Hurricanes at Blackhawks preview

HURRICANES (29-27-11) at BLACKHAWKS (29-30-8)
8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Goalie Scott Darling will start in his first game back to Chicago since being traded in the offseason to the Hurricanes, who are four points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Blackhawks will look to win at home for the fifth time in six games after going 0-6-1 in their previous seven. They trail the Los Angeles Kings by 11 points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.

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Players to watch

Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen has six goals in his past eight games after going 10 straight without one.
Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past three games after going pointless in his previous five.

They said it

"It's obviously a day I've had circled on my calendar. I had a great experience here, you guys know, I'm from here. It'll be great to have all my family at the game just like it used to be when I was here. I've been really excited about it." -- Hurricanes goalie Scott Darling on returning to Chicago
"We've got our leaders, our top guys, they're great pros and they want to be competitive as heck and play the right way. It's fun doing things like that. You play hard, you have more fun doing it that way and winning goes along with that as well." -- Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville on playing spoiler

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Elias Lindholm -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Jordan Staal -- Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner -- Victor Rask -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Joakim Nordstrom -- Derek Ryan -- Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Scott Darling
Cam Ward
Scratched: Klas Dahlbeck
Injured: None

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Blackhawks projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Jonathan Toews -- Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat -- Nick Schmaltz -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Matthew Highmore -- Artem Anisimov -- Tomas Jurco
Patrick Sharp -- David Kampf -- Anthony Duclair
Duncan Keith -- Connor Murphy
Erik Gustafsson -- Brent Seabrook
Jordan Oesterle -- Jan Rutta
J-F Berube
Anton Forsberg
Scratched: Carl Dahlstrom
Injured: Corey Crawford (upper body)

Status report

The Hurricanes announced Wednesday that general manager Ron Francis will transition into a new role as president of hockey operations. ... Nordstrom is expected to be cleared to return after missing four games with an eye injury. ... The Hurricanes assigned forward Lucas Wallmark to Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. ... The Blackhawks agreed to terms with Rutta on a one-year contract extension. He will return to the lineup after missing four games with a lower-body injury.

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Stat pack

The Hurricanes have scored two goals or fewer in seven of the past 10 games. ... Kane has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past nine games after a five-game point drought.