Gameday 37: Story of the Hurricane

PITTSBURGH (23-8-5) VS CAROLINA (15-11-7)

THE PAINT CAN, PITTSBURGH, PA.

7:00 PM EST. ROOT Sports

After beating the Devils last night in New Jersey our favorite flightless fowl are back in the Burgh to take on their next opponent, the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes have been in the news and rumor mill a lot recently, but not in a good way. It became publicly known last month that the current owners of the ‘Canes would not be against relocation of the franchise. These rumors were strengthened when the NHL announced a new arena deal for the Arizona Coyotes, who were the top pick to be in Quebec in 2020. If this were to happen it would be a prime example of the NHL’s mentality. Remove a team from a market that gets 75% attendance and build an arena for a team that gets 10% attendance and has more dead weight contracts than actual players. There isn’t much to say about the Hurricanes as a team right now, as they are one of two Metro Division teams going through a rebuild right now. Currently they Jeff Skinner leads the team with 13 goals and 14 assists, so there’s that. The Hurricanes have been able to add young speed throughout their lineup, but it is unproven talent at this point. In my mind the Hurricanes have always been the teddy bears of the division, you remember they are here  only when you find them under the bed. Since I can’t come up with any hatred against Carolina, let’s revisit the only trade with them any of us remember. Jordan Staal for Brian Dumoulin, a pick that became Derrick Pouliot and Brandon Sutter. Sutter was sent away for Bonino, which technically makes Sutter an unofficial crucial part of the cup run. Even though Pouliot doesn’t seem to be panning out it still remains a hell of a deal for the Pens. The biggest failure of Shero at the draft was taking Pouliot over Filip Forsberg. As for the Hurricanes deal in that trade, Jordan Staal is currently the number 2 center for the team that has limited NHL talent. He has 7 goals and 6 assists on the campaign, putting him on pace to match his highest total since joining the Hurricanes (20 goals and 28 assists last season). Dumoulin for Staal would’ve been fair at this point.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS:

The Penguins defense lost Dumoulin late last night, and Olli Maatta was too ill to travel to New Jersey, so who the hell knows what is going on there. Neither Letang nor Daley were healthy enough after the Christmas break to play last game. Fleury was given the start last night so it will be Matt Murray between the pipes tonight. There shouldn’t be any changes to the forwards since the Pens don’t have any substitutes available, unless Tom Kuhnhackl is healed but that hasn’t been stated yet. EDIT: Brian Dumoulin will be out 4-6 weeks after undergoing surgery for a broken jaw. No word yet on if the Penguins will dress Sergei Gonchar

WHO TO WATCH:

FOR CAROLINA:          The Defense

The Hurricanes have done a nice job of creating a talented and young defensive core. If the team doesn’t screw things up this could potentially be one of the best defenses in the NHL in 3 to 4 years. Since it is Carolina and they will screw it up we should watch tonight so when we’re drunk with friends we can always talk about “what could’ve been” or something.

FOR PITTSBURGH:         Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin

30 years from now you are going to be sitting at a Penguins game during a stoppage in play and the jumbotron will show a 59 year old Sidney Crosby and a 60 year old Evgeni Malkin in the audience and the crowd will cheer. Your kids will think you are a baby for starting to well up inside, and it’s all because of the special treat you have been able to witness. The things these two are doing will not last forever, but for now, just soak up every damn drop of it like an amateur in her first porno.

FINAL WORDS:

The Penguins played last night with a small flight afterwards, but the fatigue that comes with back-to-backs should even out the two teams more than anything. I don’t feel like Carolina has a huge advantage in this one, because there are very few teams Carolina has a huge advantage against. This will be Matt Murray’s first game in net since his worst game in net a week ago against Columbus, and now that he has had 5 full days to reflect we should hopefully see a technically sound game by him tonight. Like I said above, the Hurricanes have speed, so this could end up being a fast paced game once the teams get their legs under them.

LET’S GO PENS