Preview: Hurricanes at Blues

HURRICANES (16-14-7) at BLUES (20-13-5)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Hurricanes team scope

Forward Ty Rattie won't have to wait long to make his Carolina Hurricanes debut, which will take place Thursday against the St. Louis Blues, who put Rattie on waivers before he was claimed by the Hurricanes on Wednesday. "Yeah, I got a call at 11 a.m. saying I'm going to Carolina," Rattie said. "Happy, very happy. A good young team and a team that can really make a playoff push here, not too many points out. Now I've got to do whatever I can to help out this team." Coach Bill Peters will put Rattie, 23, on Carolina's top line with Jeff Skinner and Victor Rask. "You've got to play, right? You've got to play and you've got to play minutes," Peters said. "That's just the only way. It's hard on guys. Guys get put in tough situations. We've got a couple guys who are in tough situations with us right now too. You understand it as a coach, but that's the reality. We've got to make sure his opportunity is adequate, so when we're making a decision, we're making the right decision." Rattie has four goals and four assists in 30 career NHL games, all with the Blues, over parts of four seasons. Defenseman Justin Faulk is expected to return after missing four games with a lower-body injury. Goaltender Cam Ward will start his 14th straight game.

Blues team scope

The St. Louis Blues, off their 4-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on Monday, are trying for consecutive victories for the first time since Dec. 1. The Blues have not won consecutive games in regulation since Nov. 19-22. "I think this point of the season, it's kind of in the middle and it's an important part," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "These are key points, especially division ones like last game. We've just got to take care of our home games also. We're here right now. You want to put points in the bank and give you a chance to get home ice advantage, get things like that going. Whenever you can get on a streak, it's a great thing for sure." Several players have been battling the flu and some were told to stay home instead of reporting for the morning skate Thursday. "We're going through the bug that probably some other teams are going through," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We just need to get to 20 [players] and I'm not sure how it's going to fit in right now. Some guys we even left at home today. We'll see how we do tonight, but we'll get to 20." Goaltender Jake Allen will start.

Hurricanes projected lineup

Jeff Skinner -- Victor Rask -- Ty Rattie
Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen -- Lee Stempniak
Brock McGinn -- Jordan Staal -- Derek Ryan
Joakim Nordstrom -- Jay McClement -- Viktor Stalberg
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Ron Hainsey -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Ryan Murphy
Cam Ward
Michael Leighton
Scratched:Klas Dahlbeck, Andrej Nestrasil, Matt Tennyson
Injured:Elias Lindholm (upper body), Eddie Lack (concussion), Bryan Bickell (illness)

Blues projected lineup

Alexander Steen -- Paul Stastny -- David Perron
Jaden Schwartz -- Jori Lehtera -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri -- Patrik Berglund -- Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall -- Kyle Brodziak -- Ryan Reaves
Joel Edmundson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Brad Hunt -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Jake Allen
Carter Hutton
Scratched:Nail Yakupov
Injured:Robert Bortuzzo (lower body), Carl Gunnarsson (lower body)

Status report

Lindholm will miss his third straight game. He skated Thursday for a third straight day and could play Friday at the Chicago Blackhawks. With Rattie and Faulk in the lineup, Nestrasil and Tennyson are expected to be healthy scratches. ... Schwartz, who skated Thursday morning for 8-10 minutes, will be a game-time decision. Schwartz, who played in the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, was at 60 percent on Monday, Hitchcock said. If Schwartz can't go, Yakupov will play. Hunt will play for the first time in four games after being a healthy scratch. Gunnarsson is day-to-day. Bortuzzo will miss his 14th straight game.

Who's hot

Tarasenko has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in his past 11 games. … Fabbri has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in his past 12 games. … Teravainen has five points (one goal, four assists) in a five-game point streak. … Aho has four points (two goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak.