After a whirlwind media tour in New York City on Monday, Ayres will continue racking up face time in Raleigh on Tuesday, culminating with him sounding the warning siren prior to puck drop.
The Canes, meanwhile, will look to replicate their effort from the latter half of the game in Toronto, when they allowed just 10 shots on goal, including only seven in the third period, and dominated a seemingly befuddled Maple Leafs squad.
"We knew we couldn't sit back. That was the main thing," Justin Williams said. "They're pretty good at getting shots off. It was just on them, on them, on them, don't give them any time, get in their face as much as we can, don't give them any space. Hopefully this will be a springboard for us to some better things, some better games, some better consistency."
"We've got to bottle that up. … We've got to use everything from that game and keep building," Martinook said. "If we play like that, we're going to be a force to reckon with. It was fun, and everybody had fun playing that way."
New Faces
Center Vincent Trocheck and defenseman Brady Skjei will make their Hurricanes' debuts on Tuesday after being
acquired in deadline day deals
.
Trocheck has registered 36 points (10g, 26a) in 55 games with Florida this season, while Skjei has tallied 23 points (8g, 15a) in 60 games with New York.
PROJECTED LINEUP
"We believe in the guys we have here, but we thought needed to strengthen us at certain positions. We come out of this feeling really good about the players we added," President and General Manager Don Waddell said on Monday. "It's a strong message that we're here to win."
There will also be a pair of new(ish) but familiar faces in net, with Alex Nedeljkovic and Anton Forsberg recalled from Charlotte.
"We want Petr and Reims to get back, but until they do, we're real confident in both these guys," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said.
The Last Meeting
Exactly two weeks ago in Dallas, the Canes were bested by the Stars, 4-1, in the final game of a four-game road trip. Jamie Benn netted a hat trick for Dallas, while Sebastian Aho netted the lone goal for the Canes, who captured four of a possible eight points on the trip.
