Hurricanes at Devils
Justin Williams is performing swimmingly for the Carolina Hurricanes after taking a bit of time getting his feet wet since returning from retirement. The 38-year-old Williams looks to extend his five-game goal-scoring streak on Thursday when the Hurricanes conclude a six-game trek against the New Jersey Devils.
"This is the reason I came back," Williams said. "I wanted to play meaningful hockey against the best players in the world. The first few games, I was playing on adrenaline, and then I had to work to catch up with the rest of the guys, but now I'm feeling good." Scoring six goals in five games likely has aided in lifting the spirits of the man known affectionately as "Mr. Game 7," who resides three points shy of 800 for his career. Carolina carries a three-game winning streak into its tilt with New Jersey, which had won six of nine before sputtering to a 5-2 setback against Pittsburgh on Tuesday. "I didn't see the same energy," Devils interim coach Alain Nasreddine said. "... I thought we had a good first, good first 10. Then it kind of went down a bit and we never got anything back in the second and third."
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: FS Carolinas, MSG
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (38-25-5): Sebastian Aho enjoyed a banner third period in Tuesday's 5-2 victory over Detroit as he set up Williams' eighth goal at 1:38, scored his NHL high-tying fourth short-handed tally nearly three minutes later and sealed the win on the power play with 2:02 remaining. While that was pretty impressive, the 22-year-old Finn seemed to be a bit more interested in Morgan Geekie's easy transition into the NHL. "Easy league, huh?" Aho joked after the 21-year-old Geekie scored his third goal on his third NHL shot. "He's looking pretty good. It's great to see. He has confidence and is making plays."
ABOUT THE DEVILS (28-29-12): Jack Hughes' time on the wing appears to be nearing an end as the top overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft found himself centering a line between Janne Kuokkanen and Mike McLeod during Wednesday's practice. "It's up to (Nasreddine)," the 18-year-old Hughes said. "If he wants to play me at wing, I'll play wing. If he wants to play me at center, I'll play center. Wherever my name is on the board, that's where I'll play." Nikita Gusev has played well on the wing, collecting 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past 10 games.
OVERTIME
1. New Jersey LW Miles Wood, who scored on Tuesday, collected a goal and an assist in his team's 5-3 win over Carolina on Nov. 2.
2. Hurricanes LW Teuvo Teravainen has four assists in his last five games overall to move within two of 200 for his career.
3. New Jersey saw its five-game home winning streak come to a halt on Tuesday.