Oilers look to flush their latest OT loss from their system with victory against everyone's favourite 2006 Eastern Conference opponent. No, I'm not over it yet.

	@
13-13-5, 1.00 p/g	Ranks	10-18-2, .742 p/g
Eastern Conf: 9th		Western Conf: 14th
20th	P/G	27th
21st	ST	23rd
23rd	ES	29th
16th	Goal	29th

The opposing view: Canes Country
Tickets - TiqIQ

Top Story:

• Calgary's Jiri Hudler scored the game winner in overtime to give the Flames a 2-1 victory over the Oilers on Saturday. The Oilers will press on fervently with the matchup that everyone's been waiting for as the Carolina Hurricanes chug into town, fresh off their loss to Vancouver last night. You'll likely remember the Hurricanes, even if vaguely, as they're the last team the Oilers faced in the great playoff caper of 1913. This game is the fourth of a five game home stand, the Oilers are 1-1-1 so far.

The Oilers are saying:

"He's turning into a much more rounded player, and he's a horse. When he's on, he carries our team, he gives us energy, he's a guy we look to produce in a number of different situations"

That's Oilers coach Dallas Eakins onTaylor Hall.

Taylor Hall is a horse, Coach. Hall leads the team with 25 points in 24 games. There's only one Frank Sinatra, one Eiffel Tower, one Santo Gold, and one Taylor Hall. He's certainly no Chris Kunitz though, eh Hockey Canada?

The Opponent is saying:

"We're in such a rat race, just like everybody else in the league, that really west versus east doesn't matter. It's two points. We're chasing the playoffs. We're right in the pack and every game really means so much to everybody these days."

That's Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller on the playoff race. Kirk Muller ought to be more in tune with the fact that the Eastern Conference isn't very good, and if he wants to make the playoffs, all he has to do is beat some pretty bad hockey teams more often than not. 31 points is a playoff team in the East right now, you'll need at least ten more in the West. The variance between East and West will likely grow as time progresses this season.

Of note:

• SOME PEOPLE CALL HIM THE SPACE COWBOY -Ilya Bryzgalov is getting closer and closer to rejoining the active roster. Bryzgalov took some shots in practice yesterday, and commented on how he feels "much better" than he did last week. Bryzgalov took a hit from Stars forward Ryan Garbutt as Garbutt made his way to the net, causing concussion like symptoms to Bryzgalov.
• Boyd Gordon has missed the last four games with a handful of injuries. He practiced yesterday with the team in a yellow non contact jersey. I don't expect him in tonight,
• Jeff Petry hit his head on the glass during the Calgary game, and will not play tonight.
• I'd be a mite bit surprised not to see Anton Belov back tonight.
• LES ETOILES - Taylor Hall earned the NHL's second star of the week after compiling a four goal, two assist performance in three games. Carolina's Jeff Skinner earned first star honours after compiling a five goal, one assist performance in three games. Everyone's a star when they watch the Oilers.

Projected Lines & Pairings:

The Edmonton Oilers

Taylor Hall - Sam Gagner - Nail Yakupov

David Perron - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle

Jesse Joensuu - Mark Arcobello - Ales Hemsky

Ryan Smyth - Anton Lander - Ryan Jones

Philip Larsen - Andrew Ference

Anton Belov - Martin Marincin

Nick Schultz - Justin Schultz

Devan Dubnyk

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Carolina Hurricanes

Jeff Skinner - Eric Staal - Tuomo Ruutu

Nathan Gerbe - Jordan Staal - Elias Lindholm

Jiri Tlusty - Manny Malhotra - Radek Dvorak

Zach Boychuk - Riley Nash - Kevin Westgarth

Justin Falk - Andrej Sekera

Ryan Murphy - Ron Hainsey

Tim Gleason - Jay Harrison

Cam Ward

The Hurricanes travel to Edmonton for the first of two meetings between the teams.

Carolina Hurricanes at Edmonton Oilers
December 10, 2013 - 9:30 pm ET
Rexall Place - Edmonton, AB
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 The Fan

SB Nation Rival Blog: Copper and Blue (Twitter @CopperandBlue)

Hurricanes Record: 13-13-5 (31 pts.) 
Oilers Record: 10-18-3 (23 pts.)

The day after playing the Vancouver Canucks the Hurricanes travel to Edmonton Alberta to take on the Edmonton Oilers.  This is the first meeting between the two teams since December 7, 2011.  That game, also at Rexall Place, saw the Canes win 5-3 behind a first star performance from Jeff Skinner and a second star performance from Chad LaRose.

The Canes lost a tough one last night 2-0 to the Canucks.  Christopher Tanev scored early for the Canucks and Jannik Hansen scored a late goal with Peters out of the net to salt things away.  Justin Peters stopped 24 of 25 shots last night.  Tanev's goal came after one of Carolina's blue liners broke a stick and was unable to clear the puck.  Jeff Skinner stayed down low trying to hand his stick off while the puck moved around to Tanev at the vacated point.  Both Eric Staal and Skinner  broke for the point, but it was too late as Tanev was able to line up his shot and find the back of the net.

The Canes powerplay failed to convert, although it did look decent when given time.  Early on the Canes were able to bring the puck in to the zone, set up possession, and get off some decent shots.  While the team failed to convert on the man advantage they did not display the same level of ineptitude that plagued them just a week ago.

Edmonton finds themselves sitting in 27th place in the NHL.  Their young stars have struggled to keep other teams off the board, giving up a league high 105 goals.  Recently though, things have been picking up for the Oilers.  Edmonton is 6-3-1 in their last ten and are coming off an overtime loss to Albertan rival Calgary Flames.

The Oilers are in the middle of a five game home stand having gone 1-1-1 so far.  The Oilers have been off since Saturday night and should be the more rested of the teams given the Canes game last night against the Canucks.

The Oilers are lead in scoring by David Perron (12-13-25), Taylor Hall (11-14-25) and Jordan Eberle (10-15-25).  Nail Yakupov, whose early season struggles led to his name showing up in the rumor mills, has continued to struggle with only 4 goals and 9 points in 29 games this season.

The Canes have recently found their offensive scoring touch led by Jeff Skinner with 5 goals last week and the NHL's first star of the week.  Not only has Skinner been hot of late, but so has team captain Eric Staal, who has been able to keep up the scoring with the recently assembled top line of E. Staal, Skinner, and Tuomo Ruutu.  Will this line, and the Canes as a team, be able to get back to their recent scoring ways after being shut out last night, or will Edmonton stifle the Canes two nights in a row?

No word yet on the lineup for the Hurricanes.  Given the recent death to the morning skate it's likely we will get little if any information on the games roster prior to puck drop.  Given Peters played last night it would not surprise me to see Cam Ward in net.  However, Peters did stop 24 of 25 and made four straight saves on an early flurry from the Canucks, so perhaps he will be rewarded tonight with back to back starts.  As we get more info we will try to keep you updated.

*Update* Chuck Kaiton is reporting via twitter that Ward will start tonight and that Drayson Bowman may return to the lineup.  Stick tap to Jamie Kellner for bringing this to my attention.

As always the game thread will open 30 minutes prior to game time.  We look forward to seeing our night owls there once again.

Go Canes!

When MacTavish told his players the news, they were still in mourning over their most disheartening loss. But before the next season began, they arrived for training camp talking about making amends and pushing onward. MacTavish said, "Don't think that you can just make it happen. Don't talk big if you won't be able to follow through. If God is not with us, it won't just be the Hurricanes who cause us to bow down before them." Nevertheless, the team broke camp with confidence, this despite the fact that the Orbs of Power were no longer in their possession. When their enemies came to Edmonton, they defeated the Orbless Oilers, beating them mercilessly for seven years.

Carolina Hurricanes @ Edmonton Oilers

Rexall Place, 7:30 p.m. MST
Television: Sportsnet

Visiting Team Scouting Report: The Eastern Conference is a very different place. At the start of December, the Carolina Hurricanes were 10-12-5 with a -21 goal differential, the kind of performance that would normally see a team without much hope for the rest of their season. But after going 3-1-0 to start the month, the Hurricanes are now tied for the last playoff spot with a .500 points percentage. If they hope to maintain that position, they're going to need to be much better at even strength: the Hurricanes are currently 25th in the NHL with a Fenwick percentage of 45.6% with the score tied during five-on-five play.

Expected Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers (10-18-3):

Hall - Gagner - Yakupov
Perron - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle
Jones - Arcobello - Hemsky
Smyth - Lander -Gazdic

Ference - Larsen
N Schultz - J Schultz
Marincin - Petry

Dubnyk

Carolina Hurricanes (13-13-5):

Skinner - E Staal - Ruutu
Gerbe - J Staal - Lindholm
Tlusty - Malhotra - Dvorak
Boychuk - Nash - Westgarth

Faulk - Sekera
Murphy - Hainsey
Gleason - Harrison

Ward

By The Numbers:

• Taylor Hall is one of eight Canadians (and fourteen players) to post a point per game or better over the last two seasons (i.e. 2012-13 and 2013-14). And yet I hear very few people in the national media giving Hall much chance at the Olympic team. Others on that list of eight who aren't locks to make the team include Martin St. Louis, Chris Kunitz, and James Neal.
  
• Ron Hainsey had a hard time finding work this summer, but ended up signing a one-year deal with the Hurricanes for $2M after Carolina was hit by injuries. Now? Hainsey is third on the team in time on ice per game, averaging 21:08. It's very strange that a player that valuable was left waiting for a contract for as long as he was.
• Have the Oilers found a really good defenseman in Philip Larsen? He has only played in ten games so far this season, but Dallas Eakins sure is playing him a lot. He played a season-high 23:42 against the Flames, and has played 21 minutes or more in seven of his ten games this season. With Dallas, he played 21 minutes or more just 10 times in 95 games.

Canes fall behind again early, battle to tie it in third period, but lose in overtime

The Carolina Hurricanes lived up to their .500 record with another inconsistent performance as they once again started out slowly, gained momentum in the second period, then battled back to tie the game in the third before losing to the Edmonton Oilers in overtime, 5-4 on Tuesday night at Rexall Place.

Taylor Hall lit the lamp on his first shot of the game just 1:33 into the contest to give the home team an early lead.

Tuomo Ruutu tied things up on a powerplay goal as he knocked in his own rebound after trying to re-direct a Jeff Skinner pass.  It was the Finn's fourth goal of the season.

But about five minutes later, Nail Yakupov made it 2-1 as he surprised Cam Ward, beating him five-hole.  Then with 1:46 left in the period, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made it 3-1 as he beat Ward high glove side on a beauty of a shot almost from his knees.

Other than the Carolina powerplay, the period was almost all Oilers as they outshot the visitors 14-6.

After another early goal, just 1:40 into the second period, the Hurricanes did start to assert themselves and came back.

Jordan Staal made it 4-2 on a nice shot after a hustle play by Nathan Gerbe behind the net.  At this point, Muller had switched up the lines and Kevin Westgarth was battling in front of Oilers goalie, Devan Dubnyk.

While the Canes outshot the Oilers, 14-8 that period, the score stayed 4-2 going into the third.

Carolina increased their intensity, but Gerbe was called for tripping 6:29 into the final stanza and it looked like the momentum might switch back to the Oilers.

But during the kill, Eric Staal brought the puck up the ice on a semi-breakaway and waited Dubnyk out, as the goalie came too far out of the crease.  The captain tucked the puck easily behind the goalie to make it a one goal game.

Just a bit later, Riley Nash was called for a five minute boarding major and was ejected from the game, but the Canes were able to kill the major and continued to generate chances.  When the teams were back at even strength, Jeff Skinner made a very nice play, reaching to keep the puck onsides, then rifled it to the net.  The shot beat Dubnyk to tie the score.

Skinner was high-sticked on his way to the bench shortly after that play, but there was no call which infuriated the Carolina bench.

The game went to overtime and Justin Faulk was called for boarding, as Nugent-Hopkins turned into the boards as Faulk had committed to check him.  During the ensuing 4-on-3, the Canes had another great shorthanded chance, but Dubnyk turned away Ron Hainsey at the doorstep.

The Oilers finally set themselves up in the Carolina zone and Jordan Eberle won it at the far post as Ward had committed on the other side.

At the end of the day, the Hurricanes were happy with their come back effort and they are to be commended for not giving up and earning a point.  But it was another inconsistent performance which did not help their mediocre record of 13-13-6.

Next up will be Calgary on Thursday night.

Game Notes:

• Muller switched the lines up a bit midway through the game.  Tlusty was moved up to the first line with Eric Staal and Ruutu.  Skinner was with Elias Lindholm and Patrick Dwyer.  Kevin Westgarth got some time with Gerbe and Jordan Staal.  Westgarth was still low man with 8:15 of ice time.  Radek Dvorak had 8:47.  Faulk was high man again with 25:14.
• The Oilers ended up with 29 shots on goal to 28 for Carolina.  Gerbe and Jordan Staal had four each to lead the Canes.
• Muller was obviously unhappy with the officiating.  It would be easier to accept the boarding calls if the officials didn't miss the high-sticking and a possible interference against Edmonton late in the third period, but the Canes have no one to blame but themselves for falling behind, 4-1.
• Jay Harrison had a team high five blocked shots.  The team was credited with 14 for the game.
• Carolina had 30 hits and were led by J. Staal, Tim Gleason, and Ruutu with four each.
• Post game interviews at at Canes PR.com.

The Oilers beat the Hurricanes 5-4 in OT after having a 4-1 lead

Definition: Luck or chance is an event which occurs beyond one's control, without regard to one's will, intention, or desired result.

Example: Luck was the only thing that lead the Oilers to an overtime win over the Hurricanes tonight.

Highlights

Sam Gagner! Sam Gagner! Sam Gagner!

Let me set the scene, the Oilers are up 4-1 but have only been able to get 1 shot on net (the 4-1 goal) thus far in the second period. Anton Belov makes a simple pass up the boards to Sam Gagner who tries to bat the puck down the ice but Andrej Sekera is able to stop the clearing chance and passes the puck back to Nathan Gerbe. Gerbe goes behind the net with puck while Belov peruses him. Meanwhile Corey Potter has the front of the net covered and checks Kevin Westgarth. Jordan Staal skates into the slot (unchecked), while Sam Gagner decides to takeout Potter and Westgarth and skates right through the crease interfering with Devan Dubnyk. Obviously with Staal left all alone in the slot the pass comes right onto his stick and with Gagner successfully taking Dubnyk out of the play, Staal is able to score. What a great sequence for Sam Gagner!

What Gagner Could've Done Differently

This one is pretty simple. Gagner could have listened to his peewee coach when he was 13 telling him that his check was the centerman in the slot.

Tweet of the Night

I have been a big proponent of removing play by play from games for years. Does anyone remember the late 90s when the SRC (French CBC) was on strike and the Canadiens' playoff games were broadcast without play by play? It was great! It felt like being at the game.

Anyway tonight's Tweets are in respect to Kevin Quinn and his baseball-esque play by play and how removing the play by play could make the game more interesting.

I gather Kevin Quinn is ill but he sounds like he has an awful hangover, or that there's a sleeping newborn in the booth.

— Matt Fenwick (@FenwickMatt) December 11, 2013

Kevin Quinn's voice sounds like the embarrassment of the last 7+ seasons hit him like a ton of bricks at 729pm local.

— Matt Fenwick (@FenwickMatt) December 11, 2013

Granted Quinn was probably sick and he did a great job fighting through it but this was the worst play by play I've heard in years by a Canadian crew.

Game Thoughts

Power Play

The biggest issue tonight was the power play. WTF? I think I may have said this the other day but seriously WTF? How many SHG are the Oilers gonna give up this season? Again the SHG was allowed with a defenseman on the ice. The only time the power play scored was when it was all forwards. It's time for Dallas Eakins to revisit this because going with the "traditional" power play isn't scoring goals and the Oilers are still giving up short handed chances.

Three Stars

1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
2. Anton Belov
3. Taylor Hall

The Bruins mounted a successful third period comeback with two goals in ninety seconds on the night of Jarome Iginla's return to the Saddledome.

Jarome Iginla doing a lap around the ice while the Iggy Dance plays could not have been more perfect.

Some brief notes from the game:

• Another day, another late-game meltdown by the Flames. Somehow the second worst team in the West manages to hold one of the best teams in the entire league to just nine shots through two periods only to implode in the final frame. It shouldn't be surprising that they can't keep teams much better than they are off the scoresheet for an entire game, especially when they can only muster one goal, but it sure is frustrating--particularly when it keeps happening in the final minutes of the game.
• So much for Sven's promotion to the second line--the forward had an assist but only played 12:23 and got zero powerplay time.
• The Flames could really use Curtis Glencross back any day now.
• Would-be Calgary Flame Matt Bartkowski played 15:05, had two PIMs, and one shot on goal for the Bruins in last night's game. Shane O'Brien played 13:11, had two PIMs, and zero shots. Similar stat lines for bottom-pairing guys, but Bartkowski makes less than half of what O'Brien makes in the NHL even after the hilarious "we thought we were going to trade him for Jarome Iginla" gaffe. No doubt both players are of relatively similar usefulness, but given that O'Brien is 30-years-old and still locked down for two more years at $2M, I think I'd still rather have the former.
• The forwards Jarome Iginla saw the most of in last night's game were, not surprisingly, Mike Cammalleri, Matt Stajan, and Lee Stempniak. They were out-chanced 10-5, and still managed a positive Corsi rating of +5. The effects of the Flames out-shooting and out-chancing the Bruins through two periods and those of an entirely lop-sided third period in which Boston had every advantage need to be taken into consideration here, but those numbers could have been a lot worse considering they were going up against Iginla, David Krejci and Milan Lucic. The top defensive pairing of Kris Russell and TJ Brodie did not fare quite as well, but only had a -2 shot differential.
• I believe the Flames' third jerseys officially have a losing record. I propose we start a campaign to bring back either: a) the retro thirds or b) the fire-snorting horse.

The Flames are back in action tomorrow night at the 'Dome against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Flames are 3-0-2 this season against the Metropolitan Division. Can Carolina hand Calgary their first Metro loss?

Carolina Hurricanes at Calgary Flames
December 12, 2013 - 9:00 pm ET
Scotiabank Saddledome - Calgary, AB
TV - FOX Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 The Fan

SB Nation Rival Blog: Matchsticks and Gasoline

Hurricanes Record: 13-13-6 (32 pts.)
Flames Record: 11-15-4 (26 pts.)

The Canes continue their Western Conference road trip, heading about 180 miles south to Cowtown. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since December 2011. That game was a barn burner with 7 goals scored in the 3rd period and Calgary holding on for the 7-6 victory. Caniacs might best remember that game as the one that Mike Murphy lost without even surrendering a goal. Carolina has not won in Calgary since December 12, 2002. Might this be an omen?

The Flames are a rebuilding team and currently 6th in the Pacific Division. But don't let that fool you, they have been competitive and have won a couple of games they probably shouldn't have. Like Carolina, they have a rather poor power play (14.7%) and a bottom half penalty kill (81.4%). They are led in points by Jiri Hudler, who is on pace for his best season ever. Hudler has also had some past success against the Hurricanes with 1 goal and 5 assists in 3 career games. We won't see Flame rookie sensation Sean Monahan, he's been out since November 28th with a broken foot.

In net for Calgary will either be with Karri Ramo, who is 1-2-0 with a 3.62 GAA in 3 games against the Hurricanes or Reto Berra, who has never faced Carolina, but does have a tie to the team. Carolina actually owned Toronto's 4th round pick in 2006, that pick was used as part of the deal that brought Doug Weight to Raleigh for the playoff run. That pick was used by St. Louis to select Reto Berra. Berra has started the past 2 games for the Flames, he has a 0.896 save percentage and a 3.18 GAA on the year.

The Flames are coming off an emotional game for their fans Tuesday night. It was the first time Jarome Iginla returned to Calgary and they battled the Bruins hard, but lost the game 2-1. They are 3-2-0 in their last 5 games and are without a regulation loss in 5 games against Metropolitan Division opponents. I would imagine that lineup will look similar to their game on Tuesday night. For more information on the Flames, visit their SB Blog; Matchsticks and Gasoline.

The Canes are coming off a game of jekyll and hyde. They started out extremely slow and found themselves down 4-1 to the Oilers. But the team never game up,fought back and got goals by Jordan Staal, Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner before losing in OT. The loser point was enough to move the Canes up to 3rd in the Metropolitan Division and currently in the playoff picture, but margins are extremely slim. Eric Staal's shorthanded goal in the 3rd period gave Carolina 6 shorthanded goals on the season. That leads the NHL and somewhat surprisingly, all 6 have been scored on the road.

Beside a shutout on Monday, the Canes have been scoring at a good clip lately. They have at least 4 goals in 4 of their past 5 games and are 3-1-1 in those games. Skinner has 8 points (6g, 2a) in those 5 games. Andrej Sekera has 10 points (4g, 6a) in his past 9 games and Eric Staal has 15 points (5g, 10a) in his past 14 games. Patrick Dwyer will be playing in his 300 career NHL game. And Justin Peters sports a 1.67 GAA in his last 10 games, only Ben Scrivens is lower among goalies with at least 8 games in that span.

The lines were juggled midway through the Edmonton game, with Jiri Tlusty moving up to play with Eric and Tuomo Ruutu and Skinner being put with Elias Lindholm. Through in the fact that Alexander Semin participated in regular practice yesterday and we could see a number of changes in tonight's lineup. I would suspect that Cam Ward gets the start in net, due to this being close to his hometown, but Peters is definitely the hotter goaltender right now.

The game thread will be open for business by 8:30 pm. It's a little earlier than the past 2 games, so turn the TV or computer on and lets cheer the Canes on to a much needed victory.

General Manager Jay Feaster and Assistant GM John Weisbrod have been let go by the Flames. President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. MT/1 p.m. ET.

Well, it finally happened.

The Flames announced this morning/afternoon that GM Jay Feaster and Assistant GM John Weisbrod have been let go less than two weeks before Christmas.

The timing of this move is what strikes most people as odd. With the Flames currently sitting in 13th place in the Western Conference, Feaster was largely thought to be a sitting duck GM who may be fired later in the season, likely before the end of the season. The firing of Assistant GM John Weisbrod has also come as a surprise to many, although if Brian Burke or another general manager is coming in it's understandable that they would want to bring the own assistant(s) to the job with them.

Feaster joined the team in the summer of 2010 as assistant to then GM Darryl Sutter, who resigned was let go by the team in December of that year, when Feaster then took the reigns. Weisbrod was named Assistant GM in the summer of 2011, and has been largely responsible for scouting American and NCAA players for the Flames.

President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. MT/1 p.m. ET, where it is already being speculated that he will take over as general manager of the team.

The Flames also take on the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at the 'Dome.

More on this story later this afternoon after the presser, which I'm assuming can be seen on the Flames' website and probably heard on The Fan 960.

The Hurricanes are now 0-1-2 heading into the fourth and final game of their Western Conference road trip.

For the second game in a row, the Carolina Hurricanes came back from a deficit to force overtime, but also for the second time they did not prevail, as the Calgary Flames scored with 3.6 seconds left in overtime for a 2-1 win.

The Hurricanes started out on equal footing in the first, lost momentum in the second, and finally found their game in the third, but again were not able to muster a 60-minute effort in regulation.

It was a game that started in the shadows of big news stories from both teams. For the Hurricanes, it was welcome news of the return of Alexander Semin from injured reserve after missing 12 games with a concussion. For the Flames, it was the awkward news of the firing of General Manager Jay Feaster and Assistant GM John Weisbrod earlier in the day.

The game started off evenly matched, with a scoreless tie and a slight 10-9 shots on goal lead for the Canes, who went 0/1 on one power play opportunity.

The Hurricanes were outmatched in the second, spending most of the period in their own zone, winning few battles, and fighting off one penalty. At least two opportunities, one by Justin Faulk and another by Jeff Skinner, rang the post, otherwise they were really not able to generate much offense and were out-shot 11 to 3. It was a failed attempt to cleanly clear the puck out of the defensive zone that allowed the Flames to capitalize with a little more than two minutes left in the period, as Brian McGrattan found the back of the net for his first of the season.

As the third period wore on, the Hurricanes began to find their game, outshooting the Flames and generating more opportunities. After one failed power play opportunity early in the third, the Canes were finally able to even the match when Eric Staal battled hard to gain possession in the defensive zone, get the pass up the ice to Tuomo Ruutu, who was able to hold on until he could find an open Jeff Skinner to rifle the shot to tie the game at the midway point of the third.

Skinner wasn't quite done with the third period show as he had another golden opportunity after he was hooked from behind by Ladislav Smid while on a breakaway attempt and awarded a penalty shot. Unfortunately Karri Ramo was up to the challenge and there was no goal. Despite outshooting the Flames 16-8 in the third, the Canes were not able to break through to score again and the game went to overtime.

Just when it appeared that the game was headed to a shootout, Chris Butler crossed the blue line, laid back patiently, and fired a wrist shot through a screen from 50 feet out that sailed past Justin Peters with 3.6 seconds left to seal the victory for the Flames.

Other Game Notes:

• The game's three stars were: 1) Brian McGrattan, 2) Jeff Skinner, 3) Karri Ramo
• Elias Lindholm left the game mid-way through the first period after taking a hard hit from Mark Giordano near the Calgary bench. Lindholm did not return to the game and his status is unknown.
• Skinner's penalty shot was the first awarded to the Canes this season.
• Alex Semin's return was up and down. His TOI was solid at 20:47 and he was shooting the puck with 3 shots on goal, 4 attempts blocked, and 3 missed shots, but it was his loose coverage of Chris Butler in the waning seconds of overtime that allowed Butler time and space to set up his game winner.
• Jeff Skinner led the team in shots on goal with 7, followed by Semin, Ruutu, and Gerbe with three. With Skinner's goal tonight he now has 7 goals in his last 6 games played.
• Tuomo Ruutu had a solid all-around effort on the night, with a key primary assist on Skinner's goal, 3 shots on goal (2 attempts blocked), team-leading four hits, and two blocked shots.
• With his assist on Skinner's goal, Eric Staal now has 16 points in 15 games.
• The loss drops the Hurricanes to 0-1-2 for their Western Conference road trip and 13-13-7 for the season with 33 points and a slim two-point lead over three other teams for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
• The team will remain in Calgary tomorrow morning and is tentatively scheduled to practice at the Saddledome at 11:00 am local time before flying to Phoenix, where they will take on the Coyotes Saturday night.
• Post game audio available from Kirk Muller and Jeff Skinner.

The Hurricanes wrap up a four-game, nine-day road trip tonight in the desert.

Carolina Hurricanes at Phoenix Coyotes
December 14, 2013 - 8:00 pm ET
Jobing.com Arena - Glendale, AZ
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 The Fan

SB Nation Rival Blog: Five for Howling (twitter @Five4Howling)

Hurricanes Record: 13-13-7 (33 pts.)
Coyotes Record: 18-8-5 (41 pts.)

The Carolina Hurricanes wrap up a Western Conference road swing tonight against the Phoenix Coyotes. Tonight will mark the final game of a four-game road trip and the sixth straight against a Western Conference opponent. The Hurricanes arrive in Glendale with a regulation loss and two overtime losses during the trip, the latest a 2-1 loss to Calgary in the final seconds of overtime on Thursday night. The Coyotes have won two straight, their latest a 6-3 home victory against the Islanders also on Thursday night.

The two teams met earlier this season, on October 13 in Raleigh, and it was not a pleasant outcome for the home team. After losing goaltender Anton Khudobin to an ankle injury suffered during the second period (he has missed the 27 games since), the Hurricanes squandered numerous power play advantages (including almost two minutes of a 5-on-3 advantage) and a 3-3 tie going into the third period to eventually lose 5-3. The game featured a plethora of penalties in the third, including embellishment calls against both teams, that further disrupted the flow of the game. Head coach Kirk Muller commented afterwards that there were too many "passengers" and some of the top guys didn't bring their 'A' game.

The Coyotes come into tonight's game with an impressive 8-1-1 record against Eastern Conference opponents. Despite having 8 more points than the Canes, they are fourth in the Pacific Division and eighth in the Western Conference.

Forward Rob Klinkhammer was the star of the October game against the Canes with the first multi-goal game of his NHL career, and he bested that effort on Thursday night with a three-point performance (2 g, 1a). Mike Ribeiro, who leads the Coyotes with 26 points (9g, 17a), also had a three-point night Thursday. The Coyotes are able to generate a lot of offense with balanced scoring. Seven players have more than 20 points season to date (contrast that with two on the Canes roster with over 20). They rank 5th in the NHL in goals scored per game, 7th in shots per game, and have a 7th ranked power play.

The Coyotes did not practice Friday, so there will be no updates regarding their roster until later in the day after their morning skate. Captain Shane Doan has been out of the lineup with an unspecified illness and remains questionable. Derek Morris has been out with a personal matter and while he is expected back in the lineup his status remains questionable as well. Lauri Korpikoski remains out with an upper body injury.

Projected lineups based on Thursday's game:

The Hurricanes record of late hasn't been good, but it's been good enough to stay in playoff position. Through last night's games they remain third in the Metro division albeit with three other teams nipping at their heels.

Jeff Skinner remains red hot with nine points (7g, 2a) in his last six games, including the solo goal on Thursday. Eric Staal has 16 points (5g, 11a) in his last 15 games.

The Canes practiced Friday in Calgary before leaving for Phoenix, but there was no news from practice other than an update via twitter from Chantel McCabe that two injured players were on the ice. Elias Lindholm, who left Thursday's game after taking a hard hit during the first period, was at practice, and Brett Bellemore, who has been out since December 3 with a concussion, was practicing in regular (contact) practice gear. Both are questionable for return tonight.

The Canes are not practicing today in Glendale, so new information is unlikely until closer to game time. The projected line-up is my swag based on the game Thursday and how the forwards are most likely to line up if Lindholm is out:

We'll have the open game thread up and rolling by 7:30 pm. See you there.

Riding a two game win streak, what does Phoenix have to do to best the Carolina Hurricanes tonight?

The last time these two teams met on October 13th, the Phoenix Coyotes won 5-3 in a game that featured a staggering eighteen minor penalties, eleven of which were taken by Coyotes. They will look to sweep the season series in Glendale tonight.

Teams At a Glance

Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina is at the end of a six game tour of the Western Conference which included stops in Nashville, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary, with a home game against San Jose sandwiched in between. In that stretch, the Canes went a respectable 2-1-2, and have placed themselves in the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division.

More importantly for Carolina, several of their key players are making their way back into the lineup. Cam Ward is back after missing extended time earlier in the season, and Alexander Semin was activated off of IR just a few days ago. The Canes hope that steady goaltending and a little offensive infusion from Semin will help them get ahead in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.

For more on the Carolina Hurricanes, be sure to check out Canes Country.

Phoenix Coyotes

After a rough stretch in Calgary and Vancouver, the Coyotes have produced two solid victories against the Colorado Avalanche and the New York Islanders. Although the team is still struggling to keep the puck out of their own net, their offensive totals appear to be holding up from the beginning of the year, and the power play remains a tremendous surprise.

The Coyotes do not play at home often this month, and right after this game Phoenix will embark on a trek through Eastern Canada. They would love to earn two more points in their home building before taking their show up North, where they have gone 10-2-2 on the season.

Keys to the Game

• Stay Out of the Box! Apart from their relatively anemic penalty kill, Phoenix's eleven minors against Carolina in their first meeting is a risk the Desert Dogs should not take again. You can't give up power play goals if you aren't shorthanded.
• Tighten Up Defensively. Two of the goals the Coyotes conceded against New York were probably preventable, were it not for the defensemen being caught behind the play and not clearing the shooting lanes quickly enough. Contain the rebounds, stay in front of the offense, and Phoenix will make their job significantly easier.
• Keep Your Distance. After falling behind 1-0, the Coyotes made a heck of an effort coming back, scoring four consecutive goals. Unfortunately, they allowed the Islanders to close the gap to 4-3. Phoenix can't afford to sit back and let the opposing offense take their shots, even if they have the lead.

Players to Watch

Jeff Skinner

#53 / Left Wing / Carolina Hurricanes

Height: 5-11

Weight: 200

Born: May 16, 1992

Jeff Skinner suffers from OEL Syndrome; his numbers would make him a well known name in the NHL if he didn't play for a Southern market team. His eleven goals this season have also come in just 22 games, a third less than his team has played.

Rob Klinkhammer

#36 / Left Wing / Phoenix Coyotes

Height: 6-3

Weight: 214

Born: Aug 12, 1986

I think at this point it is safe to say that Rob Klinkhammer is for real. Colonel Klink had his second two-goal game of the season against New York Thursday night. His first? Against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Projected Starting Goaltenders

Cam Ward

#30 / Goalie / Carolina Hurricanes

Height: 6-1

Weight: 185

Born: Feb 29, 1984

Although backup netminder Justin Peters is the hot hand right now, Carolina would love to have its #1 starter return to form. Given Peters played Thursday night in Calgary, it's likely that Ward goes tonight in Phoenix.

Mike Smith

#41 / Goalie / Phoenix Coyotes

Height: 6-4

Weight: 215

Born: Mar 22, 1982

After missing Tuesday night's game against Colorado, Mike Smith turned in a 21 save performance against the Islanders. He is still searching for that elusive first shutout of the season.

Injury Report

Carolina is without the services of defensemen Joni Pitkanen (heel) and Mike Komisarek (lower body), as well as backup Anton Khudobin (lower body), who are all on IR. Both Elias Lindholm (undisclosed) and Brett Bellemore (concussion), are listed as questionable for tonight's game.

The Coyotes will have to continue without their captain Shane Doan, who is out with an as-of-yet undetermined illness. Lauri Korpikoski (upper body) remains on IR, while Derek Morris (personal matter) is still away from the team.

Puck Drop

Tonight's game begins in Glendale at 6 PM. You can watch the game on Fox Sports Arizona or listen to the radio broadcast on Arizona Sports 620 AM.

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After returning from injury, Jeff Skinner acquires his first career hat trick and continues to light up the scoreboard.

In just 209 career games he is already being considered one of the leagues top players. On December 9, Skinner was named the NHL's first star of the week with five goals and two assists. It was clear when Jeff Skinner stepped onto the ice for the 2011 All-Star game at only 18 years of age that he was going to develop into another face of the franchise.Skinner was also awarded the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year during the 2010-2011 season.

Skinner, now 21 even though he still doesn’t look it, has been on quite a roll as of late.On December 9, the Ontario native was awarded the NHL’s first star of the week for the first time in his young career.Despite missing the first 11 games due to injury, Skinner has bounced back with incredible tenacity as he has recorded nine points in the last six games.Skinner currently has 20 points on the season.

Jeff Skinner Hat Trick (via NHL)

Just shy of a hat trick on December 3's 4-1 victory against the Washington Capitals, Skinner obtained his first career hat trick last Thursday December 5 in a 5-2 triumph over the Nashville Predators."It’s nice to get it," Skinner told the News and Observer. "The puck was bouncing a lot and it was kind of a weird game. There wasn’t much flow. But everyone chipped in."

Skinner stayed persistent and carried his momentum into each game.Although he wasn’t able to successfully net any points in the games against San Jose and Vancouver, he found a couple noteworthy opportunities.

"He's a goal scorer when he shoots the puck," Kirk Muller said."He can score when he gets those opportunities, so he's working for it."

To no surprise Skinner lit up the scoreboard again against the Edmonton Oilers with an assist and the comeback goal that sent the game into overtime.

Last night's contest Skinner managed the only goal for the Hurricanes.  Skinner given the Hurricanes' first penalty shot opportunity of the season but was unable to give the convert and give them the go-ahead goal. "Looking back, I would have done something different," Skinner told the News and Observer.  "I tried to open him up but he didn't really bite on my fake.  I probably shouldn't have forced it in there."

December has been somewhat kind to the Hurricanes so far as they have won three out of their last six games and managing a point out of five of them.

The Penguins continue to set the pace for the division while the Islanders keep on fading at the bottom. In the middle, though, is a fight for position between teams all separated by two or fewer points.

1. Pittsburgh Penguins (22-10-1)

The Penguins are 4-1 so far in December, with their latest win coming in a 3-2 win over the Devils in Pittsburgh on Friday night.

Their only loss in December came in a 3-2 loss to the Bruins on the road.

The Pittsburgh offense is averaging 3.00 goals per game, good for first in the Eastern Conference.

The defense is allowing an average of 2.21 goals per game, which is fourth in the NHL.

The hot streak will have to continue without the services of some top defenseman for Pittsburgh. Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin and Rob Scuderi are all injured for Pittsburgh.

According to NHL.com, Scuderi is the closest to returning.

"Obviously we're missing great players," rookie defenseman Olli Maatta said in an interview with NHL.com. "But when it happens, there's nothing we can do about it right now. All we can do is just everybody has to step up a little bit and everybody's done it pretty well and we just have to keep doing what we've done so far."

James Neal will not play in PIttsburgh's next game, either. He is serving a suspension.

Tanner Glass, Beau Bennett and Andrew Ebbett are also injured.

Sidney Crosby will look to lead the Penguins forward. He has a league-leading 44 points. He has points in 13 of his last 16 games.

Chris Kunitz leads the team with 17 goals.

The Penguins next travel to Detroit for a Saturday night matchup. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.

2. Washington Capitals (17-12-3)

The Capitals dropped a shootout decision to the Panthers on Friday night to snap a three-game winning streak.

In their last five games on the road, Washington is 3-0-2.

The Capitals surrendered more than 40 shots against Florida which is the seventh time the team has done that so far this season.

When Washington last played a full 82-game schedule in 2011-2012, the club surrendered 40 or more shots in eight games.

Joel Ward scored his 10th goal of the season against the Panthers. It marks his first double digit goal campaign since he was a member of the Nashville Predators.

Only Ovechkin, who has 26 goals, has more goals than Ward.

The Capitals will be in action on Sunday for a 3:00 p.m. start against the Flyers in Washington.

3. Carolina Hurricanes (13-13-7)

The Hurricanes will wrap up a four-game Western Conference road trip on Saturday night against the Coyotes.

Through the first three games of the trip, Carolina is 0-1-2 after dropping an overtime game to Calgary on Thursday.

After wrapping things up in Phoenix, Carolina will have a long rest. They next play on Dec. 20 when they host the Capitals.

Alexander Semin returned for Carolina on Thursday.

Jeff Skinner has seven goals in his last six games.

Mike Komisarek, Anton Khudobin and Brett Bellemore are injured for Carolina.

Elias Lindholm left the game in Calgary with an injury and is questionable for the Hurricanes.

4. Columbus Blue Jackets (14-15-3)

The Blue Jackets have started December with a 4-1 mark and have a chance to move up in the standings as three of their next four contests are at home.

With injuries to Sergei Bobrovsky and Curtis McElhinney, Mike McKenna has been forced into duty for the Blue Jackets.

McKenna, 30, grew up in St. Louis. His next action should come on Saturday night against the Blues.

"It's my hometown," McKenna said in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch. "As you get older and move around, I think you lose that emotional attachment. There will be a lot of people watching back home, but that was a big stage in New York (on Thursday), too. It's the NHL, it's all a big stage."

Goaltender Jeremy Smith has also been recalled from AHL Springfield.

Forward Matt Calvert has goals in three-straight for the Blue Jackets.

Ryan Johansen is riding a career-high seven game point streak. During that stretchm he has nine points.

Marian Gaborik, Nathan Horton, Cody Bass, Jared Boll and James Wisniewski are injured for Columbus.

The Blue Jackets and the Blues will drop the puck at 7:00 p.m. Saturday.

5. Philadelphia Flyers (14-15-3)

In December, the Flyers have won only twice, defeating the Red Wings and Canadiens.

On Sunday, Philadelphia will begin a crucial four game stretch against teams from the Metropolitan Division.

The Flyers will have a home-and-home with the Capitals, before they have the same scenario against the Blue Jackets.

The first game against the Capitals will be a 3:00 p.m. start in Washington.

6. New York Rangers (15-17-1)

The Rangers have lost some ground thanks to four-straight losses.

After a 3-1 win over the Sabres on the road, the Rangers kicked off a nine-game homestand with an 0-1-3 record.

The homestand will continue for New York when the Flames come to town. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.

Brad Richards will look to lead the Rangers on the homestand. He notched his team-leading 25th point on Thursday.

Richards also played for more than 23 minutes and shot nine times- a season high for him.

7. New Jersey Devils (12-15-6)

The Devils went down 3-0 against the division-leading Penguins on Friday but a rally fell  short as they lost 3-2.

The loss put the Devils' December record to 1-4-1. The only win came in a 4-3 decision in New York against the Rangers.

In the last two periods of the game against Pittsburgh, the Devils outshot the Penguins 32-11.

Patrik Elias is riding a five-game point streak with six points during that stretch.

For the Devils, outshooting opponents is not enough, coach Peter DeBoer said in an interview with MSG Network.

"You get tired of moral victories," DeBoer said. "You have to get points (in the standings), that's the bottom line."

The Devils will play the latter half of a back-to-back when they host the Lightning on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.

Bryce Salvador, Peter Harrold, Adam Larsson, Ryan Carter and Stephen Gionta are injured for New Jersey.

8. New York Islanders (9-19-5)

The Islanders have spiraled to the bottom of the division, winning only once in their last 12 games.

Only Buffalo (-40) has a worse goal differential than the Islanders' -34.

Ryan Strome, selected fifth overall in the 2011 NHL draft, has been called up and is expected to make his NHL debut on Saturday night against the Canadiens.

Strome was leading the AHL in scoring at the time of his call up.

Evgeni Nabokov, who has not played since Nov. 16, has returned and backed up Kevin Poulin on Thursday.

The Islanders allowed more than four goals for the 10th time this season in the 6-3 loss to the Coyotes on Thursday.

The Islanders will host Montreal at 7:00 p.m. Saturday.

Casey Cizikas was injured Thursday and is questionable. Radek Martinek and Lubomir Visnovsky are on injured reserve.

Jeff Skinner scores again and Justin Peters stays hot for Carolina

The Carolina Hurricanes finished up their four game road trip with a decisive 3-1 win against the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night at Jobing.com Arena.  The win gave the Canes four points out of a possible eight on this trip as they went 1-1-2.

Justin Peters earned the win and once again allowed just one goal, this time while making 37 saves in the Carolina victory.

Jeff Skinner scored the game-winner and now has eight goals in his last seven games.

The Canes fell behind early again as Paul Bissonnette got a step on his defender and used a perfect pass by Connor Murphy to beat Peters at 6:14 into the first period. It was the first goal in 72 games for the tough guy, but it would be the only score for Phoenix on this night.

Nathan Gerbe tied things up in the second period on a beauty of a shot while on a rush with Jordan Staal.  Eric Staal picked up the primary assist.

Skinner scored the go-ahead goal right off of a faceoff 3:00 into the third period.  The red hot winger took the puck, lunged, and then flicked it into the net before Mike Smith could see it.   The captain earned another assist on the play as he was credited with the face off win.

The Hurricanes had a couple of other prime chances, but were stymied by Smith.

Antoine Vermette came close to scoring on a shorthanded breakaway for the home team, but Peters made the tough save, then made another sterling save on Mike Ribeiro in the third period.

Eric Staal notched another empty-netter to salt away the game late and complete a three point night.

The Canes were outshot in two of the three periods and 38-33 for the game, but played a solid overall contest and probably had the better of the chances on this night.

They will now return back home and have a few nights off until their next game against the Washington Capitals on Friday night.

Game Notes:

• The powerplay was disappointing and went 0-4 on the night and Peters had to come up big to stop a shortie.  The PK was strong and held the Coyotes to 0-3.
• On the team's 33 shots, Eric and Jordan led the way with five shots each.
• Andrej Sekera had a team best three blocked shots.
• The win moved Peters' record to 7-8-2 with a GAA of 2.16 and a save percentage of .929.
• Tuomo Ruutu had a team high five hits while Jay Harrison was next with four.
• Sekera was on the ice for 26:07.  Justin Faulk was next with 22:55.
• Post game interviews are at Canes PR.com.

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 3-1 on Saturday night.

Hockey is a game of inches, bounces and opportunities. One play can swing a game.

On Saturday night, the Carolina Hurricanes made one more play than the Phoenix Coyotes and left the desert with two points and a 3-1 win.

The Coyotes did a lot of things right. They scored first, they killed every penalty, won the majority of the faceoffs, out-hit and out-blocked the Hurricanes. However, the scoreboard tells the opposite story.

"We have a saying we like to use," coach Dave Tippett said. "'Every play counts' and (this game) comes down to one faceoff that was just a loose puck battle that we lost, and it ends up...the one that is the difference in the game.."

Phoenix had its opportunities but couldn't put a second puck past back-up netminder Justin Peters. Peters stopped 37-of-38 shots en route to his seventh win of the season despite some shaky rebound control.

"(We) could have easily deserved a better fate tonight," Tippett said. "We could have used a spark from someone tonight that just didn't come."

A big reason that spark never manifested itself was the Coyotes' inability to stay out of the box. The Yotes took five minor penalties and gave the Canes four power play opportunities in the first 50 minutes of the game. Phoenix killed all four power plays, but they could not sustain the offensive pressure they showed to start the game.

"I thought we shot ourselves in the foot with costly and timely penalties," Paul Bissonnette said.

Bissonnette's play has picked up over the last several games and he opened the scoring on Saturday night.

Jobing.com Arena exploded with cheers as Bissonnette scored his first goal of the season to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead. It was his first goal in more than two years, the last coming Nov. 19, 2011, and his first at home since 2010. Jeff Halpern poked the puck to Connor Murphy at the right point who fired a shot-pass toward the stick of Bissonnette. The player affectionately known as "Biz Nasty" deflected the puck into an open net on a play he drew up before the previous faceoff.

Bissonnette said, at the intermission, he told Murphy to look for his stick as he skated toward the net because he was left open on the previous play. The rookie payed attention and the successful communication showed up on the scoreboard.

The Hurricanes would claw back into the game with Nathan Gerbe's seventh goal of the year. Gerbe skated into the Phoenix zone on a 2-on-1. He waited out defenseman Keith Yandle and wristed the puck past Smith to tie the game at one.

Phoenix killed off a pair of Carolina power plays to maintain the 1-1 tie heading into the third period.

The Coyotes had to feel good entering the third period as they were 5-0-1 in games when they were tied after two periods. Unfortunately for the Yotes, the first 15 minutes did not go as planned.

Carolina struck first in the third period, taking its first lead of the game. Jeff Skinner came in from the wing grabbed the puck sitting in the dot, after Eric Staal tied his man up in the faceoff circle, and shot it top shelf while falling down.

This was the play that proved to be the difference in the game.

The Coyotes dominated the final five minutes of the game but could not solve Peters. Staal put the game out of reach scoring his third point of the night into the empty net.

After the play, Staal and Oliver Ekman-Larsson mixed it up behind the net. Both teams jumped into the fray. A Martin Hanzal shove of Justin Faulk was met with a pair of punches to the face. In the end, six penalties were handed out and the Coyotes spent the last six seconds of the game on the power play, only their second power play opportunity of the game.

Phoenix ended the game with the energy they wished they had before their final push in the third period.

"An extra five, 10 percent might have been enough tonight. We just didn't have it," Rob Klinkhammer said.

The Coyotes head eastward for a four-game road trip as they try to claw their way back into playoff position.

Paw Prints

• Hurricanes' perspective
• Shane Doan did not play but updated the media on his status during the game. He is not sure what he has but he's experiencing fever, headaches and flu-like symptoms. The team and Doan are awaiting test results.
• Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt dropped the puck in pre-game.
• Bissonnette led all players in first period shots with three.
• Yandle was assessed a 10-minute misconduct with six seconds left in the game.
• Mike Smith stopped 30-of-32 shots.
• Attendance: 11,697

Our Three Stars of the Game

1. Justin Peters: Stopped 37-of-38 shots and stole two points for Carolina

2. Eric Staal: Three points (1-2-3).

3. Paul Bissonnette: Scored the lone Coyotes goal to snap a scoreless streak of more than two years.

Looking Ahead

The Coyotes head out on the road for their second four-game road trip of December. Phoenix will start its trip through eastern Canada (and Buffalo) with a game in Montreal on Tuesday. Puck drop is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

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By turning potential into an NHL contribution, Brian Dumoulin has pushed the Penguins, officially, into a winner for last year's Jordan Staal trade.

Potential is a nice word, but until it becomes a reality, it’s just a word for an NHL team. So when the Pittsburgh Penguins hosted the 2012 draft and made the biggest trade splash by dealing Jordan Staal to the Carolina Hurricanes for Brandon Sutter and two pieces with "potential"- defensemen Brian Dumoulin and the 8th overall draft pick that became Derrick Pouliot. It was potentially a very good deal for the Penguins, who replaced Staal (an impending free agent) for a capable third line center in Sutter and then those two impressive, but young assets.

Turning those impressive, young players into NHL level talent would be when the Penguins won the trade. So, on Saturday, when Dumoulin made his NHL debut, the scales of the trade have swung.

Of course, it helps that Staal hasn’t played that great either- scoring just 7 goals and 7 assists in 34 games this season, decreased production from his final seasons in the ‘Burgh. Sutter himself has 5 goals and 7 assists in a same role, very similar boxcar stats. The extra leverage of the young players helps, as does the fact that Staal makes $6 million, compared to $2 million for Sutter.

Pouliot, 19, has gone from "project" on his draft-day into an impressive player. He had a great training camp in September with the Pens and has parlayed that into a strong season with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL (30 points- 9g, 21a in 28 games) and is expected to make Team Canada later this month for the World Junior Championships. He’ll turn pro next season and with his skating, stick-handling and puck moving ability, he might be able to make the jump to the NHL sooner than later.

Dumoulin is in his second pro year, where he’s grown into a top defenseman in the AHL, and like we mentioned, looking very capable in his debut playing 18:10 (an inflated figure due to Deryk Engelland getting tossed from the game) and added two blocked shots in a winning effort against the Red Wings.

More importantly, by turning potential into an NHL contribution- even if it may be short-lived for now once the regular four injured NHL defensemen get healthy- Brian Dumoulin has pushed the Penguins, officially, into a winner for the Jordan Staal trade.

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The Carolina Hurricanes avenged their loss earlier this season to Phoenix Saturday night, knocking off the Coyotes 3-1 to move to 14-13-7, good for 35 points and sole possession of third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Jeff Skinner worked his third-period magic again, notching the game-winner in Phoenix to give the Carolina Hurricanes 10 points in their past seven games — six of which were on the road. Justin Peters also improved to 7-8-2 and lowered his goals-against average to 2.16 and boosted his save percentage to .929 on the season.

Three Observations

1. Great players will often have monster nights, but to be a great point producer you need to pile up goals and assists without having a other-worldly performances. Without much fanfare, Eric Staal is doing that right now. Staal has been overshadowed by Skinner’s goal scoring since the two joined forces on the top line, but he has points in 14 of the past 16 games and is creeping toward returning to the scoring leaderboard. On Saturday, Staal assisted on both goals and padded his stats with an empty-netter to seal it, giving him his second three-point night of the season.

2. Carolina has allowed two regulation goals in the past two games, and they were scored by ... Paul Bissonnette and Brian McGrattan? It was the first goal of the year for both, who are known more for their punching power than their scoring prowess. For McGrattan, it was his seventh goal in 263 career NHL games, while Bissonette got his sixth in 183 games. Through Sunday's games, the duo had 539 and 298 career penalty minutes, respectively.

3. After their long road trip, the Hurricanes get nearly a week off to prepare for their big home game against the Capitals on Friday. Carolina is 2-0 against Washington this season and both teams will be well rested for their Metropolitan Division tilt as the Caps have two days off after a road game in Philadelphia on Tuesday. A Carolina win would clinch the five-game season series for the Canes, who have 3-2 and 4-1 wins against Washington already under their belt. It will also be a chancee to see Justin Faulk and John Carlson head to head as both look to earn a spot on Team USA's defense.

Number To Know

2 — points for Radim Vrbata in his career against the Carolina Hurricanes. The former Canes winger has played his best hockey when with the Coyotes and has compiled 438 points in 742 career games, including 204 goals. But the Canes have surrendered no goals and two assists in seven games to Vrbata. While he has played fewer games against the Canes (seven) than any other NHL team, he also has 10 PIMs when facing his former club — within six minutes of the most he has against any other squad. Winnipeg/Atlanta is the only other franchise he is yet to score a goal against.

Plus

Jeff Skinner — The kid keeps getting it done. Skinner now has goals in three straight and has eight goals (and two assists) in his last seven. He has 34 shots in that stretch (nearly five per game) and his 0.52 goals per game ranks tied for ninth in the NHL.

Minus

Radek Dvorak— You can't often find Dvorak out of position or gliding, but he did both on Bissonette's goal. After Drayson Bowman lost a mini battle with Jeff Halpern in the slot, Bissonette beat Dvorak back to the front of the net and was able to deflect Connor Murphy's shot past

Resist the door-to-door salesman in Raleigh.

The New York Islanders' internal desire for a goalie upgrade may be on hold now that Evgeni Nabokov has come off IR and played quite well in his return. That doesn't mean the need won't re-assert itself in due time, as the Isles face the choice of either over-working this 38-year-old average (at best) goalie, or leaning more on what are unproven (at best) and thus far inadequate backups.

Regardless, even if the Goalie Crisis 2013 is on pause, they should be very careful about whom they place new faith.

When teams are desperate, they are vulnerable to other teams offering them snake oil; it is wise to resist. Conversely, when teams' records are better than their actual play, they are wise to try to sell high on their weakest links. That kind of dynamic may be in play in the Metropolitan Division.

The Carolina Hurricanes are 11 points ahead of the Islanders and currently hold the third spot in the Metro, but that is a bit deceiving: They are among the six Metro teams with negative goal differentials, and when games are up for grabs ("tied/close"), in about 1000 minutes of data so far they are in the company of Buffalo, Edmonton, Toronto, and a trio of other Metro teams (but not the Islanders) in getting outshot with regularity.

As such, the Canes need improvements, and it sure sounds like they are angling to do it by selling their junk to other teams in need.

Throughout December, there have been reports of GM Jim Rutherford trying to offload surplus assets:

Close to returning. Canes getting trade interest in both him & Peters. MT @NHLCanes Khudobin will travel with the team this week.

— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) December 2, 2013

That's in addition to report early in December, chiefly by Darren Dreger of TSN, that the Canes expect to trade Tim Gleason "very soon."

Bruce "Malkin to the Kings" Garrioch of the Sun:

...the talk is you can have pretty much have anybody on the Carolina roster with the exception of C Eric Staal, C Jordan Staal, LW Jeff Skinner and G Cam Ward. The Hurricanes are pushing for a playoff spot in the East, but Rutherford would like to make changes. The three names we’ve heard the most: D Tim Gleason, LW Jiri Tlusty and LW Tuomo Ruutu.

It almost reads like a message board or fantasy team trade post: NEED UPGRADES. AM WILLING TO TRADE ANYONE ON MY TEAM WHO ISN'T ALL THAT GOOD.

The Isles defense has been hit by injuries, but hopefully the Isles knew not to want any part of Gleason.

But let's focus on Peters:

Carolina signed Anton Khudobin in the offseason specifically because they didn't believe in Justin Peters as their backup goalie. Nothing in Peters' career says they should believe in him, but he's done fine this season -- including a win over the Isles, of course -- after Cam Ward and Khudobin each got hurt. They are wise to shop him and try to sell high here.

Earlier in Garrioch's Sunday column captures exactly where the Peters sales pitch would come from:

The 27-year-old has a solid .925 save-percentage with a 2.23 GAA on an inconsistent Carolina team. He'd be a nice fit.

I was about to go into why, at 27, the best bet is that Peters would not be "a good fit" anywhere, but a blogger who focuses on another possible trade victim, Jonathan Willis covering the Edmonton Oilers, outlined it already:

Most importantly, though, Justin Peters isn’t an especially good goaltender, despite his numbers this season. In 64 career NHL games the 27-year-old has a 0.905 save percentage. Among goalies with more than 50 games since 2009-10, that ties him with Scott Clemmensen, Joey MacDonald, Marty Turco and Antero Niitymaki. That’s two third-string goalies and two guys who have since been pushed into retirement.

Peters’ AHL numbers suggest much the same; he’s a career 0.909 save percentage goalie in 214 games played at that level. If we limit ourselves to the past three seasons, that save percentage number jumps to 0.916, which we would roughly expect to translate to a 0.909 NHL save percentage. That’s the rosiest possible interpretation of his long-term work, and it still projects him as a sub-average NHL goalie.

Assuming it's true, as reported by Newsday's Arthur Staple and others, that Garth Snow used the Nabokov injury period to kick the tires and check prices on goalies around the league, then Isles fans should hope that Snow, for the above reasons, resisted Rutherford pitched him.

With a losing streak escalating and Kevin Poulin and Anders Nilsson incapable of bailing the Isles out -- save for Poulin's standout performance in San Jose -- it might've been tempting to roll the dice on another career AHLer. But chances are, despite Peters' good (and small sample) run this season, it wouldn't have worked.

The Hurricanes collected 3 out of a possible 4 points to finish up their road trip. They also put together a solid 60 minutes in Phoenix and with the game sealed, the captain unleashed some fury on a Coyote defender.

It was a long, short week for the Carolina Hurricanes. They finished up the final 2 games of an extended road trip, in which they saw 7 cities in 12 games. The week started north of the border in Calgary, where the Canes and Flames played a low-scoring, grinding game. But thanks to Justin Peters and a 3rd period goal by Jeff Skinner, the Canes ended up getting a point in Cowtown. Then the team headed south to Phoenix, to face a pretty darn good Coyotes team. Carolina really put forth a solid 60 minute effort and was rewarded with a 3-1 victory. In the final seconds, things got a little chippy between the team and Eric Staal seemed to have enough. After Eric put in an empty net goal, he shoved Oliver Ekman-Larsson into the boards and even threw a couple of blows as the men fell to the ice. The scuffle seemed to start because of a slash by OEL or because of a hit that Justin Peters took a little bit earlier. Either way, the captain showed some fire that many have been wanting to see. Now the Canes are on a long break, preparing for a divisional matchup at home against the Washington Capitals. Here are the stats for the week of 12/11/13 through 12/17/13.

Canes Weekly Stats

Weekly Advanced Stats

Here is a little key to some of my abbreviations. F - For, A - Against, CF% - Corsi For Percentage, FF% - Fenwick For Percentage, SF% - Shots For Percentage, OZst% - Offensive Zone Start Percentage, NZst% - Neutral Zone Start Percentage and DZst% - Defensive Zone Start Percentage. If you would like more advanced statistics, this information was collected from www.extraskater.com.

Who's Hot

• Jeff Skinner - Skinner continued his goal scoring barrage this week, but more importantly, the goals he scored were huge in the standings. His goal in Calgary tied the game late and got the Canes 1 point on the road. And his acrobatic goal in the 3rd against the Coyotes was the game winner. Those 3 points helped the Canes hold on to their place in the Metropolitan Division and gave them a little breathing room while on their break. Skinner has been the definition of clutch lately with 2 game winners and 2 game tying goals this month. He had a team high 2 goals and 11 shots on goal for the week. He also led the team in All Situations Fenwick For and Shots For. His All Situation Fenwick For was over 5% higher than the next person on the team. Jeff has been very impressive offensively and continues to show some improvement in his own end of the ice.
• Justin Peters - For as much as Skinner helped the Canes get points in both games this week, Peters might have been even more important. He only allowed 3 goals on 68 shots for a 0.956 save percentage and 1.44 goals against average. For the year, Peters is in the top 10 in both categories for qualified goaltenders. I really don't believe anybody in this world would have thought that at the beginning of the season. Whether this is just a hot streak or the results of Peters offseason work, he has made huge strides and deserves the starting role right now. Obviously there are things he can still improve on, but when you outplay an Olympic hopeful like Mike Smith, you deserve credit. Peters isn't just helping the team tread water, he is helping them win games.
• Eric Staal - Eric often takes a lot of flak when the Canes don't do well, it's simply part of being the captain of the team. But Eric deserves some credit for the things he did this week. He led the team in points with 4 and factored in on every Hurricane goal. He was a team high +3, led the team in faceoff percentage and was tied for 2nd with 7 shots on goal. He also ranked in the top 5 of every possession category for the week. But what I consider the biggest thing he did was his scuffle at the end of the Phoenix game. Eric's leadership has been called into question many times and I believe this was a statement. He showed the fire and passion that many have wanted to see and showed you won't be allowed to get away with cheap shots against him or his team.

Who's Not

• Elias Lindholm - This rookie has talent, no denying that, but I'm really starting to question why Jim Rutherford burned a year of his entry-level contract. Lindholm again left a game due to injury and is now being loaned to Sweden. He either has never really recovered from his offseason shoulder injury or the kid isn't really physically ready for the NHL. We all see the skill, but how will this effect his development? Would it have been better to leave him in Sweden, letting him mature more physically and not using up a cheap entry-level year? I'm not sure how all of this is going to play out, but I'm not sure this situation was managed properly.
• Cam Ward - He didn't play this week and that might be saying something itself. The Canes $6 million dollar goalie is sitting on the bench while the 3rd string goalie helps this team earn points. I don't believe Cam will be traded this season, mainly due to his high salary, but he is certainly making the 3 goalie decision a difficult one. Cam has the worst numbers of all 3 goalies and his inconsistent play is extremely frustrating. We all know Ward can steal a game, he can play at a high level in pressure filled situations, but why can't he play more consistently? He needs work, so he can round into form, but with playoff positioning so tight, the Canes need points and Peters is giving the team a better chances at getting those points. When Cam does get his next opportunity, he needs to seize it and prove he is this team's #1.
• Jiri Tlusty - Tlusty has been struggling all year long, but I thought he was starting to come around the past couple of weeks. He was doing the little things, putting himself in better position. But this week was a step back in my opinion. He only generated 2 shots on goal, was not on the ice for any Hurricane goal and his position numbers were generally in the low 40's and high 30's. As more time goes by, it appears that last season was just a perfect storm for Jiri. He fed off Eric and Alexander Semin and without them, he is pretty much lost. I really thought he was a solid player, not as good as last year, but solid. Right now he is looking like a marginal 3rd liner. I wouldn't be surprised seeing him get moved, but at this point, the Canes aren't going to get a very good return for him.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• Carolina's goal scoring dropped off this week, averaging only 2.00 goals per game. That ranked tied for 22nd in the league with the Sabres. The goals against though were quite good, coming in at 1.50 goals against per game. That was good enough for a 5th place tie with 3 other teams.
• 2 weeks in a row now that the Canes faceoffs were below 50%. The team's percentage was 48.3%, which had them at 22nd in the NHL. Eric led the team at 56.1%, followed by Manny at 50.0%, then Jordan at 44.4% and Nash at 40.0%.
• Here's a shock, the Canes PP was bad this week. They went 0 for 6 and tied with 8 other teams for the worst PP of the week.
• The Hurricanes finished the week in the bottom 10 in hits with 46, blocked shots with 27 and takeaways with 12. They did only play 2 games, so that has to be factored in to these low numbers.
• Carolina did end up tied for 2nd with only 13 giveaways. That is definitely their best showing of the year in this category. But only playing 2 games probably contributes to this as well.
• The Canes shots for and shots against were pretty even. They averaged 31.5 shots per game (12th) and gave up 34.0 shots against per game (26th).
• Carolina's 5 on 5 Corsit and Fenwick were around average for the week. The Corsi For percentage came in at 52.3%, the Fenwick For percentage was at 49.6%.
• Team Stat of the Week - PK - 100% - the team only had 3 opportunities to kill penalties, but they were perfect at it. The 100% success rate tied them with 3 other teams for 1st in the NHL. Going 3 for 3 on the PK might not be much to write home about, but only giving up 3 opportunities is pretty good in itself. The team will be challenged Friday night, going up against the #2 PP team in the league. If they can avoid going to the penalty box, they have a much better chance of coming away with a win.

Former Canes Weekly Stats

This will be the last Storm Tracking of the year. I will be heading out of the country this Friday and won't have much connection with the outside world. Storm Tracking will return on January 1, 2014. So to all that follow and contribute to Canes Country, I hope you and your family have a safe and happy holidays!

The big guy scored twice on the power play last evening, and almost capped it with an empty netter!

The Boston Bruins beat the Calgary Flames 2-0.

• Just the facts, the game synopsis. [NewEnglandHockeyJournal]

• Zdeno Chara 's goals seemed like justice after the referees missed a stick he took to the face. [TheBostonGlobe]
• To say Chara "stepped up" is to downplay his consistently strong leadership and performance. [WEEI]
• Tuukka Rask got the shutout, wryly claiming he "just tried not to get pulled twice in a row." [BostonHerald]
• Craig Cunningham made his NHL debut, and Loui Eriksson was able to stop by the rink yesterday. Jarome Iginla admitted to being "grossed out" by his finger dislocation. Shawn Thornton meets with The Bettman on Friday. [BostonHerald]
• There appears to be a bit of mystery surrounding Matt Fraser having been scratched. [MetroWestDailyNews]
• Calgary's Lance Bouma was in the penalty box for high sticking on both goals, and Iginla had an assist on each score as well. [ConcordMonitor]
• The already roster-challenged Bruins have talked about how they can't afford bad penalties like Brad Marchand 's for boarding. [WEEI]
• Take five... bullet points from last evening's tilt. [SouthCoastToday]
• Show your support for Milan Lucic, get this tee shirt for someone on your list. [PuckDaddy]
• As the Bruins prepare for the Sabres, have a look at how well Ted Nolan has been doing in Buffalo trying to turn that ship around. [SBNation]