Senators at Hurricanes
The Ottawa Senators are trying to navigate a road-heavy portion of the schedule minus three of their top forwards as they prepare to visit the sliding Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. Ottawa kicked off a four-game road trip with a 2-1 victory at New Jersey on Wednesday to maintain its hold on second place in the Atlantic Division.
The Senators have won five of seven overall and their last three away from home but are again expected to be without forwards Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and Bobby Ryan. "The nice thing about injuries is that every team has them and it opens up opportunities for other guys to step in," netminder Craig Anderson said. The Hurricanes appear to have raised the white flag on making a run at the postseason by trading veteran defenseman Ron Hainsey to Pittsburgh on Thursday. Carolina is last in the Metropolitan Division, in the wake of its second five-game losing streak over the past 13 contests and is 0-2-1 on its current five-game homestand.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, TSN5, RDS (Ottawa), FSN Carolina
ABOUT THE SENATORS (32-20-6): While Ryan is expected to be sidelined for a month, Stone (groin) and Hoffman (neck) were both at practice Thursday and expressed hope of possibly playing Friday. Coach Guy Boucher doused that notion, acknowleding that it was "encouraging" to see Hoffman but called it "very unlikely" he'll be in the lineup Friday. Boucher termed Stone a "wait and see tomorrow" but expressed doubt on his availability, saying: "It's likely that both of them will be missing."
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (24-24-8): With Carolina double-digit points out of the final wild card in the Eastern Conference and likely to miss the postseason for an eighth consecutive season, 14-year veteran Hainsey was dealt to the Penguins for forward Danny Kristo and a second-round draft pick. "When you end up losing guys, it obviously tells you where you are in the standings and what’s going on,” defenseman Justin Faulk said. The Hurricanes have scored four goals during their five-game skid.
OVERTIME
1. Senators D Erik Karlsson has two goals and six assists during a six-game point streak.
2. Hurricanes F Jeff Skinner, who reached 20 goals for the fifth time in seven seasons, has six tallies in 21 games versus Ottawa.
3. Anderson is 9-3-4 with a 2.21 goals-against average versus Carolina.