Hurricanes at Flames
The Carolina Hurricanes remain in search of their first victory as they continue their five-game road trip against the Calgary Flames on Thursday. Carolina began its trek with a shootout loss to the New York Rangers - its second straight defeat in the bonus format - last Thursday and had four days off before dropping a 3-1 decision at Winnipeg. Scoring has been an issue for the Hurricanes thus far this season as they netted three goals in each of their first three games before being held to one in each of their last two contests.
Calgary attempts to recover from a disappointing 2-1 overtime loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday that began its five-game homestand. The Flames snapped a scoreless deadlock early in the third period but allowed the tying goal with 2:16 remaining and yielded Ondrej Palat's winning tally exactly three minutes into the extra session. The contest was just the second at home for the Flames and first since a season-opening loss to Vancouver.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, SportSouth (Carolina), RSN (Calgary)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (0-3-2): Carolina received some positive news this week as Wednesday marked the second straight day Eric Staal skated with the team in practice since suffering an upper-body injury on Oct. 11. The captain has yet to be cleared for contact but could return to the lineup as soon as Tuesday in Vancouver. "That's what we're shooting for," coach Bill Peters said. "There's time, and time is on his side."
ABOUT THE FLAMES (4-3-1): Defenseman TJ Brodie remained tied with Mason Raymond for the team lead with seven points after having his career-high six-game streak snapped Tuesday. Brodie has three goals and four assists while Raymond has scored a club-leading five tallies and set up two others. Johnny Gaudreau appears to be breaking out of his early-season funk, recording a goal and two assists over his last two games after being kept off the scoresheet in his first five contests.
OVERTIME
1. The Flames are 25-5-2 at home against the Hurricanes since moving to Calgary and 40-17-7 with one tie overall in the all-time series.
2. Calgary C Jiri Hudler's next point will be the 300th of his career.
3. The Hurricanes recalled C Brody Sutter from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Wednesday while placing Staal on injured reserve, retroactive to Oct. 11.