The Carolina Hurricanes, (5-12-5), are in Dallas to take on the Stars, (10-6-6), tonight in the first of a two game road trip for the Canes. After this contest, the visitors will hop on a plane to Anaheim for a Wednesday night matchup with the Ducks.
The Hurricanes have now won two games in a row, three of their last four, and have earned points in their last five games. They have long since put an end to their early 14 game winless streak and hope to be turning a corner. But they have yet to win a single road game all season, (0-7-3), the only team in the NHL not to win on the road yet this year.
While Eric Staal made the road trip with his team, he is not expected to play. Look for the lines to be the same as the last two games.
- Sutter, Whitney, Cole
- Cullen, Ruutu, Jokinen
- Yelle, Samsonov, LaRose
- Brind'Amour, Kostopoulos, Dwyer
- Gleason, Corvo
- Pitkanen, Wallin
- Ward, Alberts
Manny Legace will be in net for the Canes while it's expected that Marty Turco will do the same for the Stars.
The Stars are riding high after beating the toughest road team in the NHL, the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. But Dallas is 1-5-3 in games after a win. Obviously, they are looking for some consistency as well.
As Cory posted previously, James Neal is serving a suspension and will miss this game. Fabian Brunnstrom, who has been mentioned in trade rumors, has been out with a shoulder problem.
According to Defending Big D, the Dallas lines should be as follows:
Wandell - Richards - Eriksson
Ott - Ribeiro - Lehtinen
Morrow - Modano - Benn
Barch - Peters - Petersen
The game will not be televised locally but can be found on Center Ice or you can listen to 99.9 The Fan. We will have the open thread going at 7:30.