The Carolina Hurricanes took to the ice Wednesday morning for practice with the notable absence of Brett Pesce, who left during the second period of Game 2 against the New York Islanders on Monday with a lower-body injury.
Pesce suffered a non-contact injury, and following Wednesday's practice, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour stated that the blueliner would "more than likely" miss the remainder of the first-round series.
The team has still not issued any update in regards to Pesce's status but it's assumed that he'll miss some time.
In his place, it appears that Tony DeAngelo will be drawing back into the lineup alongside Brady Skjei.
DeAngelo appeared in 31 games for Carolina this regular season, posting three goals and 11 points.
While DeAngelo had the weakest defensive numbers on the team in the regular season, those improved significantly in his more recent appearances over the last couple of months.
He's done well paired with Skjei when injuries sidelined other Carolina blueliners, so perhaps the pair can continue to make that partnership work in Pesce's absence.
DeAngelo is coming off of back-to-back 40+ point seasons and if he can find a bit of that offensive flair again too, he could be a positive addition for the Hurricanes.
But there's still the obvious risks with his game, namely his over aggression and penchant for losing his mark in man-on-man coverage.
Like I said, he was better at that in his more recent games, but it's still been a weakness of his in the past and the playoffs are where things like that can prove to be costly.