Game 48-Carolina Hurricanes @ Penguins

It’s another Staal Brothers match-up tonight as the Penguins host the Carolina Hurricanes in Mellon Arena tonight at 7:30. The Penguins are 2-0-0 against Carolina this season.

Eric Staal leads the Canes with 19 goals so his fire-power could spell trouble for the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury, however, has allowed only 1 goal in the past two games. He’s on a hot streak and hopefully will stay on it for awhile. It’s likely that Fleury felt pushed to prove himself as his back-up and roommate Dany Sabourin was traded to Edmonton this week. The Penguins will again be feeling the absence of face-off wizard Mike Zigomanis as Canes’ captain Rod Brind’Amour is one of the best in the league at face-offs. Brind’Amour, however, has a +/- rating of -29. Carolina’s defense is suffering as of late, allowing an average of 3 goals a game. It lost two great defensemen to retirement and free agency, but acquired the intimidating Joe Corvo during last season. Goaltending is alright in Carolina. Cam Ward, like Fleury, is coming in off a shutout.

The Hurricanes have no injuries coming into the Igloo, but defenseman Tim Gleason has a weak ankle that was aggravated again last week. He will be playing but the Canes are keeping a close eye on him.

The Penguins, however, have a veritable litany of injuries. Maxime Talbot is still on IR so he will not play tonight, though he is expected to return against New York after the All-Star break. Ruslan Fedotenko, Sergei Gonchar, Mike Zigomanis (who has surgery last Wednesday to repair the rotator cuff in his right shoulder), and Brooks Orpik are not playing. Forward Pascal Dupuis was taken off IR and may play tonight.

Penguins-

Cooke-Crosby-Malkin

Kennedy-Staal-Satan
Minard-Jeffrey-Sykora
Godard-Thomas-Bissonnette

Scuderi-Whitney
Boucher-Letang
Eaton-Gill

Fleury

Hurricanes-

Samsonov-Brind'Amour-Williams

Whitney-Staal-Ruutu
LaRose-Cullen-Walker
Bayda-Sutter-Eaves

Seidenberg-Gleason
Wallin-Corvo
Pitkanen-Babchuk

Ward

Do it.

LET'S GO PENS!