Hurricanes at Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings cannot win at home and the Carolina Hurricanes haven't been able to secure a victory on the road. One of those droughts will come to an end Thursday night when the Hurricanes visit Detroit, which is mired in a seven-game skid overall (0-2-5) and hasn't won at home in its past eight (0-6-2) - the longest stretch for the franchise since January 1991. "There's no excuses," defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. "Our job is to win games and we haven't been winning."
Carolina has dropped two straight overall and its last four away from home, but one positive coming out of Monday's 4-1 loss to Boston was getting back No. 1 goaltender Cam Ward, who had missed the previous 10 games with a lower-body ailment. Injuries to Ward and backup Anton Khudobin forced Justin Peters - who began the season in the minors - to start 10 straight. Still, the return of Ward was diminished when the team learned that forward Alexander Semin has a concussion.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, SportSouth (North Carolina), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (8-9-4): Carolina's offense has already been sputtering without former Calder Trophy winner Jeff Skinner, who has been sidelined for the past 11 games with an upper-body injury. The Hurricanes have been limited to two or fewer goals in 11 of their past 12 games and now must proceed without Semin, who is sidelined indefinitely with his second concussion in the past seven months. “Any time you have a head injury, it’s a concern,” general manager Jim Rutherford said. “Hopefully we can get Alex back soon.”
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (9-6-7): Detroit hasn't gone winless this long at home since January 1991 and goaltender Jimmy Howard conceded that the skid is "mentally screwing with our game out there." The Red Wings absorbed another blow when promising rookie defenseman Danny DeKeyser sustained a separated shoulder in Tuesday's loss to Nashville and will be sidelined a minimum of 10 games. “Obviously he’s a real good player for us, he gets the puck going for us," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "He’s a good transitional defenseman.”
OVERTIME
1. The Red Wings are mired in their longest overall victory drought since dropping the final seven games of the 2001-02 season.
2. The Hurricanes have only one power-play goal in their last seven games and are 2-for-28 this month with the extra skater.
3. Detroit won at Carolina 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 4.