RALEIGH Nico Hischier Jersey , N.C. — Just days before the season began, Curtis McElhinney wasn’t even in the conversation about the Carolina Hurricanes.Now he’s emerging as the team’s top goaltender.He’ll likely have another chance to prove his worth Friday night against the visiting Anaheim Ducks at PNC Arena.Article continues below ...McElhinney holds a 7-2-0 record in nine games. This is the first time in his career that he has started in as many as nine games in a season prior to December.“He’s a pro, you could tell. We said that Day 1 that we got him,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of McElhinney, who was claimed off waivers right before the regular season. “Whatever you throw at him that wasn’t ideal, he handles it.”The Hurricanes have won four of their last five games, with McElhinney in the nets for each of the victories, including a 2-1 decision Tuesday night at Montreal.“Where the goalie just stole the game,” Brind’Amour said. “We need that sometimes. We all know how important that position is.”McElhinney, who has played in 195 career games Dan Hamhuis Jersey Womens , tied his career-high with 48 saves in the Montreal game. The other time when he was so busy was with Columbus in an April 2015 game.“It feels good. It’s all about building something here now,” McElhinney said. “Things start rolling and people get excited about it.”Carolina goalies Petr Mrazek and Scott Darling are a combined 5-7-3 in 15 games. Darling, who was projected to be the team’s top goaltender this season, was placed on waivers Thursday.The Ducks, who’ve also won four of their last five games, will be in their fourth game of a season-long five-game road trip.“You’ve got to feel good about ourselves a little bit, but we’ve got lots of room for improvement,” said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle, whose team won on back-to-back nights this week at Tampa Bay and Florida.The Ducks turned to two goalies for the victories in those games.John Gibson has been Anaheim’s primary goalie, though Ryan Miller has had success against Carolina Youth Pavel Zacha Jersey , mostly as a Buffalo Sabres goalie. He owns a 16-9-4 all-time record vs. the Hurricanes.Miller moved into 17th place on the NHL career wins list with his 373rd victory when the Ducks defeated Tampa Bay. He’s within one victory of matching John Vanbiesbrouck for the most by a U.S.-born goalie.The Ducks had their mothers along for the first three games of the trip. The phase of the trip has concluded.“She’s good luck, I guess,” left winger Nick Ritchie, who scored two goals Wednesday night at Florida, said in reference to his mother.Carolina defenseman Jake Bean made his NHL debut Tuesday night and could be in line for his first regular-season game at home.“He was fine. He came in there and made a couple nice plays,” Brind’Amour said of Bean. “It was a good first game for him.”The Ducks won both meetings last season with Carolina and hold a four-game winning streak in the series. They’ve won in their last four visits to Raleigh.The teams meet again next Friday night at Anaheim. WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Winnipeg Jets are hoping to welcome back a pair of defensemen in time for Friday night’s tilt against the St. Louis Blues at Bell MTS Place.Dustin Byfuglien has missed three games after suffering a concussion following a hard hit against Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Jamie Oleksiak on Nov. 29, while Dmitry Kulikov has been out for a month since being hurt against the Colorado Avalanche.Nothing has been confirmed by the Jets coaching staff but the team sent call-up Nelson Nogier back to the Manitoba Moose Thursday morning, all but indicating that one or both of them will return to the line-up on Friday.Article continues below ...They both wore full-contact jerseys at practice on Thursday. Byfuglien’s long-time partner, Ben Chiarot Authentic Taylor Hall Jersey , was glad to see the 265-pounder back on the ice taking part in line rushes.“He’s a big part of our team, a big part of the locker room and one of the best players in the league,” he said in a post-practice scrum. “Any time you add him back, it’s a welcome sight.”Another pillar on the Jets blueline, Josh Morrissey, has also missed one game with a lower-body injury. Neither he, nor forward Andrew Copp or defenseman Joe Morrow practiced on Thursday.Nobody on the Jets is going to complain too loudly about getting hit by the injury bug as the team has lost among the fewest player-games in the entire league. Sami Niku, Cam Schilling and Nogier have all filled in well for the most part, with just a few hiccups.Despite the sudden rash of injuries, the Jets are riding a four-game winning streak and sit in third place in the Central Division with 36 points.Friday’s game will be the first meeting between the two teams since sniper Patrik Laine lit up St. Louis for five goals in an 8-4 road victory on Nov. 24. The Blues come to town having lost four of their previous five games and sit second-last in the Western Conference with nine wins in 26 games and 22 points.The most recent defeat Womens Will Butcher Jersey , a 3-2 shootout loss in Edmonton, came after the Blues took a 2-0 lead in the first period and gave up a last-minute goal to send it to the extra period.Interim coach Craig Berube, who took over behind the bench after Mike Yeo was fired last month, told The St. Louis Dispatch that his team is “fragile.”“Guys are trying to hang on to a lead instead of making it 3-0. That’s gotta be more of our mindset. We should’ve come out in the second period and pushed the pace right away on them,” he said.Including the Blues, every team on the Jets four-game homestand has undergone some kind of upheaval lately — Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday (fired their general manager Ron Hextall two weeks ago), Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday (fired coach Joel Quenneville on Nov. 6) and Edmonton Oilers (fired coach Todd McLellan on Nov. 20).