Martin Necas and Jack Drury have settled in nicely, both on and off the ice, with the club. The short-term return on the NHL’s biggest in-season trade in two decades has been nothing but positive. The raw emotions of losing a core player and beloved teammate, Mikko Rantanen, have subsided, because life in the NHL goes on.

Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Thursday night. Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho, Taylor Hall and Seth Jarvis also scored for Carolina, which had lost its first two games after the league break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

On Whalers night at Lenovo Center, Mikko Rantanen slipped into a different sweater and turned in his first multi-point game with the Canes.

Kevin O'Connor and Tom Haberstroh recap all the action of Thursday night's NBA games including Steph Curry dropping 56 points on the Orlando Magic, the Los Angeles Lakers beating the Minnesota Timberwolves & the Milwaukee Bucks taking down the Denver Nuggets.

“That's been kind of a lot of our game, especially lately, is slow starts,” said center Jordan Staal. “Love to see that kind of desperation right off the bat. It's tough to come back in this league. I did obviously like our desperation at the end, but it's got to be the whole game. It's got to be better all the way through.”

The Carolina Hurricanes are acquiring forward Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, and two third-round picks from the Dallas Stars in exchange for superstar forward Mikko Rantanen. Stankoven made his NHL debut during the 2023 season and tallied 14 points across 24 contests.