Game 78- Penguins @ Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes will play host to the Penguins on Saturday night for the Pens' first road game since wrapping up a 6-1-1 homestand on Wednesday with a win over the New Jersey Devils. The Canes and Penguins are not only the two hottest teams in the league right now, but they are also separated in the standings by just one point, so the winner of this game has the inside track for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs.

Eric Staal, Ray Whitney, and Erik Cole are the big guns offensively for Carolina, while players like Chad Larose, Tuomo Ruutu, and Rod Brind'Amour bring heart and grit to the lineup. Blueliners Joe Corvo, Joni Pitkanen, and Anton Babchuk are all capable of contributing offense to the team's cause as well.

Washington's Alex Ovechkin had three points on Friday, so Evgeni Malkin needs a point or two if he wants to get comfortable at the top of the league scoring leaderboard. Ovechkin is within 4.

Marc-Andre Fleury will start for the Pens against the white hot Cam Ward for the Canes.



Penguins-

Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin
Cooke-Malkin-Sykora
Fedotenko-Staal-Kennedy
Dupuis-Talbot-Adams

Orpik-Gonchar
Eaton-Letang
Scuderi-Gill

Garon

Hurricanes-

Cole-Staal-Ruutu
Whitney-Jokinen-Larose
Samsonov-Brind'Amour-Eaves
Bayda-Helminen-Walker

Gleason-Corvo
Pitkanen-Babchuk
Wallin-Seidenberg

Ward

GO PENS!