RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The injuries piled up quickly during the Carolina Hurricanes' six-game road trip out West, enough so that a reporter asked coach Rod Brind'Amour whether he felt like he left with one team and came back with a different one.
“Good way to put it, yeah,” Brind'Amour said Monday. “It did actually. I don't know how many guys went out there, but it just felt like every day there was something bad happening.”
The Hurricanes are preparing to play Vegas on Tuesday night in their first home game since Oct. 11. The question is exactly how their lineup will look, both against the Golden Knights and in the games that follow due to a line of injuries.
The list included losing defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to lower-body injury in the win at Los Angeles on Oct. 18. Offseason blue-line acquisition K’Andre Miller was a late scratch with his own lower-body injury before Thursday's win at Colorado, then forwards Eric Robinson and William Carrier exited that game early due to injury.
That added to a list that already included goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov (lower body) having yet to play, while top defenseman Jaccob Slavin (lower body) has been out since exiting early against Philadelphia in Game 2.
The good news for Carolina was Gostisbehere and Kochetkov were practicing Monday. Brind'Amour said he didn't expect Miller to play against Vegas, but noted: “I think he's around the corner.”
Brind'Amour said Slavin is “a little ways away." He had said before Saturday's loss at Dallas that Robinson and Carrier could be out longer-term, but said Monday neither are expected to need surgery and didn't offer an exact timeline.
Carolina had to weave in multiple call-ups and reserves in the lineup, including forward Bradly Nadeau — a 20-year-old former first-round draft pick — and 2021 seventh-rounder Joel Nystrom making his NHL debut after Miller's late scratch at Colorado during the road trip. Or there was 27-year-old goaltender Brandon Bussi making his first three career starts in net during the trip with Kochetkov out.
“You have to be excited for the guys who maybe haven't gotten those minutes earlier, and now you get more opportunities,” top-line center Sebastian Aho said, adding: “I think you just have to look at it as an opportunity.”
Still, it has called for adjustments, with Brind'Amour noting “the game suddenly looks a little different” with the Hurricanes having to defend more compared to maintaining their typical puck-possession pressure in the offensive zone. That included tinkering with five forwards on the power play amid injuries to Gostisbehere and Miller, a unit already struggling to a 2-for-29 start (6.9%) this year.
Carolina won four of six on the Western swing, while both Aho and forward Jordan Martinook met the idea of frustration due to injuries with the equivalent of a shrug.
“There’s 31 teams that aren’t feeling sorry for us in our situation,” Martinook quipped after Monday’s practice.
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Carolina Hurricanes left wing Jordan Martinook, left, congratulates goaltender Frederik Andersen after he stopped the Colorado Avalanche during the shootout in an NHL hockey game Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Carolina Hurricanes' Nikolaj Ehlers (27), Sebastian Aho (20) and Sean Walker (26) celebrate a goal scored by Aho in the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Dallas Stars Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s presidential election was plagued by widespread delays Thursday in addition to a days-long internet shutdown that has been criticized as an anti-democratic tactic in a country where the president has held office since 1986.
Some polling stations remained closed for up to four hours after the scheduled 7 a.m. start time due to “technical challenges," according to the nation's electoral commission, which asked polling officers to use paper registration records to ensure the difficulties did not “disenfranchise any voter.”
President Yoweri Museveni, 81, faces seven other candidates, including Robert Kyagulanyi, a musician-turned-politician best known as Bobi Wine, who is calling for political change.
The East African country of roughly 45 million people has 21.6 million registered voters. Polls were expected to close at 4 p.m., but voting was extended one hour until 5 p.m. local time. Results are constitutionally required to be announced in 48 hours.
In the morning, impatient crowds gathered outside polling stations expressing concerns over the delays. Umaru Mutyaba, a polling agent for a parliamentary candidate, said it was “frustrating” to be waiting outside a station in the capital Kampala.
“We can’t be standing here waiting to vote as if we have nothing else to do," he said.
Wine, the candidate, alleged electoral fraud, noting that biometric voter identification machines were not working at polling places and claiming that there was “ballot stuffing.”
Wine wrote in a post on X that his party's leaders had been arrested. “Many of our polling agents and supervisors abducted, and others chased off polling stations,” the post said.
Museveni told journalists he was notified that biometric machines weren't working at some stations and that he supported the electoral body's decision to revert to paper registration records. He did not comment on allegations of fraud.
Ssemujju Nganda, a prominent opposition figure and lawmaker seeking reelection in Kira municipality, told The Associated Press he had been waiting in line to vote for three hours.
Nganda said the delays likely would lead to apathy and low turnout in urban areas where the opposition has substantial support. "It’s going to be chaos,” he said.
Nicholas Sengoba, an independent analyst and newspaper columnist, said delays to the start of voting in urban, opposition areas favored the ruling party.
Emmanuel Tusiime, a young man who was among dozens prevented from entering a polling station in Kampala past closing time said the officials had prevented him from participating.
“My vote has not been counted, and, as you can see, I am not alone," he said he was left feeling “very disappointed.”
Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.
Museveni has served the third-longest term of any African leader and is seeking to extend his rule into a fifth decade. The aging president’s authority has become increasingly dependent on the military led by his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Museveni and Wine are reprising their rivalry from the previous election in 2021, when Wine appealed to mostly young people in urban areas. With voter turnout of 59%, Wine secured 35% of the ballots against Museveni’s 58%, the president’s smallest vote share since his first electoral campaign three decades ago.
The lead-up to Thursday's election produced concerns about transparency, the possibility of hereditary rule, military interference and possible vote tampering.
Uganda's internet was shut down Tuesday by the government communications agency, which cited misinformation, electoral fraud and incitement of violence. The shutdown has affected the public and disrupted critical sectors such as banking.
There has been heavy security leading up to voting, including military units deployed on the streets this week.
Amnesty International said security forces are engaging in a “brutal campaign of repression,” citing a Nov. 28 opposition rally in eastern Uganda where the military blocked exits and opened fire on supporters, killing one person.
Museveni urged voters to come out in large numbers during his final rally Tuesday.
“You go and vote, anybody who tries to interfere with your freedom will be crushed. I am telling you this. We are ready to put an end to this indiscipline,” he said.
The national electoral commission chairperson, Simon Byabakama, urged tolerance among Ugandans as they vote.
“Let us keep the peace that we have,” Byabakama said late Wednesday. “Let us be civil. Let us be courteous. Let’s be tolerant. Even if you know that this person does not support (your) candidate, please give him or her room or opportunity to go and exercise his or her constitutional right."
Authorities also suspended the activities of several civic groups during the campaign season. That Group, a prominent media watchdog, closed its office Wednesday after the interior ministry alleged in a letter that the group was involved in activities “prejudicial to the security and laws of Uganda.”
Veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate, remains in prison after he was charged with treason in February 2025.
Uganda opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known as Bobi Wine, right, greets election observers, including former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, at his home in Magere village on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Billboards of Uganda President and National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni are seen in Kampala, Uganda, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Samson Otieno)
Electoral workers deliver ballot boxes to a polling station during presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Voters are reflected in a police officer's sunglasses as they wait in line after voting failed to start on time due to system failures during presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Voters wait to cast their ballots during the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
