Last minute disaster for the Hurricanes before Game 3.

This is the last thing the Carolina Hurricanes needed before what you have to believe is a must win Game 3 in the Eastern Conference Final tonight against the Florida Panthers.

Although it looked like the Hurricanes would have defenseman Sean Walker available to them after he hit the ice for warmups, we now know that Walker has been officially ruled out of tonight's game due to injury. Walker did leave at one point during warmups but returned to the ice leading me to believe that he would play, so this one comes as a bit of a surprise.

Additionally the Hurricanes will once again be without the services of defenseman Jalen Chatfield who hasn't played since May 12th against the Washington Capitals, with Chatfield not even so much as hitting the ice for warmups tonight.

Unfortunately for the Hurricanes this means that they will dress defensemen Scott Morrow and Alexander Nikishin, both of whom have seen relatively limited ice time in the Stanley Cup playoffs. That is especially true of Nikishin who has only appeared in a single game in the playoffs thus far, although admittedly some fans are excited at the prospect of seeing the Kontinental Hockey League standout get more ice time with the Hurricanes.