and links about this unique re-match after the jump.

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