Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals
7 p.m., Verizon Center
TV: FS-Carolinas, CSN-Washington

Ask any Caorlina fan what the low point of the Hurricanes season was and they will likely point to their 3-0 loss to the Washington Captials two weeks ago. The Hurricanes roster experienced a barrage of injuries at the time and put together easily their worst performance of the season. They were outchanced 23-12 at even strength alone and were just dominated in all phases of the game. Things could have easily been much uglier on the scoreboard if it wasn't for the play of Cam Ward. To make things even worse, the Canes had also won only one out of five games at this point and zero games within their own division, which led to a lot of questions of this team's effort. 

The team's performance on that night was not up to standard, but in the heat of the moment it is easy to forget that the Canes were not playing with their permanent roster. Their defense corps consisted of two AHL-ers and one junior hockey player along with AHL depth composing most of their bottom-six. Add in some disjointed lines and that's usually a recipe for disaster. The Hurricanes have slowly gotten more healthy since that night and have won four of their last five games, so I would expect different things in tonight's re-match with the Caps.

I know that everyone wanted that game against the Caps to be special with all of the media fanfare surrounding Alexander Semin's return to Washington, but that was just one bad game and the Hurricanes can put that behind behind them with a win tonight. The Hurricanes can do themselves a huge favor this week by gaining points in their three divisional games this week, while the Caps are hanging on for dear life to their playoff chances so this game is relatively important for both teams. The Caps are probably the more desperate team, but the Canes seriously need to start picking up some more divisional wins if they want to lock up the Southeast. 

Having a reasonably healthy roster will help the Canes tonight but they are still going to need to play much better than they did on their last trip to Verizon Center if they want to escape with two points.

New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes
7 p.m, PNC Arena
TV: FS-Carolinas, MSG+

After Thursday's frustrating loss against the Canadiens, the Hurricanes are looking to finish off this homestand on a good note by taking on the New Jersey Devils tonight. As maddening as that Montreal loss was, there were stretches of that game where the Hurricanes looked better than they have all season. Hard work and good effort does not always equate to wins, though and that's especially true when the team plays well for only parts of the game and not the full-60 minutes, which is what the Hurricanes downfall was on Thursday night. They started off flat, managed to battle back and then ran out of gas at the end. Here's to hoping that tonight's game against the Devils is more of a consistent performance.

There were a lot of good things to take away from that Montreal loss, though as the Hurricanes put together a very impressive offensive performance with 43 shots on goal and may have been able to edge out a win had it not been for Carey Price. If they can bring that same firepower and bring more of an even performance, then they could pick up a win tonight against a struggling New Jersey Devils team. The Canes have not had many losing streaks this year, so continuing that trend tonight will be important as the rest of the Southeast is gaining on them. This division is easily the worst in the NHL but it is living up to it's billing of being very competitive, which is why it's important for the Canes to avoid going on a losing streak.

Things are starting to get better for them as they've won four of their last five and will see another player return to the lineup tonight in Tim Brent. In case you missed it, I talked about how Brent's return is a little more important than some might think. He has made the Canes fourth line somewhat of a useful unit this year and provides some help to the powerplay. If anything, Brent provides some much needed depth to the Hurricanes bottom-six and that's never a bad thing.

While oen familiar face will return to the lineup in Brent, another new addition will be made tonight as Chris Terry will be making his NHL debut. Terry has been working his way through the rankings in Charlotte and has been one of their best goal-scorers for the last few years. Many were wondering when he would finally get a shot with the big club and it looks like that time is now. How will he perform and what kind of ice time he will get from the coaching staff is another story. Kirk Muller is known for rewarding the players who perform well, so if Terry has a good debut then he could be in Raleigh for a little longer than some expect.

That's just one of many storylines heading into tonight's game.

Montreal Canadiens at Carolina Hurricanes
7 p.m., PNC Arena
TV: Sports South, TSN-Habs

Carolina will be coming into tonight's game against the Canadiens in a similar situation to the last time they took on Montreal. If you don't remember (it's probably better if you don't anyway), the Canes were riding a three-game win streak head into that game but suffered a barrage of injuries over the span of four days and ended up getting shut out 3-0 by the Habs. This time, Carolina will be riding a four game win streak but are still missing quite a few players from their lineup including goaltender Cam Ward.

The injuries didn't seem to stop them from taking care of the Sabres on Tuesday night, but the Canes will be taking on a much better team this evening in the Canadiens. Many of the problems that were surrounding the Habs last season appear to be gone as the Habs are currently sitting atop of the Eastern Conference and have won six of their last 10 games.

Carolina has been outshot and outchanced in three of the four games they've won, but they have also established early leads in all of those games so  I'm not ready to say that it is a problem just yet. However, it is worth noting that three of their last four wins came against bad teams in Florida and Buffalo, so tonight's game will be a much tougher test. Carolina is still pretty banged up, but most of the team's best skaters healthy, so I think their performance against Montreal will give us an idea of how good they are/can be.

Pittsburgh Penguins at Carolina Hurricanes
7 p.m., PNC Arena
TV: NHL-Network, FS-Carolinas, Root Sports

Much like Tuesday night's game against the Washington Capitals, tonight's showdown with the Pittsburgh Penguins has a bit of hype added to it. Not only will it be Jordan Staal's first game against his former team, it will also be Brandon Sutter's first game in Carolina since being traded to the Hurricanes. The national media is probably more focused on Staal right now because he won a cup in Pittsburgh and was a big part of that team for man years, but Sutter was also a very popular player in Carolina. He served as alternate captain for the last two years and fans loved his work ethic and personality. Sutter was an ideal third line center at the age of 22 and was seen as a big piece of the Hurricanes rebuild until he was traded this June.

Jordan Staal has done a lot for this team in a short period of time but most of the fanbase still loves Sutter and appreciates his time with the Canes, so I'm sure they folks at PNC tonight will do their part in welcoming him back to Raleigh.

While that's a nice storyline to add to this game, the Hurricanes also received some great news earlier this morning when it was announced that Jeff Skinner, Tim Brent, Jamie McBain and Tim Gleason will be returning to the lineup. Pitkanen will still be missed, but getting two top-four guys back in the mix going to give this defense a huge boost. Not having an adequate defense corps has been one of the Hurricanes biggest problems over the last couple of weeks, so getting two players back is going to help a lot. I don't even have to mention how much getting Skinner back will help but I just hope that he wasn't rushed since the last thing I want to happen is for him to sustain another head injury.

Either way, most of the gang is back together and that should at least inspire the Hurricanes to a better performance than they've shown the last few games. They are going to need to put together a good effort tonight since they are taking on arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference

Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals
7 p.m, Verizon Center
TV: FS-Carolinas, CSN-Washington

The big storyline going into tonight will be that it is Alexander Semin's first game at Washington since signing with the Carolina Hurricanes. Semin had many successful years with the Caps before leaving for Carolina via free agency and he was pretty popular with a lot of fans but hated by others. Semin was a fantastic goal-scorer and underrated two-way player during his time in Washington but was criticized for his "work-ethic" and was scapegoated as a "lazy player" whenever things weren't going his team's way. It's not my place to say whether any of those accusations are true or not, but even some teammates have called him out on it. The most recent being Troy Brouwer who said that "there were some nights when you didn't know if he was going tos how up to a rink" in a recent interview.

His work ethic might be questionable according to those in the nation's capital but Semin's current teammates have had nothing but great things to say about him. They even went so far as to defend him on Twitter and in the media the last couple of games, saying that they loved having him around and that he has worked very hard every day this season. Seeing the Hurricanes players stick up for their teammate like this is a great sign and I'm sure they are ready to play for him tonight. It's great that they have some motivation, but they should have had enough motivation going into tonight since they are still without a win in the Southeast Division and need to keep pace with the Tampa Bay Lightning at the top of the division.

After hearing Brouwer's comments, I'm sure that many would love to see Sasha light up his former team, but I don't think Semin cares about how he performs on the stat sheet as long as the Hurricanes are the ones taking home the two points.

Carolina Hurricanes at New York Islanders
7 p.m., Nassau Coliseum
TV: FS-Carolinas, MSG+

Forgetting about last night's terrible 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning should be easy because the Canes play again tonight and hopefully they can restore some confidence with a win. They're still going to be without five key players but injuries haven't stopped other teams from winning, so the Hurricanes will continue to have to make do with what they have and put together a better effort than they did last night. Injuries are often considered an "excuse" by fans and in many cases, injuries can prevent a team from delivering their game plan effectively and make it tougher to win. This is why I'm not looking at soley wins and losses with this particular Hurricanes roster. What I want to see is them giving their full effort and show some progress heading forward. They did this on Thursday but lost because of terrible goaltending but they didn't last night when they completely laid an egg in the third period.

What happens tonight against the Islanders remains to be seen, but head coach Kirk Muller was clearly unhappy with the team's performance last night so we could see some changes to the lineup and hopefully a better looking team than last night. 

Winnipeg Jets at Carolina Hurricanes
7 p.m., PNC Arena
TV: FS-Carolinas, TSN - Jets

Tonight's game against the Winnipeg Jets will be the Hurricanes first game against a Southeast Division opponent since the second game of the season where they were blown out by Tampa Bay. They've played fewer games within the division than any other team in the Southeast but this will change in the next week or so, as three of their next five games will be intra-division. I mentioned in an earlier post that the Canes have a great chance to gain an advantage over the rest of the Southeast, but they may have to do it with five key players out of the lineup. In the past week, the Canes have seen Joni Pitkanen, Jeff Skinner, Jamie McBain, Tim Gleason and Tim Brent all sustain injuries and a few of them are going to be out for longer than a few games. This is going to put a lot of pressure on their top players to produce because there isn't much depth present in the rest of the lineup.

The Hurricanes are going to be especially thin on defense tonight, so much that they needed to recall junior defenseman Ryan Murphy from the Kitchener Rangers to play tonight. Murphy was the team's first round pick in 2011 and he has shined as an offensive defenseman in the OHL. His counting numbers haven't been as impressive this year and he has been prone to defensive lapses from time to time, so it's not certain that he's ready for the NHL but he will be getting a test tonight and might even see top-four minutes. 

Carolina's entire organizational depth is going to be put to the test during this stretch of injuries and it will be interesting to see how some of the younger players perform. There are a lot of prospects who are confined to the minor leagues or fourth line minute because there's no room for them in the lineup but injuries are going to force at least one youngster into a bigger role for the Canes these next couple of games. It's up to them to take advantage of this opportunity and if Monday's game against the Canadiens is any indication, things could be very ugly. This roster is better than what they showed on that night, though so I have a feeling that we'll see a different team tonight against Winnipeg.

Carolina Hurricanes at Montreal Canadiens
7:30 p.m, Bell Centre
TV: FS-Carolinas, NHL Network, TSN-Habs, RDS

The Hurricanes and Canadiens might be based in different countries but they have more similarities than you think They both are coming into this game on three-game win streaks and currently have similar record with the Canadiens being only one win better than the Hurricanes at 9-4-1. Both teams have been playing very well as of late, but the Hurricanes will be missing four players from their lineup and are far from 100% right now. They managed to play a very strong game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night with defensemen Joni Pitkanen and Tim Gleason out but tonight's game will be a much bigger challenge as they'll have to make due without these two along with Jeff Skinner and Tim Brent.

Basically, the Hurricanes will have to find a way to win tonight without two of their top-four defensemen, a top-six player who is also one of their best scorers and one of their main contributors on both special teams units. All teams have to go through injuries and it's often the teams with depth who succeed and the Hurricanes organizational depth will be put to a very tough test if their injured players are out for longer than expected. We've talked a lot about how well some of the guys in Charlotte are playing and how they didn't make the team due to the numbers game. Well, here is their chance to step up and show everyone what they've got. The circumstances are far from ideal, but if anything tonight's game should provide a good chance to see some of the Canes younger talent. Getting a win would be nice, too but the deck isn't stacked in their favor right now.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Carolina Hurricanes
7 p.m., PNC Arena
TV: FS-Carolinas, Leafs TV

The Hurricanes finally return home after twelve long days on the road and they come into tonight's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on a high note, winning four of six games on the road trip. Getting those wins were huge, but the Canes did not come out of this trip unscathed as not only did defenseman Joni PItkanen sustain an injury but fellow blue-liner Tim Gleason is also banged up and did not skate with the team today. Neither injuries appear to be anything serious according to reports so that is good news, but they are still likely going to miss tonight's game, adding more strain to a defense corps that wasn't great to begin with.

To fill Gleason's spot in the lineup, the Hurricanes called up Michal Jordan from Charlotte. Jordan has been one of the Checkers best defensemen all season long and stepped into an even bigger role after Justin Faulk and Bobby Sanguinetti were called up to the NHL. He's known more for his puck-moving skills but he has been a tough-minute player in Charlotte and has killed penalties, as well. Seeing how this will be his NHL debut, I'm not sure how many minutes he will be playing but he might end up getting significant playing time with Bobby Sanguinetti playing tonight as well. That is unless Kirk Muller plans on icing Justin Faulk & Jay Harrison for 30 minutes each.

Jordan will be one of four players in Carolina's defense corps tonight who are under 25 years of age and there are two ways you can look at this. If you're a glass half-empty guy, you might be excited about how Jordan looks and the fact that the Canes have a young defense corps with a ton of upside. If you're a glass half-empty person, then you'll probably be worried that Carolina's defense corps tonight will consist of two AHL-ers and five guys who would probably be on most club's third pairings. Let's hope they can keep the puck in the Leafs zone more times than not. The Leafs are also far from 100% right now but they have been rolling the past week or so with six straight wins, so tonight's game being at home might not have as much of an advantage as one would think.

Carolina Hurricanes at New Jersey Devils
7:00 p.m, Prudential Center
TV: FS-Carolinas, MSG+

The Hurricanes have a chance to end this six-game road trip on a high note by winning four out of six games and taking home nine out of a possible 12 points with a win tonight over the New Jersey Devils. At the beginning of the year, I said that the Hurricanes need to make it out of this road trip with a winning record and they managed to clinch that last night with a win over the Islanders. A win over the Devils tonight will make it a much bigger success but it isn't going to come easy because much like the Islanders, the Canes had little to no success against New Jersey last season.

Carolina is also going to come out much stronger than they did last night, too. They might be able to get away with a bad first period and giving up four powerplay goals against the Islanders but that probably won't happen against the Devils, who are arguably the hottest team in the NHL right now. This being the second game of a back-to-back on the road likely means that the Devils will be the fresher team tonight, but hopefully the Canes can build off last night's game and do enough to at least earn a point in the standings.

The good news is that the schedule gets slightly easier after this game and the Hurricanes will be back at the PNC Arena very soon.