Morning Notes: Mrazek, Clutterbuck, Faulk

It has been a rough couple of weeks for Carolina as they’ve lost four straight games since both of their regular goaltenders were injured in the same game against Toronto.  Fortunately for them, there is some good news on the horizon.  Michael Smith of the Hurricanes’ team website notes that Petr Mrazek participated in practice for the first time since suffering a concussion in that game against the Maple Leafs.  While he has already been ruled out for this weekend’s set of matinee games, he should be able to return to the lineup sometime next week.  With Carolina having slipped to seventh in the very tight Metropolitan Division (though just three points out of a Wild Card spot with games in hand on everyone), that would be a huge boost for them for the stretch run.

Other early news and notes from around the league:

• Although he participated in practice on Friday, Islanders winger Cal Clutterbuck is listed as doubtful for this afternoon’s game against Carolina, reports Newsday’s Andrew Gross. He missed the third period on Thursday night with an unspecified injury.  The veteran had just come back from missing more than two months with a wrist injury.
• While it was initially believed that Blues defenseman Justin Faulk had missed Friday’s game due to the flu, the team announced (Twitter link) that he’s actually dealing with an upper-body injury. He’ll be re-evaluated today.  It has been a rough first season with St. Louis for the 27-year-old as he has a career low 15 points in 67 games and will begin a new seven-year contract with the Blues next season with an increase in his cap hit from $4.833MM to $6.5MM.