Hurricanes at Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers have an excellent opportunity to extend their winning streak to three games Friday as they welcome the winless Carolina Hurricanes to Rexall Place. Edmonton can sympathize with the Hurricanes as it went 0-4-1 over its first five games before edging Tampa Bay 3-2 on Monday. The Oilers defeated Washington by the same score two nights later to improve to 2-1-0 on their season-high seven-game homestand.
Carolina is off to the worst start in franchise history as it suffered a 5-0 loss at Calgary on Thursday. The Hurricanes fell to 0-2-1 on their five-game road trip, scoring a total of two goals in the process. Jeff Skinner has yet to score in two games since returning from a concussion despite registering nine shots on goal.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, SportSouth (Carolina), RSN (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (0-4-2): Jiri Tlusty leads the team with four goals but has scored just once in his last four games. Injury-ravaged Carolina could get back a few players Friday as Nathan Gerbe (lower body) and defenseman John-Michael Liles (upper body) both participated in Thursday's practice. Anton Khudobin is expected to start in goal against Edmonton as Cam Ward suffered the loss versus Calgary.
ABOUT THE OILERS (2-4-1): Ben Scrivens has been a large factor in Edmonton's back-to-back wins, stopping 54 of the 58 shots he faced. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and defenseman Justin Schultz have scored in consecutive games after going without a goal in their first three and five contests, respectively. Taylor Hall was kept off the scoresheet by Washington after registering three goals and two assists over his previous three games.
OVERTIME
1. Carolina registered a season-low 16 shots on goal against Calgary.
2. Hurricanes LW Zach Boychuk appeared in his 100th NHL game Thursday.
3. Edmonton has not posted three consecutive victories since Jan. 26-29.