Senators at Hurricanes
After enduring another loss in their personal house of horrors at Madison Square Garden, the Carolina Hurricanes look to reclaim their momentum when they host the Ottawa Senators on Friday night. Carolina lost for only the second time in the past nine games when it dropped a 6-2 decision at the New York Rangers -- its 16th consecutive road defeat in that series.
"It's something that's frustrating this time of year when we need the points, but it's a long year," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour told reporters. "We've got to regroup and put it behind us." Carolina has won five straight overall at home and pushed its winning streak over the Senators to five games with a 5-4 win at Ottawa on Jan. 6. Buoyed by the return of two of their top players, the Senators made it three wins in four games by rolling to a 5-2 victory over Colorado on Wednesday night. Starting goaltender Craig Anderson, sidelined the past 11 games due to a concussion, will join the team on the two-game trek, although Anders Nilsson is expected to start versus the Hurricanes.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, RDS2, TSN5 (Ottawa), FS Carolina
ABOUT THE SENATORS (18-24-5): Matt Duchene, out the past three games following the birth of his son, returned to the lineup for the first time since scoring at Ottawa and had a pair of goals and an assist to spark the win over Colorado. "My main focus coming in today was to just try and meld back into the lineup the best I could and fit in with what the guys had been doing on the road," said Duchene, who has scored five goals during a four-game streak. "They had been playing so well." All-Star defenseman Thomas Chabot also returned after missing eight games and recorded an assist and eight shots on goal.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (22-19-5): Carolina made a move to bolster its offense on Thursday by acquiring Nino Niederreiter from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Victor Rask in what amounted to a swap of underachieving forwards. The No. 5 overall pick of the New York Islanders in the 2010 draft, the 26-year-old Niederreiter notched three consecutive 20-goal seasons with the Wild before dipping to 18 in 2017-10 and only nine in 46 games this season. "We're excited to welcome a proven goal-scorer and veteran presence in Nino Niederreiter," general manager Don Waddell said. "We wish Victor the best moving forward."
OVERTIME
1. Hurricanes F Sebastian Aho, who has five goals in his last three games, has seven points in seven meetings versus Ottawa.
2. The Senators have lost six straight against Metropolitan Division teams.
3. Hurricanes backup G Curtis McElhinney is dealing with a knee issue that will keep him out a few days.