RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes will try to break a scoring drought that has resulted in back-to-back shutout losses against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames when they face the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

To address their scoring issues the Hurricanes have reunited Jiri Tlusty, Eric Staal and Alexander Semin, the team's top line from last season. This season the trio has combined for 22 goals through 46 games; last season they had 54.

"I just want them to be one of our hardest working lines. That's all," coach Kirk Muller said Saturday morning. "They're capable of scoring and making plays. But if they put the work ethic into it -- discipline, short shifts and play hard -- hey, they might score this weekend, they might not. But when it finally kicks in, they've got the chemistry to be a very potent line."

VOORHEES, N.J. -- The Philadelphia Flyers are one of seven teams separated by eight points in the Metropolitan Division, but just two of them will claim the division's automatic spots in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

With a home-and-home set against the New York Islanders starting Saturday at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the Flyers have a chance to do some serious damage to the competition.

The Flyers enter the game second in the division while the Islanders are eight points back in eighth.

"Playing a division rival, you want to be able to take the two points," Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds said after the team's morning skate at its suburban New Jersey practice site, Virtua Health Flyers Skate Zone. "We've got a back-to-back here. The more separation we can create the better."

The Flyers' next four games are against division opponents; after their game Monday at Nassau Coliseum, they host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday and then play at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.

After sitting out the Buffalo Sabres' 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday with an injury, forward Marcus Foligno will be back in the lineup in time to play against his brother Nick as theColumbus Blue Jackets visit First Niagara Center.

Marcus Foligno and Sabres defenseman Henrik Tallinder returned to practice Friday and participated in Buffalo's optional skate Saturday, although Taliinder remains out with an upper-body injury that has kept him out of the past six games.

Marcus Foligno would not share the nature of his injury but admitted that it is something he has been dealing with for a while.

"Just a recurring injury that got pinched in the game against Philly [Jan. 14]," Foligno said after skating Friday. "It's all better now. The trainers looked after me. Just something I needed to rest. It's never going to go away until the summertime. It's just something I've got to keep a close eye on."

TAMPA -- In preparation for an afternoon puck-drop, the San Jose Sharks and the Tampa Bay Lightningopted against morning skates Saturday.

Antti Niemi is expected to start in goal for the Sharks after backup Alex Stalock shut out the Florida PanthersThursday.

Forward Logan Couture skated with San Jose on Friday, his first time on the ice since undergoing hand surgery Wednesday. He's expected to miss at least two more weeks.

The Lightning also had a key injured player on the ice this week as Steven Stamkos participated in a full team skate on Thursday, his first since breaking his right tibia more than two months ago. Thursday also saw Tampa Bay assign defenseman Andrej Sustr to the American Hockey League. The move was necessitated by the return of injured veteran defenseman Sami Salo, who played Thursday in a 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Islanders.

Here are the projected lineups for the Sharks and Lightning:

CHICAGO -- Brent Seabrook and Marian Hossa will each play for the Chicago Blackhawks when they face the red-hot Anaheim Ducks on Friday night at United Center (8 p.m. ET, NHLN).

After both missed Chicago's practice on Thursday, they joined teammates on the ice Friday for the Blackhawks' morning skate. Seabrook missed practice Thursday with an illness and Hossa was held out for a "maintenance day," according to Chicago coach Joel Quenneville.

The Ducks (36-8-5), who have won eight straight games and 18 of their last 19, made a couple moves Friday. They sent defenseman Luca Sbisa and goalie John Gibson to Norfolk of the American Hockey League, with Sbisa's trip a two-game conditioning assignment following a torn tendon in his right hand that's sidelined him for 24 games.

Calgary Hitmen forward Jake Virtanen was the top performer of the 40 skaters at the 2014 BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

According to data released by Sport Testing, Virtanen had the highest overall grade from the on-ice testing, which was performed Tuesday, the day before the Top Prospects Game.

Among the highlights for Virtanen was his top time in the 30-meter forward sprint at 3.92 seconds, as well as the top time in the 30-meter backward sprint, 4.55 seconds.

Virtanen, a 6-foot-0.75, 208-pound right wing, is ranked ninth by NHL Central Scouting in its midterm ranking of North American skaters for the 2014 NHL Draft.

COLUMBUS -- The anticipated reunion of five members of the Russian team for the 2014 Sochi Olympics could be minus one if Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin is not sufficiently recovered from the flu Friday to play against the Washington Capitals.

"We haven't ruled him out," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "He was feeling better last night. He woke up this morning and wasn't feeling better. We'll take a look at him later. We'll make the call then. It's not looking good that he'll play."

Defenseman Dalton Prout, recalled Thursday from a conditioning reassignment to the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League, would replace Tyutin, who has four goals and 15 assists and is minus-1 in 43 games.

"If (Tyutin) isn't playing we're all going to be chipping in and contributing playing against their top guys," Columbus defenseman Jack Johnson said.

The Anaheim Ducks have won eight in a row and 18 out of 19, but they face a challenge Friday night in the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, and NHL Live at 5 p.m. ET with Steve Mears and Ken Daneyko will get fans ready for a regular-season game that figures to have the atmosphere of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We'll go out to the United Center on our Arena Cam and welcome in analyst Eddie Olczyk to preview the contest.

NHL Network analyst Barry Melrose will examine the shootout and give out his Mullet of the Week. And St Cloud forward and Los Angeles Kings prospect Nic Dowd will join us for the College Hockey Report.

The scorching-hot Anaheim Ducks are the talk of the NHL, but Nick Bonino is still being overlooked.

That needs to change.

The Ducks have won 18 of their past 19 games and have yet to lose in regulation in 22 home games this season (20-0-2). Their top-line combo of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry is currently tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins' duo of Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz for the NHL's most productive point pair (35 common goals).

But as integral as Anaheim's front-liners have been to its historic stretch, the team's depth scoring has made it unbeatable of late, especially at home. That's where Bonino's value truly lies.

After every Metropolitan Division team except for the Pittsburgh Penguins got off to a tough start, we're seeing a major shift lately. A number of teams in that division have shown some real signs of life, and it could be the New York Rangers who are making the biggest push as we head into the Olympic break.

The Rangers have been a lot better. To me, it all starts with Henrik Lundqvist. Cam Talbot has been amazing and Hank in his last few games has been outstanding. There are parts of his game that he has really built on and he's starting to gain some momentum. If he's able to play like that, it covers some of the mistakes that we've seen from the Rangers.