Carolina Hurricanes at Buffalo Sabres: Lineups and Game Discussion

Coming off an 8-2 win over the Ottawa Senators that snapped a four-game skid, the Carolina Hurricanes will look to keep that momentum going on the road against the Buffalo Sabres Thursday night.

The win over the Senators Monday night came at home in PNC Arena for the Canes, and Carolina will be looking to snap another ugly streak at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo Thursday. The Hurricanes have lost five straight road games, dating all the way back to a three-game west coast swing in the middle of October.

The good news for the Hurricanes Thursday is that it looks like forward Erik Haula will return to the ice after missing the last four games with a knee injury. Even with the four-game absence, Haula is still tied with Dougie Hamilton and Sebastian Aho for the team lead in goals, with eight.

It also sounds like Jordan Martinook could be nearing a return, but won’t be ready to go in Buffalo. The forward has missed most of the season with a core muscle injury, but skated with the team Thursday morning.

Here is how the Canes should line-up in Buffalo:

Ryan Dzingel - Jordan Staal - Warren Foegele
Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen
Nino Niederreiter - Lucas Wallmark - Martin Necas
Brock McGinn - Erik Haula - Brian Gibbons

Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton
Joel Edmundson - Brett Pesce
Jake Gardiner - Haydn Fleury

Petr Mrazek
James Reimer

Injuries and Scratches: Jordan Martinook (core muscle), Trevor van Riemsdyk (healthy)

The Sabres come into Thursday’s game on a five-game losing streak and have yet to win a game in the month of November. Buffalo should be well-rested though, as the Sabres haven’t played since Saturday.

As is always the case with Buffalo, forward Jack Eichel is the player to watch. Eichel is leading the Sabres in goals (8), assists (11) and points (19). The Canes will also see a familiar face in forward Jeff Skinner, who has seven goals on the season. Skinner has faced the Canes now three times in his career, and has at least one goal in all three of those games.

Carter Hutton will get the start in net for the Sabres. Hutton is 6-3 this year, with a goals against average of 2.39 and a save percentage of .921. Hutton is coming off a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in which he allowed five goals.

Here’s how the Sabres will line up Thursday:

Zemgus Girgensons - Johan Larsson - Kyle Okposo
Victor Olofsson - Jack Eichel - Sam Reinhart
Jimmy Vesey - Casey Mittelstadt - Curtis Lazar
Jeff Skinner - Evan Rodrigues - Conor Sheary

Jake McCabe - Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin - Brandon Montour
Marco Scandella - Henri Jokiharju

Carter Hutton
Linus Ullmark

Injuries and Scratches: Marcus Johansson (upper body), Colin Miller (healthy), John Gilmour (healthy)