WRAL Sports Fan

Hurricanes

Staal's status to be evaluated Saturday

By Mike Maniscalco

Feb 6, 2009

Eric Staal will be evaluated after the Hurricanes pre-game skate Saturday to determine his status for the team’s final game of a three-game West Coast swing that wraps up in Phoenix, sourced told 99.9 FM The Fan.

Staal missed the third period and overtime of the Canes 4-3 overtime victory over San Jose. According to Carolina head coach Paul Maurice, Staal has “a muscular injury” and is hopeful that is “short term."

Staal leads the Hurricanes in goals with 22 and is second on the team in points with 38. Reports from Thursday night’s game said that Staal asked to play in the third period but team trainers recommended that Staal sit out.

Staal has the longest Hurricanes games-played streak (306 games) since the franchise moved to North Carolina in 1997, and the second-longest games-played streak in the organizations history behind Dave Tippett. Staal played in his 300th consecutive regular-season game when he skated at Buffalo on Jan. 17. His games-played streak is the third-longest active streak in the NHL.

There is a chance that defenseman Nic Wallin could return to the Canes line-up tomorrow night if he makes it through the pregame skate. Paul Maurice on the Wallin injury situation, “we are expecting that he will (play).” Rod Brind’Amour, Scott Walker and Dennis Deidenberg are still out of the Canes line-up as of today.