Carolina Hurricanes

Andrei Svechnikov returned to the lineup against the Montreal Canadiens on Friday.

The forward had missed the past seven games with an upper-body injury. He last played in a 4-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

"It's going to be hard," Svechnikov said. "I missed two-and-a-half weeks. I'll just go out there and have a first couple shifts, play pretty hard, and we'll see."

Svechnikov has 43 points (18 goals, 25 assists) in 63 games this season.

"It's a physical presence," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said Friday. "And if we can get him on the other stuff -- the scoring, being a factor on the offense -- that's a home run for us. With ( William Carrier ) being out, there's a heaviness to our group that we're missing there."

Carrier, a forward, has missed 32 games with a lower-body injury.