About the Hurricanes - 11-12-11
A preview of the Hurricanes.
When and where: 7 p.m. RBC Center.
TV: Root Sports, Fox Sports Carolina.
Record: 5-8-3, 13 points. The Hurricnes are in 13th place in the Eastern Conference and fourth place in the Southeast Division.
Leading Scorer: Jeff Skinner (right), 16 points (six goals, eight points).
Last Game: 5-1 road loss to the Rangers, last night. Alexei Ponikarovsky scored the Hurricanes' only goal. Fire Ray Shero.
Last Game against the Penguins: 4-1 home win, Feb. 25. Pascal Dupuis scored the Penguins' only goal. Alex Kovalev played his first game in his return to the Penguins.
Hurricanes Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Eric Staal. He has 28 points in 27 games against the Penguins.
Ex-Penguins on the Hurricanes: Tom Barrasso, assistant coach; Tim Brent, C; Ron Francis, director of player development; Alexei Ponikarovsky, LW; Jim Rutherford general manager/president.
Ex-Hurricanes on the Penguins: Craig Adams, RW; Alexandre Picard, D.
Useless Hurricanes/Whalers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: The last defenseman to make all-star game for the franchise while it was still located in Hartford was former Penguin Zarley Zalapski in 1993.
Best Hurricanes Video We Could Find: Former Hurricanes goaltender Arturs Irbe in a commercial trumping the additions of defensemen Sandish Ozolinsh and Kevin Hatcher:
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Probable goaltenders: Brent Johnson (1-1-2, 2.44 GAA, .908 SV%) for the Penguins and Brian Boucher (0-2-1, 4.14 GAA; .860 SV%) for the Stars.
Injuries: For the Penguins, centers Sidney Crosby (concussion), Tyler Kennedy (concussion), defensemen Ben Lovejoy (left wrist), Zbynek Michalek (finger) and Brian Strait (elbow) are on injured reserve. For the Hurricanes, they are reporting no injuries.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: Neither team held morning skates. Here are the Penguins' primary lines and defensive pairings from last night's games. The Penguins:
Steve Sullivan - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Richard Park - Arron Asham
Eric Tangradi - Joe Vitale - Craig Adams
Paul Martin - Kris Letang
Brooks Orpik - Deryk Engelland
Alexandre Picard - Matt Niskanen
The Hurricanes:
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Eric Staal - Zach Boychuk
Jeff Skinner - Jussi Jokinen - Tuomo Ruutu
Patrick Dwyer - Brandon Sutter - Chad LaRose
Anthony Stewart - Tim Brent - Jiri Tlusty
Bryan Allen - Tim Gleason
Tomas Kaberle - Jay Harrison
Joni Pitkanen - Jamie McBain
Notes:
-Kunitz has 298 career points.-Park has 97 career goals.
-Pitkanen has appeared in 499 career games.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)