Hurricanes’ Taylor Hall to miss time with upper-body injury

The Carolina Hurricanes will be without one of their key contributors for at least a few more games.

Forward Taylor Hall will miss the next few games with an upper-body injury after he tweaked something in practice on Tuesday, Hurricanes’ head coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters Thursday.

Hall, 34, told media on Monday that he expected to return to the lineup after a five-game absence. But the following day, Brind’Amour said the winger suffered a new injury ahead of Carolina’s game against the Boston Bruins Tuesday night and would not play.

While Brind’Amour said Tuesday “I don’t think it’s going to be serious,” he added that he expected Hall would be out “for a little bit.”

Hall, a Calgary native, had three goals and two assists for five points in eight games before his injury. Now in his 18th NHL season, he has 305 goals and 487 assists for 792 points in 997 career regular-season games with the Hurricanes, Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers.

He also has 23 goals and 31 assists for 54 points in 73 playoff games, which includes seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points with Carolina last spring. He finished with the second-most points during their run and was a key contributor as he lifted the Stanley Cup for the first time of his career.

In 2017-18, Hall finished with 39 goals and 54 assists for 93 points with the Devils and was awarded the Hart Trophy.

Going into Thursday, Carolina is 10-2-2 with 22 points through 14 games and sit at the top of the NHL standings.