About the Whale... uh... Hurricanes - 10-23-08

A preview of the Hurricanes.

Record: 3-1-1

Leading Scorer: Ray Whitney, 6 points (1 goal, 5 assists).

Last Game: 3-1 win at Anaheim Sunday.

Last Game against the Penguins: 4-2 win at Carolina Feb. 14.

Hurricanes Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Rod Brind'Amour. Brind'Amour injured his knee in last season's 4-2 win and something just tells us he'd love to get a little revenge. Plus he has 79 points (28 goals, 51 assists) in 72 career games against the Penguins.

Ex-Penguins: Dan LaCouture LW, Josef Melichar D, Jim Rutherford, general manager, Ron Francis, assistant general manager, Kevin McCarthy, associate head coach, Tom Barrasso, goaltending coach.

Useless Whalers/Hurricanes Trivia: Former Penguins forward Dave Tippett holds the Hurricanes' franchise career record for short-handed goals with 11.

Best Whalers YouTube Video We Could Find: Kevin Dineen scored the final goal in the history of the Whalers:

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HgTjZlOyvs]
 
Notes:

-No U.S.S. Hal Gill tonight. He ran aground off the coast of Guam or something.

-Carolina forward Tuomo Ruutu (brother former Penguin Jarkko Ruutu) is not expected to play tonight due to a groin injury.

-Defenseman Niclas Wallin has been playing well for the Hurricanes.

-Our live blog begins at 6:30 p.m. approximately. Please tune in.

EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS

Penguins

-Alex Goligoski is key to the Penguins' power play.

-Will Kris Letang cash in when his contract is up in 2010?

-Adam Berkhoel made 46 saves for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 5-0 shutout win at Lowell. Jeff Taffe had two goals.

-Random YouTube Find of the Day: Jaromir Jagr scoring a goal against the Capitals in the 1996 playoffs:

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC6bNzmuSbc]

Atlantic Division

-Martin Brodeur (right) made 21 saves for the Devils in a 5-0 shutout of the Stars. John Madden had two goals in the win. It was Brodeur's 98^th career shutout.

-Brodeur wants the Prudential Center to be filled with more Devils fans. Brodeur apparently has missed the past 15 years of boring, expensive Devils hockey.

-The Islanders will give former forward Mark Parrish a tryout with their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport.

-Rangers forward Patrick Rissmiller cleared waivers.

-Flyers legend Bobby Clarke called Stars forward Sean Avery an embarrassment. In other news, Kettle has a call on line one from a B. Pot.

Northeast Division

-Sabres defenseman Craig Rivet is dealing with a knee injury.

-Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara isn't big on downtime. (Pardon the lame pun.)

-Forward Jason Blake is in the doghouse in Toronto.

Southeast Division

-The Panthers got a goal and an assist from Cory Stillman in a 3-1 win at Ottawa.

-The Lightning officially promoted team executive Brian Lawton to general manager.

-Thrashers forward and former Penguin Erik Christensen is off to a slow start this season.

-Forward Ryan Bayda finally has some security with the Hurricanes.

-Capitals forward and former Penguin Matt Bradley can take a punch.

Central Division

-A goal and an assist by Johan Franzen helped the Red Wings edge the Blues, 4-3.

-Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom played against Blues forward Patrik Berglund last night. Lidstrom used to play with Berglund's father for a professional team in Sweden.

-Nikolai Khabibulin made 23 saves for the Blackhawks in a 3-0 shutout of the Oilers.

-The Blues put defenseman Jeff Woywitka on waivers.

-St. Louis forward D.J. King will miss the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury.

-Blue Jackets forward Rick Nash was actually awarded a goal the other night without actually putting the puck in the net.

-Sarah Palin is really trying to reel in that hockey vote. She's going to drop the puck at a Blues game now.

-The NHL has actually found a way to make tickets for this season's Winter Classic much harder to acquire than last season's event.

Northwest Division

-The Avalanche is the NHL's top-scoring team so far this season.

-The agent for Wild forward Marian Gaborik (right) says his client is the victim of character assassination.

Pacific Division

-Shootout goals by Joe Pavelski and Jeremy Roenick gave the Sharks a thrilling 7-6 win in Philadelphia. At 0-3-3, the Flyers have yet to win a game this season.

-The Sharks weren't happy that they actually played an entertaining hockey game.

-Ducks forward Corey Perry has had trouble finding the back of the net.

Patrick Division

-You think that "GO-HOME FLY-ERS!" chants at Mellon Arena are clever? Well Swedish fans have risen the bar in taunting at hockey games.

-With the NHL and KHL scooping up players left and right, six European leagues have banded together to protect their interests. The group's name is Hockey Europe.

-Following the death of Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov, the KHL has ruled two ambulances must be on site at every league game.

-Does the NHL need to start taking would-be Penguins or Predators owner Jim Balsillie owner seriously?

(Photos: Brodeur-Jim McIsaac/Getty Images; Gaborik-Tom Olmscheid/Associated Press)