Canucks at Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes began their season-high eight-game road trip with a pair of victories but have struggled since, losing three in a row (0-2-1). They look to end the slide and perhaps sneak into a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference when they host the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.
The Hurricanes' offense has disappeared on the homestand, as they have scored a total of seven goals over the first five games - no more than two in any contest - after posting a 6-5 victory at Montreal on Jan. 25. The team still is in contention for the postseason, however, as it enters Friday just one point behind Columbus for the second wild card and trails New Jersey by five for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Vancouver is looking to halt a three-game losing streak that includes setbacks in the first two contests of its four-game road trip. The Canucks went winless in the Sunshine State, falling 3-1 to Florida on Tuesday before suffering a 5-2 loss at Tampa Bay in which rookie Brock Boeser scored his team-leading 26th goal two nights later.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver), FS Carolinas
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (21-27-6): Boeser leads all Calder Trophy hopefuls in the NHL in goals and has posted the fourth-highest total by a Vancouver rookie thus far. Darren Archibald was a healthy scratch on Thursday - one day after being signed and recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League. The 28-year-old forward has had just one stint in the NHL, a 16-game tour of duty with Vancouver in 2013-14 during which he registered a goal and two assists.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (24-21-9): Marcus Kruger and Josh Jooris may have played their final games with Carolina as both were placed on waivers Thursday. The 27-year-old Kruger, who spent the first seven seasons of his NHL career with Chicago before being traded to Vegas and then Carolina in July, has recorded a goal and five assists in 48 contests while Jooris - also 27 - has registered three tallies and six points in 30 games during his first campaign with the Hurricanes. Elias Lindholm scored the lone goal in Tuesday's 2-1 overtime loss to Philadelphia and is two away from matching the career high of 17 he set in 2014-15.
OVERTIME
1. Hurricanes D Jaccob Slavin is expected to appear in his 200th NHL contest on Friday.
2. Canucks C Brandon Sutter was kept off the scoresheet Thursday, ending his four-game assist streak.
3. Vancouver posted a 3-0 home victory over Carolina on Dec. 5 in the first meeting this season.