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Hurricanes need Lack's help in push for playoff spot

Marc DesRosiers / USA Today Sports

Reinforcements are on the way.

The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled goaltender Eddie Lack from an AHL conditioning stint as regular-season play gets set to resume Tuesday. Lack, who has missed 26 of 30 NHL games this season due to concussion, allowed three goals in 120 minutes of play with the Charlotte Checkers, posting a 1-1-0 record and a .952 save percentage.

Lack's return comes with the Hurricanes mired in a five-game losing streak and in danger of falling out of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Carolina sits seven points back of Philadelphia for the second wild-card spot with two games in hand and several other teams standing in the way.

Improved goaltending would give this team a much better chance of making up that difference. In five-on-five play, the Hurricanes rank fourth in the NHL with a Corsi rating of 52.02. Their team save percentage, however, ranks dead last at 90.29. Carolina, then, is carrying play and regularly recording more shot attempts than the opposition, but is being done in by poor performances in the crease.

General manager Ron Francis has assembled a wealth of talent both up front and on the blue line, and has also hitched his wagon to both Lack and Cam Ward for the balance of this season and next.

The former's tenure with the club has been bumpy at best, but the hope is he can find the kind of form displayed with Vancouver, where he posted a .917 save percentage in 82 games.

Ward will likely carry the lion's share of the starts right out of the All-Star break, and Lack will need to pick up the slack when called upon.

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