The Phoenix Coyotes, (40-22-5) are visiting tonight and they will be out to ruin the Carolina Hurricanes, (28-31-8) eight game winning streak at home. The Coyotes are currently in fourth place in the powerful Western Conference and have a three game winning streak of their own on the line.
The Canes are still one of the hottest teams in the league and have an 8-1-1 record in their last 10 games.
The home team will be without the services of their second line center, Brandon Sutter. The youngster is suffering from the affects of a lower body injury and his status is day-to-day. Jerome Samson has been recalled from Albany and will fill in on the fourth line.
Samson is Albany's leading scorer and was recently named the AHL's "Player of the Week." He had seven points in three games last week which added to his career best of 32 goals and 30 assists so far this season. His goal total is presently second highest in the AHL.
Look for the following lines:
- Staal, Whitney, Cole
- Jokinen, Ruutu, LaRose
- Dwyer, Samsonov, Kostopoulos
- Brind'Amour, Samson, Boychuk
- Gleason, Pothier
- Pitkanen, Carson
- Harrison, Picard
Rookie netminder Justin Peters will make his second consecutive start in goal.
It's expected that Ilya Bryzgalov will start for Phoenix.
The Coyote lineup is loaded with snipers and they are led by newly acquired Wojtek Wolski.
Some long time Caniacs will remember the name, Radim Vrbata, who played for the Hurricanes back from 2003 to 2005.
For more information about the Coyotes, check out Five For Howling.
The Hurricanes are led by Jussi Jokinen, Eric Staal, and Ray Whitney.
The game will be televised by FS Carolinas starting at 7 p.m. As always, we will have the open game thread up and running at 6:30.