The Ducks handled the winless Flames in Calgary, but the victory came with a price tag. Anaheim lost both Cutter Gauthier and Ryan Poehling to injury, and head coach Joel Quenneville didn’t have much to add afterward, according to Derek Lee of The Hockey News. The latest word is that both players need evaluations, with a better read on their status expected by Monday.
Gauthier’s night was over almost as soon as it began. He exited in the first period after just 02:18, and the team labeled it an upper-body injury.
The exact moment it happened isn’t clear. On his last shift, he looked normal enough, snapping an outlet pass before heading to the bench.
It’s been a productive start for the young winger, who has four points in five games, leads the team with 17 shots on goal and has already scored twice, including once on the power play.
Poehling’s injury was far more visible. He had just delivered the game-winner with a short-handed goal early in the third period when the play turned.
Calgary’s Zayne Parekh slid in trying to stop the two-on-one, tripped Poehling, and sent him hard into the right post. Poehling immediately grabbed at his right leg and needed help getting off the ice.
Anaheim finished the final 14:00 with 11 forwards. That’s a tough way to close out a game, especially with two steady lineup pieces going down. Gauthier, who played 75 games last year, brings obvious scoring punch on the wing, while Poehling, who appeared in 76, gives the Ducks speed, penalty killing and short-handed offense from the third-line center spot.
The Ducks are back at it Tuesday with a rematch against Calgary, this time at home. An update should follow tomorrow, and Poehling appears to be the one with the stronger chance of missing time.
Around the league, Carolina will be without captain Jordan Staal tonight against the Flyers because of a lower-body injury. The team announced that about 30 minutes before puck drop.
Staal finished last night’s win in Chicago with 14:12 of ice time, so the injury came out of nowhere. Nicolas Deslauriers is expected to step in for some shifts, around his usual 7:13 per night.
The 35-year-old will face the Flyers, the team he spent the past four years with before last March’s trade. Mark Jankowski is set to take over Staal’s 3C spot, with Jesperi Kotkaniemi moving in underneath him.
Staal has been a fixture in Carolina for 14 years and has long been the kind of veteran the Hurricanes can count on. He has been a steady 30-40 point player in recent seasons, but he’s still looking for his first point in six games this year.
At 38, this may be the season his offense finally backs off. Even so, he remains elite on faceoffs, winning 55.6% so far in 2026-27.
Former NHL winger Radim Zohorna is staying in Sweden. Färjestad BK announced that he has signed a two-year extension on his SHL deal.
Zohorna moved on from North America three years ago and put up 27 points in 47 games in his first season in Sweden last year, skating with former NHLers such as 2015 Columbus first rounder Gabriel Carlsson and David Tomasek, who had a brief stint with the Oilers as an international free agent last season before heading back overseas. He’s started this season well too, with 10 points in his first eight games.
Zohorna, who went undrafted before carving out a path to the NHL after a strong run in the Czech Republic, might have seemed like a likely return candidate there, but instead he’s settled into the SHL. He broke in with the Penguins in 2021 and scored on his first shot, then went on to play 68 NHL games as a bottom-six forward whose size was his biggest calling card at 6’6″. He also had stops in Toronto and Calgary, with his last NHL action coming in April 2024.
In Other News...
Alexander Nikishin Puts Hurricanes Blue Line In An Uncomfortable Spot
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For the Hurricanes, the immediate issue is not a dramatic move on the horizon but the unresolved fit between Nikishin and the organization. There is no immediate trade on the radar, and the bigger question is whether he will be in Carolina for the long haul, which is the kind of front-burner roster matter teams rarely get to leave alone for long, especially with more clubs openly treating offer sheets as part of the modern planning landscape. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Are Winning Again By Looking Like Themselves
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Rod Brind'Amour and Aho both addressed the game afterward, pointing to the way the Hurricanes played across the board and the lift that came from one of the key momentum plays. When Carolina is getting contributions from all four lines and forcing teams to chase the game, it tends to look a lot more like the contender it expects to be. The question now is whether this stretch is the start of something more lasting, or just another brief reminder of how dangerous the Hurricanes can be when everything clicks. [Read more 🡒]
Canes Top Line Is Creating A Feeling Fans Have Missed
The Hurricanes win over Philadelphia offered more than just another result in the standings. It was the kind of night that reminded fans what this team can look like when its best forwards start driving play the way theyre supposed to, with Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho helping power the offense in a 4-1 victory. Carolina got production at even strength and, for a change, the top of the lineup looked like a problem for the other side again.
Pyotr Kochetkov did his part too, turning aside 18 shots and only yielding a goal on a redirection. With Carolina generating its scoring at five-on-five and getting that familiar push from its top line, there was a little more of the old Hurricanes feel to the night than fans have seen at times this season. The bigger question now is whether this was a one-game spark or the start of something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]