The Carolina Hurricanes pulled out a 5-2 victory against the San Jose Sharks Friday thanks in large part to a two-goal performance from Jeff Skinner.

His big night gives the club reason to celebrate, but behind the scenes, it adds to a conundrum.

At 23 years of age, following a couple of roller-coaster seasons, Skinner's future with the Hurricanes appears hazy.

Since a remarkable rookie campaign in 2010-11 that saw Skinner pile up 31 goals and 63 points, the Hurricanes have been waiting for him to duplicate that production.

Outside of 33 goals in 2013-14, Skinner has failed to show the same offensive firepower.

However, with 21 goals through 59 games this season, the former Calder Trophy winner has already eclipsed his goal and point totals from one year ago, and is on pace to finish just shy of the 30-goal mark.

The Hurricanes currently find themselves just outside the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, a place very few envisioned them in entering the season.

The team is supposed to be in a rebuild, and heading toward the trade deadline, Skinner may be a good bargaining chip for the Hurricanes as teams look to bolster their clubs with goal-scorers.

The situation is tricky, however, as Skinner is just 23 and under contract through the 2018-19 season with a cap hit of $6 million.

That cap hit could scare off potential trade partners, while the possibility of seeing Skinner return to his former self must remain in the minds of Carolina's management.

A deal could provide the club with draft picks or prospects, but Skinner could turn out to be exactly the kind of player they're searching for.

General manager Ron Francis isn't likely to make a rash decision, but with the possibility of having either a stud or dud on his hands in the same player, no choice appears to be the easy one.

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There's no place like home.

After dropping three straight games on the road, the Montreal Canadiens returned home and used a gutsy shootout effort to get by the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Friday.

(Courtesy: NHL.com)

Despite the club's recent struggles, the win marks the fourth straight for the Canadiens at the Bell Centre, improving their home record to 16-11-2.

The club showed resilience in climbing back from a 2-1 deficit in the third period to tie the game thanks to captain Max Pacioretty's 21st goal of the season.

The shootout capped off a contest that was uneventful until the final period and an absolutely wild three-on-three overtime frame.

Related: VIDEO: Crowd emphatically cheers on Subban midgame

The victory allows the Canadiens a huge sigh of relief after headlines earlier Friday suggested defenseman P.K. Subban was on the trade market. Meanwhile, chatter around the city remained focused on the relationship between Subban and head coach Michel Therrien.

The off-ice distractions appeared to have little impact on the team's leading scorer, who collected two assists to reach 46 points on the season.

The Canadiens will take the weekend off before welcoming the Nashville Predators to town Monday, when they'll look to push their home winning streak to five games.

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It appears Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere won't go pointless the rest of the season.

The rookie defenseman threaded the needle to Michael Raffl for a tap-in goal against the Montreal Canadiens that extended his point streak to 14 games Friday.

(Courtesy: NHL.com)

The streak is now tied for the third-longest by a rookie since the 1987-88 season, and it's the longest point streak by a defenseman since Brian Leetch's 14-game run back in 1996.

The helper gives Gostisbehere 33 points in 39 games.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.