Blue Jackets at Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes have a faint pulse in the NHL postseason picture, but they need to win their final four games and hope for plenty of help to avoid missing the playoffs for the seventh straight season. Sitting five points out of eighth place with four games remaining, Carolina hosts the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.
Despite picking up a point in 12 of 14 games last month, the Hurricanes haven't posted back-to-back victories since March 8-10. They kept their fleeting hopes alive by knocking off the New York Rangers on Thursday, but eighth-place Philadelphia has two games in hand on Carolina. After a bit of a midseason revival under replacement coach John Tortorella, Columbus is stumbling toward the finish line with four consecutive defeats. The Blue Jackets also have dropped four in a row to Carolina, including a 3-2 home loss on March 24.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Columbus), FSN Carolinas
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (30-39-8): Rookie Sonny Milano, the No. 16 overall pick in the 2014 draft, made his NHL debut in Thursday's 4-3 loss at the New York Islanders and had one shot on goal and was a minus-1. "Once the second period started I started to feel more like myself," the 19-year-old Milano said. "It was definitely a big difference at first. I was so nervous. I’m not going to lie.” Rookie netminder Joonas Korpisalo, who has sat in place of Sergei Bobrovsky the past two games, yielded four goals in an overtime loss to Carolina on Jan. 9.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (34-28-16): Also making his NHL debut Thursday was Carolina forward Sergey Tolchinsky, who collected an assist on a second-period goal by defenseman Justin Faulk. “It’s great, an unbelievable feeling,” said Tolchinsky, who was sent back to Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Friday along with Derek Ryan. “I think things went really good for my first game." Forward Victor Rask, who has scored five times in his last five games, has enjoyed success against Columbus with three tallies and two assists in five contests.
OVERTIME
1. Blue Jackets F Boone Jenner has scored five times in the last seven games and is one shy of 30 goals for the season.
2. Hurricanes G Cam Ward is 2-0-1 in his last three starts but is 4-4-1 with a 2.79 goals-against average versus the Blue Jackets.
3. Columbus has lost seven straight (0-6-1) away from home.