Hurricanes at Blue Jackets
The Carolina Hurricanes finally put an end to their four-game slide, even though it came against the worst team in the Eastern Conference. The Columbus Blue Jackets will be trying to avert a four-game skid of their own Friday night when they square off against the visiting Hurricanes, who are mired in last place in the Metropolitan Division.
Despite its current spot in the standings, Carolina believes things will turn around after outshooting opponents by a staggering 182-107 margin over the past four games. "If we continue to play like that -- we're getting tons of shots ... I think we're going to score goals and have success," Hurricanes center Derek Ryan said after Tuesday's 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers. The Blue Jackets were singed for four third-period goals in a 5-3 loss at the New York Rangers on Monday night and allowed two tallies in the final 20 minutes of a 3-1 setback to Nashville 24 hours later. “What I like is we have two days here (before the next game) and we always seem to regroup well and get ready for big ones like this weekend,” Columbus forward Nick Foligno said.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Carolina, FSN Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (5-5-3): Defenseman Brett Pesce has missed the past three games with a concussion but could be ready to return to the lineup after the team sent rookie blue-liner Roland McKeown to Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Thursday. McKeown took the place of Pesce in the lineup against Florida and collected a pair of assists to register his first career points in his second NHL game. Scott Darling has earned the start in the past two games in goal and turned aside 53 of 55 shots.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (9-6-1): Rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois scored in his NHL debut but then muddled through a 14-game goal drought before wowing his teammates with the lone tally against Nashville after stripping perennial All-Star defenseman P.K Subban of the puck. “That was pretty special,” forward Cam Atkinson said of the goal by the 2016 No. 3 overall draft pick. “That’s a prime-time play right there, a prime-time goal.” Atkinson played more than 23 1/2 minutes and had four shots on goal in his return from a four-game absence.
EXTRA POINTS
1. Columbus owns the league's worst power-play unit, converting on only 5 of 48 chances.
2. Carolina activated F Lee Stempniak from injured reserve and sent him to its AHL affiliate for a conditioning stint.
3. Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky is 9-5-0 with a 2.11 goals-against average versus the Hurricanes.