Hurricanes at Red Wings
The Carolina Hurricanes return from a bye week without their leading scorer as they visit the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. Sebastian Aho, who tops Carolina with 16 goals and 37 points, suffered both a concussion and a knee injury in Sunday's 4-1 home loss to Calgary and is out indefinitely.
The 20-year-old Finn, who had his three-game goal-scoring streak snapped in the setback, sustained both injuries on a hit by Flames captain Mark Giordano and was helped off the ice. The Hurricanes hope to avoid a third straight loss and their fifth in six games when they visit Detroit, which has dropped three of four after falling 4-2 at home to Dallas on Tuesday. Andreas Athanasiou has been hot of late, recording a goal and an assist in the loss to the Stars for his second consecutive two-point effort and fourth in six contests. The 23-year-old left wing has collected four tallies and as many assists during that span.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Carolinas, FS Detroit
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (20-17-8): Lee Stempniak has performed well since returning from hip and upper-body injuries, recording an assist in his season debut on Jan. 12 against Washington and scoring Carolina's lone goal versus Calgary two days later. The 34-year-old right wing, who is playing with his 10th NHL team, missed the Hurricanes' first 43 games after appearing in all 82 last season. Jeff Skinner has recorded just two goals in his last 12 contests and three in the past 18.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (18-19-7): Tyler Bertuzzi also has been producing offensively as he has registered back-to-back two-point performances and collected eight points in 11 contests this season. The nephew of former NHL power forward Todd Bertuzzi, the 22-year-old left wing failed to land on the scoresheet in seven games last campaign - his first in the league. Anthony Mantha leads the team with 15 goals and is two shy of matching the career high he set last season.
OVERTIME
1. The Red Wings enter Saturday's contest having played only three games in 12 days.
2. Carolina LW Justin Williams enters Saturday with a 14-game goal-scoring drought.
3. Detroit has gone just 2-for-33 on the power play over its last 10 games.