Arena: Philips Arena
Time: Thursday, 21 January, 2010 at 7:00 PM ET
League: NHL – United States of America

Last 10 matches: Carolina 5-5-0; Atlanta 4-3-3
For the Hurricanes, Jokinen has 2 goals and 3 assists in four games, Ray Whitney has 4 goals and 3 assists in six games, new captain Eric Staal has 2 goals and 3 assists in five games, Brandon Sutter has a goal and 2 assists in five games, and Jiri Tlusty has 3 assists in five games. For the Thrashers, Tobias Enstrom has a goal and 3 assists in five games, Kovalchuk has 5 goals and 4 assists in four games, and Vyacheslav Kozlov has 4 assists in four games.With 129 wins, Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward is one win shy of tying the franchise record, held by Arturs Irbe with 30). … Kovalchuk is third in the NHL with 10 power-play goals and tied for fourth in overall goals (30). … Enstrom ranks third among NHL defensemen with 34 assists. His next assist will break his own single-season team record for assists by a defenseman. … Since 2001-02, Kovalchuk leads all NHL players with 327 goals.
The Thrashers find themselves on the cusp of a playoff berth, which would be only the second in franchise history. Atlanta is among the League leaders with 149 total goals and 3.04 goals per game (both sixth), but has been held back by subpar defense and inconsistent goaltending from veteran Johan Hedberg and youngster Ondrej Pavelec. Word is, Kari Lehtonen, working his way back from two back surgeries, is doing well in his rehab and getting close to returning. It would be a huge boost to Atlanta’s playoff push.
For the Hurricanes, Casey Borer (neck), Joe Corvo (leg) and Scott Walker (shoulder) are on injured reserve, and Tuomo Ruutu (upper-body) and Erik Cole (upper-body) are day-to-day. For the Thrashers, Lehtonen (back) is on injured reserve, and Todd White (knee) and Mark Popovic (broken foot) are day-to-day. We will post results of this match, as soon as posible.