Aucoin gains poise

Frequent call-ups provide experience

NASHVILLE, TENN. -- In the past three seasons, Keith Aucoin has gotten pretty used to his brief trips to the Carolina Hurricanes.

This season, he has started to make more of a difference with six points in 11 games going into Tuesday night's 1-0 loss to the Nashville Predators.

So it isn't exactly a surprise that the Hurricanes called up Aucoin from Albany of the American Hockey League and plugged him into the third line to replace Matt Cullen, who missed his third straight game with distorted vision.

"He played really well offensively the last time he was up here," coach Peter Laviolette said. "He contributed, he threw points up on the board and he worked hard. He got caught in a numbers thing, and we had to send him back."

Aucoin entered Tuesday's game with four points in his previous five games, including his first NHL goal. His last call-up -- this is his fourth of the season -- came during a stretch of illnesses and injuries in January, and Aucoin scored goals in back-to-back games before being sent back to Albany.

"It's been three years I've been coming up and down," Aucoin said. "My last time was a really good one, and I was playing with a lot of confidence. I've just got to do the same exact thing I did as the last time."

Aucoin played 14:20 and skated 16 shifts. He took just one shot.

Aucoin was set to play with Scott Walker and Chad LaRose on the third line, but after LaRose broke his left leg on the first shift, the lines were tweaked.

FIRST TIME: The Canes were jovial coming off the ice from the morning skate Tuesday, particularly as they posed the question to any newcomer: "Who scored the first goal in this building?"

If you didn't know, Ray Whitney's exaggerating mugging made it clear.

Whitney scored the first goal in the Sommet Center as a member of the Florida Panthers on Oct. 10, 1998, to beat the Nashville Predators 1-0 in their first NHL game.

Now Whitney's teammate, Walker was a member of the Predators at the time.

"Scott Walker was minus-1 that night!" LaRose crowed.

Walker played 410 games with the Predators and recorded 96 goals. He received loud cheers during a media timeout when the Predators ran a "Thank you" segment on their big screens to honor Walker.

SHOTLESS: Wade Brookbank is typically a defenseman, but the Canes have had him on the fourth line since bringing him up from Albany in late December.

Brookbank noticed Saturday that he hadn't yet taken an official shot, despite playing in 13 games this season.

"Any time I've got a chance to shoot, I've got to take my shot," said Brookbank, who does have an assist this season. "You can't score goals unless you get pucks at the nets. I might not necessarily score with my shot, but maybe someone will score on my rebound. It's definitely something I need to do."

Though he doesn't have the shots, Brookbank has fought a number of times, including dropping gloves with the Predators' Martin Erat in the first period.

He was in the penalty box longer than he was on the ice -- he had four shifts for 2:30. He didn't record a shot.