Injured Hurricanes trio expected to take warmups Tuesday, status remains uncertain
The status of injured Carolina Hurricanes forwards Nino Niederreiter, Vincent Trocheck and Warren Foegele remained in doubt Tuesday ahead of Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, with Niederreiter and Trocheck hoping to test things out in warmups and Foegele “50-50,” according to Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour.
Niederreiter, who suffered an injury in practice before the series, was back on the ice for practice Monday. Trocheck injured his right leg in a collision with Foegele in Game 2 and has not played since, while Foegele suffered a shoulder injury in Game 3 and played in Saturday’s 6-4 loss in Game 4 that put the Hurricanes down 3-1, but not effectively.
“Everyone’s going to go in the warmup and we’ll just see where we stack out,” Brind’Amour said Tuesday morning.
The three forwards combined for 47 goals in the regular season and Trocheck had been one of the Hurricanes’ most dynamic players in the postseason before getting hurt.
Ned in net?
Meanwhile, Brind’Amour for the first time in the playoffs declined to name a starting goalie ahead of the game, although the expectation was that Alex Nedeljkovic would be back in net after Petr Mrazek allowed six goals in Game 4.
“We could go either way,” Brind’Amour said. “Paulie (Schonfelder), our goalie coach, had a lot of influence on that. He does every time. That’s basically how we decide.”
They said it
“It bothers a lot of people, and that would probably be the number one reason. Everybody wants to ask about it and it just gives me pleasure.” — then-North Carolina football coach Larry Fedora in 2014, refusing to name a starting quarterback
“I think I’ll let you guys marinate on the goalie. Add a little excitement to the day.” — Brind’Amour on Tuesday, refusing to name a starting goaltender
Tailwinds
Tampa Bay has a 10-0 all-time series record when going up 3-1. The Lightning has needed six games to close out the last three. ... The Bolts are 5-3 in series-clinching games over the past two postseasons. ... The Hurricanes are 2-2 all time in Game 5s down 3-1. … Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal was not a finalist for the Masterton Trophy, which honors perseverance and dedication to hockey. He was a finalist in 2018. The Norris Trophy (best defenseman) finalists will be announced Wednesday and the Jack Adams Award (best coach) on Friday.
