The Carolina Hurricanes, (8-16-4) bring their six game losing streak to the Saddledome to face the Calgary Flames, (11-13-2) and will try to earn new coach Kirk Muller his first victory since taking over the team three games ago.
The Canes have lost 13 of their last 16 games.
Coach Muller has taken a couple of different approaches with his lineup and might stick with his seven defensemen rotation he employed against the Penguins, or he could bench two defensemen and play his full complement of 12 fowards.
Jay Harrison and Jamie McBain were scratched in the past, but either or both could play tonight. Tim Brent was scratched against the Pens.
The previous lines looked as follows:
- Skinner, Staal, Ruutu
- LaRose, Jokinen, Ponikarovsky
- Dwyer, Sutter, Tlusty
- Stewart, (Brent), Nodl
The defensive pairings have been mixed and matched.
Backup goalie Brian Boucher was injured after practice yesterday, so the team recalled Mike Murphy from Charlotte to take his place. Cam Ward will start in net and will probably be facing Miikka Kiprusoff for the Flames. Calgary's regular backup, Henrik Karlsson is also injured.
The teams met only once last season and the Canes took the win, 6-5 in a shootout at the RBC.
According to Matchsticks and Gasoline, look for these possible lines from the Flames. (Unconfirmed)
- Tanguay-Backlund-Iginla
- Glencross-Jokinen-Bourque
- Hagman-Stajan-Moss
- Kostopoulos-Bouma-Jackman
- Bouwmeester-Hannan
- Sarich-Giordano
- Carson/Mikkelson
This will be the opening of another back-to-back scenario for Carolina. The team is 2-2-1 so far in the first game of back-to-backs, and 2-2-1 in the second. The club will take on Edmonton tomorrow night.
Joni Pitkanen has a four game point streak on the line, (4 assists).
The game will be televised by FS Carolinas with the puck drop around 9 p.m. As always, we will have the open game thread up an ready at 8:30.