Bill Peters of the Carolina Hurricanes was thinking strictly as a coach Thursday when Jeff Skinner came limping off the ice, in pain, favoring his left leg after being hit by a shot.
Brock McGinn would shift into Skinner’s spot on the Derek Ryan line, Peters quickly surmised. Someone would roll into McGinn’s spot on the Lucas Wallmark line and …
Suffice it to say Peters probably was one of the few thinking that way. Many who saw Skinner hobble to the bench in the first period, then go down the tunnel to the locker room had to be thinking the worst – if Skinner was out, the Canes’ playoff chances were over.