Taylor Hall left the Hurricanes' skate on Tuesday, and his status for tonight's game against the Bruins is now a real question.

Carolina hosts Boston tonight, and the timing stings. Hall is one of the skaters Rod Brind'Amour can least afford to lose with a team sitting 1st in the NHL.

According to Walt Ruff, Hall went about five minutes in before leaving and had not returned. That is all anyone knows right now.

Nothing in the latest injury report lists him. That means nothing about what happened, and it certainly doesn't mean he's fine.

The lineup fallout is already visible. Mark Jankowski is taking second power-play reps again, which tells you the coaching staff is planning around a Hall-less look, at least for now.

Here is how Ruff laid out the power-play groups after Hall exited.

PP1 is Sebastian Aho, Jackson Blake, Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrei Svechnikov, with Shayne Gostisbehere on the back end. PP2 is Jankowski, Seth Jarvis, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Logan Stankoven, with K'Andre Miller.

Hurricanes power play shuffles as Jankowski steps in

Jankowski's role carries its own wrinkle. He is listed day-to-day with a lower-body issue, expected to be out until at least Oct. 29, yet he's skating on the second unit.

So who exactly is healthy enough to fill the hole? That's a fair thing to ask when one player is out of the skate and another is on the report.

Hall has been productive this season. He has 3 goals and 5 points in 8 games, plus a game-winner, and he's a +2.

He has also logged 1 power-play assist, so the man-advantage impact is modest on paper. What he gives Carolina is a veteran forward with 997 career games who rarely gets rattled.

Boston arrives at 9-2-1, 2nd in the league, with 48 goals scored. Marco Sturm's group is not a team that waits for you to sort out your lineup.

Carolina is 7-1-1 on the road but only 2-1-1 at home. Brind'Amour does not get a gentle opponent in a night when the forward group may be shuffled.

The Hurricanes took their last game 4-0 at St. Louis, so the standard is high. Whether Hall is part of the answer tonight, or the lineup has to adjust at puck drop, is the open question.