RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes will once again be without captain Jordan Staal\u00a0as they host the Washington Capitals at Lenovo Center this\u00a0evening.<\/p>\n
Staal missed Sunday’s win in Philadelphia with a lower-body ailment that was labeled “hopefully nothing serious” by Head Coach Rod\u00a0Brind’Amour, but unfortunately, the head coach sang a different tune this morning, telling reporters<\/a> that the Conn Smythe Trophy winner will be out “anywhere from a month to two months” with a tear in his calf.<\/p>\n As the group trudges forward without him, Mark Jankowski\u00a0was elevated to a role between Jordan Martinook\u00a0and Nikolaj Ehlers\u00a0on Sunday, and scored for the fourth consecutive contest. Based on this morning’s groupings, he’ll stay there, as will the newly constructed trio of Jesperi Kotkaniemi\u00a0between Nicolas Deslauriers\u00a0and Eric Robinson.<\/p>\n Brind’Amour also told reporters that he expects the team to call up a forward in\u00a0Staal’s absence, and that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a center with Kotkaniemi moving to the middle.<\/p>\n As far as their last line of defense goes for this evening, Pyotr Kochetkov operated in the traditional starter’s crease at morning skate. The team had rotated Kochetkov and Brandon Bussi\u00a0on an every-other-game basis over the last five games, but appears set to ride the hot hand after the Russian backstop moved to 3-0-0 with an 18-save effort on Sunday.<\/p>\n