Carolina Hurricanes forward William Carrier is expected to be back in the lineup tonight after missing the team's last six games due to a lower-body injury.

Carrier took part in his first practice with the team since his injury, but according to him and Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour, he's already in line to play against his former team the Buffalo Sabres.

"It was a quick turnaround," Carrier said. "Didn't lose much. Me and Robbie had been working to get back out there, so it feels good to be back with the team."

The veteran forward said he "tweaked" something in the first period against the Colorado Avalanche back in October and has just been working hard to get back onto the ice with the team.

"You work your ass off for a month there in training camp, you get your game good, you're playing well, your line's playing pretty well and then you tweak something and now have to do it all over again," Carrier told The Hockey News.

The physical winger had been off to a strong start in his second season in Carolina — with a goal, three points and 14 hits in seven games — and he had once again formed a dominant trio with Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook.

The trio controlled the flow of 5v5 almost every game they played, with a 59.38 Corsi For percentage (a measure of how many more chances you generate then your opponents), a 56.89 expected goals for percentage and a 58.33 high-danger chances for percentage.

In fact, they outscored opponents 4-0 in their 58+ minutes of 5v5 ice time together.

Tonight though, Carrier looks to be suiting up alongside Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Eric Robinson, who was also injured in the same game as Carrier and is also in line to return, at least to start the game.

There might be a bit of rust given how long he's been off, but with the simple and straight forward game that Carrier brings, I feel that he'll be just fine.

"It starts with tonight," Carrier said. "Just working on my game every shift, trying to get the details back."

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