The Hurricanes, who have two shutouts in their past three games, are 6-1-1 in their past eight games and are one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Keith Kinkaid will start for the Devils, who are playing the second game of a back-to-back (lost 4-2 to Minnesota Wild on Saturday) and have lost three in a row (0-2-1).
Players to watch
Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past eight games and needs one assist for 100 in the NHL. Devils forward Jesper Bratt has one goal and two assists in a three-game point streak.
They said it
"[Our goalies] have been the difference in our season. [Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney] have both just been great and it just gives us a lot of confidence that when we're not playing our best, we still have a chance to win."-- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour "What's important in back-to-back games is that we always have the thing on our wall about self-starters. Now it is about resting and recovering for [Sunday] and making sure we are mentally and physically ready to play the game. We'll come back with our game plan for Carolina and see if we can have a rebound performance." -- Devils coach John Hynes
Carolina assigned defenseman Haydn Fleury to Charlotte of the American Hockey League. ... New Jersey recalled forward Nick Lappin and defenseman Ryan Murphy from Binghamton of the AHL. ... Neither team will hold a morning skate.
Stat pack
Teravainen has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his past eight games and needs two points for 200 in the NHL. … Niederreiter has seven points (six goals, one assist) in nine games with the Hurricanes since he was acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 17. … Palmieri has two points (one goal, one assist) in his past nine games. … Carolina is 5-0-1 in its past six road games.
