AP RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Carolina Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek is day to day with a lower body injury while defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk is out with an upper body injury. Coach Rod Brind'Amour also said Monday forward Saku Maenalanen is expected to miss the rest of the second-round series with the New York Islanders with an upper body injury. Brind'Amour spoke a day after the Hurricanes' list of injuries grew considerably during a 2-1 victory in New York that gave Carolina a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 3 is Wednesday night. Mrazek, who has 210 saves on 230 shots faced while going 5-3 in the playoffs, left Sunday's game 6½ minutes into the second period. He was replaced by Curtis McElhinney, who stopped all 17 shots he saw. Brind'Amour described Mrazek's status as "actually good news" because it means the injury doesn't appear to be long term. Still, the team recalled goalie Alex Nedeljkovic from its AHL affiliate in Charlotte on an emergency basis. Van Riemsdyk was hurt about 30 seconds into Sunday's game after taking a hard hit from Cal Clutterbuck. He skated off the ice holding his left shoulder and sat on the bench for several minutes before heading to the dressing room. Maenalanen was injured in the third period. In all, six Hurricanes are dealing with publicly disclosed injuries, with three of them coming during the first-round series against the Washington Capitals. Forwards Andrei Svechnikov (concussion protocol) and Micheal Ferland (upper body) have not played since Game 3 of the Washington series and have been characterized as day to day by Brind'Amour, who says their availability will be determined after practice Tuesday. Additionally, forward Jordan Martinook — who left Game 4 against Washington with a lower body injury after his heel slammed into the boards while he attempted a hit — returned two games later. Brind'Amour says having three days between games will benefit Martinook, whose injury has "been nagging him for a long time." ___ More AP NHL: www.apnews.com/NHL and www.twitter.com/AP_Sports<doc-sep>• Game recap: The game started badly and ended worse for the Capitals. Read more • Statistical stars: Teuvo Teravainen gave Carolina the game-winning goal but he was dangerous all night. Read more • Highlights: Washington's late flurrish didn't yield a goal and the series will return to the District Saturday tied at 2. Read more • Pregame reading: Catch up on all The Post's coverage of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Read more<doc-sep>NEW YORK — The Stanley Cup playoffs are a war of attrition, but even by those standards, the Carolina Hurricanes are in somewhat uncharted territory. First it was Calvin de Haan, going down with a shoulder injury after an awkward fall from a Jake Guentzel check that lingered into the postseason. Then, Andrei Svechnikov and Micheal Ferland both joined the ranks of the walking wounded in Game 3 of the first round, Svechnikov from the infamous fight with Alex Ovechkin and Ferland with an upper body injury from a check along the boards. Next, Jordan Martinook joined the fray with a lower-body injury that he has tried to play through, to varying degrees of success. On Sunday in the Hurricanes’ Game 2 comeback win over the New York Islanders, things went from bad to much, much worse. Trevor van Riemsdyk was the first to be added to the list, with what looked like a shoulder injury on the first shift of the game that he won’t be returning from anytime soon, according to coach Rod Brind’Amour. Then, midway through the second period, Petr Mrazek pulled up with what looked like a groin injury, forcing the Hurricanes into their first in-game goaltender swap of the season and Curtis McElhinney to enter the game cold. And, incredibly, they still weren’t done. Saku Maenalanen left the game in the third period with an upper-body injury that, according to the News and Observer’s Luke DeCock, is a hand issue that will require surgery. By the end of the game, there was enough empty space on the Hurricanes’ bench to give the remaining players La-Z-Boys. For every team, the playoff mantra is “next man up”. You can be forgiven if the Hurricanes are wondering at this point how many more next men they’re going to need. When you’re in serious danger of needing the emergency backup goaltender in a playoff game - take a bow, Todd Scarola - you know that the script has reached the point of farce. “You’re asking a lot of guys that are out of their comfort zone,” said Brind’Amour after the game. “But that’s playoffs. That’s part of it. It is a war of attrition a lot of times in the playoffs. You’ve just got to figure it out.” With the exception of the concussions suffered by Ferland and Jordan Staal, the Hurricanes had a remarkably healthy regular season, tallying 126 man-games lost to injury, sixth-fewest in the NHL. Already, in just nine playoff games, they’re at 18 and counting, and that number could increase even faster if none of Svechnikov, Ferland and Martinook return and Maenalanen and Mrazek are unable to go for Wednesday’s Game 3 in Raleigh. Every team deals with injuries, and while it’s hamstrung the Hurricanes to a certain extent so far - Martinook’s absence in the first round Game 5 laugher stands out here - at some stage it hits a tipping point. The Hurricanes are already using Brock McGinn in top-six minutes. Sebastian Aho has played nearly 80 minutes in his last three games, two of which went to overtime. Brind’Amour has already accommodated for the injury bug by reducing the number of practices and morning skates that the team participates in during the postseason. They’re doing what they can with what they have, and it’s to their credit that they’ve been able to somehow pull through this ridiculous stretch. The Charlotte Checkers begin their second-round series against Hershey on Friday, and it’s probably an open question at this point whether their roster will consist more of actual AHL players or Florida Everblades fill-ins. As for the Hurricanes, they have to hope that they can keep the run going with duct tape and chewing gum, as they have the entire postseason. The two days off between games 2 and 3 have never looked more timely, and the Hurricanes return to Raleigh with a 2-0 series lead and a waiting line to the trainer’s room that might run the length of the locker room. No team is ever truly healthy in the playoffs, but if the Hurricanes can return to some version of health, the sky might be the limit for a team that continues to fight on against the odds.<doc-sep>
As expected, the Carolina Hurricanes recalled goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic from the AHL Charlotte Checkers on Monday, a day after Petr Mrazek left the Canes’ 2-1 Game 2 win over the New York Islanders with what appeared to be a groin injury. Coach Rod Brind’Amour said after the game that Mrazek’s injury was similar to the one that sidelined him for a few games in November, at a time when Curtis McElhinney went on a run of form that kept him in the starter’s job for the next month or so. Brind’Amour said on Monday that Mrazek’s injury is day to day, and not quite as bad as first feared, so he could be returning sooner rather than later. In the meantime, the Canes expect McElhinney to start for the next couple of games. Brind’Amour also updated the status of the Canes’ lengthy list of the walking wounded on Monday morning. Saku Maenalanen (upper body) is not expected back for the remainder of the second round, and Trevor van Riemsdyk (upper body) is visiting doctors today but will not be returning in the near future. Both Micheal Ferland (upper body) and Andrei Svechnikov (concussion) skated today on an off day for the team, and both are likely to practice tomorrow with a further evaluation of their availability for Wednesday’s Game 3 to follow. Given that Nedeljkovic was the only callup, the Canes seem optimistic that one of the injured forwards will be able to take Maenalanen’s spot in the lineup on Wednesday. Haydn Fleury will draw in for van Riemsdyk, and it would be no surprise to see a seventh defenseman, probably Jake Bean, recalled before Game 3 for insurance (update: that’s exactly what happened). The Checkers are off until Friday, when they open their second-round series against Hershey with a back-to-back in Charlotte. The release from the team is below.