Hurricanes lose Cole for at least a month
The Carolina Hurricanes have lost their first two games and now won’t have first-line winger Erik Cole for 4-6 weeks with a fractured leg he suffered Saturday against the Bruins.
Cole had to be helped from the ice after a collision with the Bruins’ Dennis Wideman along the boards.
Wideman’s attempted hip check was a hard but clean hit, his right leg smacking into Cole’s left leg.
Coach Paul Maurice said Tim Conboy is expected to replace Cole in the lineup, starting with Tuesday’s game against the Lightning – bet on it at WagerWeb.com. Conboy was a healthy scratch in the first two games.
“If we expect our team to get a little more physical, I’m very comfortable with Timmy coming in the lineup,” Maurice said. “We were going to face this whether it’s Erik Cole or whoever over the course of the year. We can’t replace him. But it all goes back to we talked about depth in the summer and adding guys, and we feel we have enough players to play with a strong offensive game.”
Cole was a big part of the Hurricanes’ surprising run through the playoffs last season. He was reacquired from Edmonton late in the year and had two goals and 13 assists in 17 games with Carolina last season; he had 18 goals and 24 assists in 80 games split between the clubs and signed a two-year, $5.8 deal as a free agent this offseason.
It’s expected that Tuomo Ruutu will move up to the top line with Eric Staal and Sergei Samsonov. Conboy is nothing more than a fourth-line grinder.
“It’s unfortunate for Erik,” team captain Rod Brind’Amour said. “You never want to get injured, especially at the start of the season. But we’ve got lots of forwards who can play, so everybody is going to have to step up a little more maybe and go from there.”
Carolina has looked like one of the worst teams in the NHL so far, getting outscored 9-2 in those two losses. This injury certainly won’t help matters.
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