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Hurricanes seek more success on power play

Dec 26, 2008 - 11:28 AM Carolina (16-14-5) at Atlanta (12-18-4), 7:30 p.m. EST

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Carolina Hurricanes have been struggling on the road and their shoddy power play has not helped matters.

Coming off another deflating setback away from home, the Hurricanes look to end their four-game road trip on a good note against the Atlanta Thrashers on Friday.

Trudging through a 1-2-2 stretch in its last five road contests, Carolina suffered a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.

In that game, its 22nd-ranked power-play unit was held scoreless over four opportunities against Wild netminder Niklas Backstrom. The Hurricanes have converted only 15.1 percent of their chances with the man advantage - better than only four teams in the Eastern Conference.

Ray Whitney had a goal and an assist, giving him a four-game points streak. He has also scored at least one point in nine of his last 10 games.

Mike Leighton stopped 20 shots but fell to 1-5-2 in his last eight outings.

Atlanta is fresh off Tuesday's 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders that saw Ilya Kovalchuk notch his 500th career point in as many NHL career games.

Kovalchuk assisted on Bryan Little's power-play goal to give the Thrashers a lead they would not relinquish.

They are 1-3-1 at home in December.