Troy Bodie and Ryan Carter knew this day, this game, this opponent, was coming.

"I've had this date marked on my calendar," Bodie said.

Until last month, Bodie and Carter played for the Anaheim Ducks, and Carter was part of their Stanley Cup run in 2007. But that all changed when Bodie was put on waivers by Anaheim and claimed by the Canes, and Carter then was traded to Carolina.

Tonight, the Ducks will be the guys in the other sweaters trying to beat the Canes at the RBC Center. Friends and former teammates but ...

"But now it's all business," a smiling Bodie said after today's morning skate at the RecZone. "I had a good chat with a couple of them yesterday but now they're the enemy."

The subject was rookie forward Jeff Skinner and the start he's off to this season and the points he's putting up, and Canes coach Paul Maurice was being asked the same questions he gets at every other NHL stop.

Maurice talked about Skinner's skating style ("He has a very unusual stride, a very unusual gait") and his speed ("He's faster than he looks") and playing with Eric Staal and Erik Cole on the top line ("He, Staal and Cole can be very dynamic in the offensive zone") and his personality ("He's very mature, very humble.")

Maurice then was more blunt. "Maybe he's not blinding fast, but he's 18 and a damn good player," he said.

ATLANTA — Canes coach Paul Maurice didn't hesitate in pulling goaltender Cam Ward just minutes into Wednesday's game against the Florida Panthers.

Nor, he said today, would he hesitate in putting Ward back in the net tonight against the Atlanta Thrashers.

"I'm not worried about him," Maurice said. "I know he'll be real focused and charged up, and that's what we need.

"He's our No. 1 goalie. He's played some great hockey in Atlanta. I knew when I took him out he'd be going right back in tonight."

(Update: Defenseman Bryan Rodney will be recalled from the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) and will join the Hurricanes in Florida on Wednesday.)

The Canes, sitting eight points out of playoff position in the East, are taking off today for back-to-back road games against the Florida Panthers and Atlanta Thrashers, knowing what to expect: Namely, two tough divisional games and the possibility of small crowds and little in the way of atmosphere.

Granted, the Thrashers' surge this season may be putting more bodies in the seats in Atlanta's Philips Arena. But games at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., usually attract small gatherings and it could be the same tomorrow night.

"It's a big week to claw back in and give yourself an opportunity to make those games-in-hand mean a lot more," Canes coach Paul Maurice said today. "I like the way we've played on the road here a little bit and pretty healthy, so feel pretty good."

The Canes will be without defenseman Jay Harrison on the two-game trip.

Canes coach Paul Maurice admits it: it's easy taking goalie Cam Ward for granted.

Ward makes 38 saves. Oh, OK. Ward makes 36 saves. Nice game. Ward makes 29 saves. Good one, Cam. Again.

"That's a fact with every team that has good goal-tending, you totally take it for granted," Maurice said today. "Absolutely."

Ward earned his 150th career win Saturday as the Canes topped the St. Louis Blues 2-1 in a shootout. He has given up just 15 goals in his last nine starts, with a 1.61 GAA and a .950 save percentage that ranks sixth in the NHL.

"I think I'm seeing the puck really well," Ward said today. "I feel comfortable. I feel like I'm the most flexible I have been in a long time."

The Canes are 0-for-their-last-20 on the power play over the last six games, which now has officially been deemed a power-play "slump."

What to do? Here are the thoughts of associate head coach Ron Francis, who helps direct the power-play units:

"It's a process. When things are going well you're confident. You're confident in your abilities, you're confident in what we're trying to do out there and you go out there and execute it, and quickly.

"When you're struggling, as we are now, three of those games have been on the second night of back-to-backs, with travel and against some pretty tough teams. We looked slower in those games and we're just not executing as quickly as we need to and getting the pucks to the net that we need to.

ST. LOUIS — The Carolina Hurricanes play the second game of a back-to-back road set against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center tonight at 8 p.m.

Carolina coach Paul Maurice, who tinkered with the lines in Friday's 2-1 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars, said he's not done tinkering, Saturday.

"I'm still working with [Associate head coach Ron Francis] on it," Maurice said in the afternoon, which the Hurricanes had off. "It's not going to be anything earth-shattering or anything we haven't done before."

Carolina goalie Cam Ward, who saved his team on several occasions Friday, will go again tonight, Maurice said.

DALLAS — The Carolina Hurricanes were playing their third game in four nights when they hosted the Dallas Stars on Nov. 29.

The Stars swept through town with their fourth-straight win in a streak that ended at six. Dallas heads into tonight's rematch (8:30 p.m., FSCR) with a two-game losing streak after losing 5-3 to the Blackhawks in Chicago Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have had five days of rest to remember for a pair of back-to-back road games.

"We tried to take full advantage of it," Canes coach Paul Maurice said.

Canes coach Paul Maurice said one goal against the Dallas Stars tomorrow would be to fill up the television screen.

Confusing? Not really. Maurice said he simply wants his five skaters in the game, whoever they might be, to be moving as one and in proper position.

"Move as five," he said today. "Move as five on the puck, support the puck and make sure we're coming to the puck instead of going away from it. One of the first signs of a team that is struggling or you're just not as intense as you'd like them to be, when you're watching it on TV you don't see enough guys in the screen."

If the Canes' lines from today's practice hold for Friday's game against the Dallas Stars, Tuomo Ruutu will be a winger on Eric Staal's line. That's fine with Ruutu.

"It hasn't been that long. I still remember how to play it," Ruutu said, smiling. "There's a little difference on the defensive end but that's about it. Obviously there are a few other differences, but that's the biggest."

Ruutu has been centering rookie Jeff Skinner and veteran Erik Cole, and the line has been productive. But Canes coach Paul Maurice made the change during Saturday's game in Nashville, shifting Ruutu to give Staal a big body on the wing.

"I enjoyed it but I enjoy playing the wing as well," Ruutu said of playing center.