Sabres at Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes look to avoid a fifth straight loss overall and a season sweep at the hands of the lowly Buffalo Sabres when the teams meet at PNC Arena on Tuesday. The Hurricanes have mustered just seven goals during their last four games (0-1-3) to reside seven points behind Detroit for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 10 games remaining.
"We've got to make one more play," coach Bill Peters told reporters after Carolina dropped a 3-2 shootout loss to Minnesota on Saturday. "It's that tight around the league no matter who you play and where you play. Everyone is competing very hard, and everyone is desperate for points." The Sabres are desperate to stay out of the cellar in the Eastern Conference, but they have emerged victorious in both meetings with the Hurricanes this season. Chad Johnson saw his five-start winning streak end with a thud versus the Maple Leafs, but stopped 55 of 58 shots against Carolina in 2015-16 to improve to 6-1-0 in his career against the club.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG-B (Buffalo), FSN Carolinas, Bell TV, NHL.TV
ABOUT THE SABRES (29-34-10): Coach Dan Bylsma told reporters that he expects Jack Eichel to play versus Carolina despite the rookie missing Saturday's game and Monday's practice due to an undisclosed illness. "I don’t think it was the flu," Bylsma told the Buffalo News. "He had something to eat at the hotel, and by 4 in the morning (on Saturday) he was not doing very good. Got a quick bug. Other people ate the same thing Jack ate at the hotel when we got there, so I'm not quite sure it was food poisoning, but that's what it looked like." Eichel, who has a club-best 22 goals and is two points behind Ryan O'Reilly (51) for the team lead, scored in Buffalo's 4-1 win over the Hurricanes on Nov. 27 and netted his second tally of the contest in overtime of a 3-2 win versus Carolina on March 12.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (31-27-14): All-Star defenseman Justin Faulk returned to practice on Monday after sitting out the last 5 1/2 weeks with an undisclosed lower-body injury. "It's good. It's obviously nice to be out there with the guys again," Faulk told the team's website. "Not necessarily to be skating on your own and staring at the walls while you do it (however.)" Jordan Staal is starting to heat up with two goals in his last three games after being limited to just one in his previous eight.
OVERTIME
1. Buffalo has killed off its last five short-handed situations over the last two games after yielding one power-play goal in each of its previous seven games.
2. Hurricanes C Victor Rask has scored in each contest versus the Sabres this season and in three of his five career meetings.
3. Buffalo LW Tyler Ennis, who has been sidelined since Dec. 30 with a concussion, skated on his own and was involved in an off-ice workout on Monday.