Hurricanes at Senators
The Ottawa Senators have a cluster of teams sitting ahead of them in the chase for the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference and they get a chance to move closer to one of them when they host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. The Senators halted a three-game losing streak with a 2-1 shootout victory over visiting Buffalo on Tuesday.
Carolina is within two points of the final postseason berth in the East after running its point streak to five games (3-0-2) with a 2-1 home win over Winnipeg on Tuesday. The Hurricanes will be without All-Star defenseman Justin Faulk, who has been ruled out of the team's next three games due to an undisclosed injury that sidelined him for the previous three contests. Carolina has dominated the series against Ottawa, going 5-0-2 in the last seven matchups, including a 3-2 overtime win on Nov. 7. "With the position that we're in, we need to find a way every night to rally for two points and that's the start of it," said Senators forward Bobby Ryan, who scored in the shootout versus Buffalo. "Now we need to get ready for a different test."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET; FSN Southeast (Carolina), RDS, TSN5 (Ottawa), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (26-21-10): Faulk was the team's leading scorer before he went on the shelf, but has been matched by the surging Jordan Staal, who netted a power-play Tuesday to boost his total to six tallies and 19 points over the past 17 games. "I don't know who's playing better in the league," coach Bill Peters said of Staal, who scored in overtime to beat Ottawa in the early-season matchup. "He's playing valuable, big minutes, and he's coming through." Goaltender Cam Ward was at practice Wednesday after missing Tuesday's game, and a decision will be made on his status Thursday.
ABOUT THE SENATORS (26-26-6): Since getting pierced for 12 goals in losing three consecutive starts, Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson has turned things around by surrendering a total of eight tallies in his last five outings - even though he is only 3-2-0 in that span. Ryan, who has scored seven goals in his last 14 games to reach 20 for the sixth time in his career, has not tallied in 11 career games against the Hurricanes. The Senators own the league's second-worst penalty kill with a success rate of 74.3 percent, but they also have scored an NHL-best 10 short-handed goals.
OVERTIME
1. Hurricanes captain Eric Staal is mired in a 13-game goalless drought.
2. Anderson is 6-3-4 with a 2.42 goals-against average versus Carolina.
3. Hurricanes F Riley Nash has four goals and two assists in his last six games.