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Carolina seeks to slow down red-hot Atlanta once again

Oct 25, 2006 - 2:30 PM Atlanta (7-1-1) at Carolina (3-4-2) 7:00 pm EDT

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Carolina Hurricanes will hope that a return home will turn around some of their struggles.

The Hurricanes have a brief stop at home following a disappointing road trip when they host the Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday.

Despite coming off their first championship season, Carolina has experienced mainly hardships at the start of the new campaign.

The lone bright spots were consecutive 5-1 victories at Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay during a 3-3-1 road trip that ended with a 4-3 shootout loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday.

The Hurricanes have also struggled at home, losing their first two games here, including a 3-2 shootout loss to Buffalo when they raised their championship banner in the season opener October 4.

Now Carolina squares off against a team with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and the third-most points in the NHL.

The Thrashers will look to continue their best start in team history as they aim for a fifth straight win Wednesday.

Atlanta's impressive offense was clicking Monday as it converted a team-record five power-play goals in a 6-3 win at Florida. Ilya Kovalchuk had three of the man-advantage tallies against the Panthers and has scored five goals in his last four games.

Marian Hossa, who had a goal and an assist Monday, has been hot as well, collecting 10 goals and 15 points this season.

Thrasher goaltender Kari Lehtonen turned away 25 shots to record his fourth straight win. The three-year veteran has started all nine games for Atlanta, which leads the Southeast Division by six points over Florida and seven over both Carolina and Tampa Bay.

Carolina did beat Atlanta in the teams first matchup on October 13. Hurricanes netminder Cam Ward stopped 31 shots and left wing Ray Whitney scored on a tip-in with a half second left as Carolina posted its first win of the season, 4-3.