It’ll be hard to top Wednesday night’s game but the Pens and Canes will take the ice anyways
Who: Carolina Hurricanes (1-1-0, 2 points) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (3-2-0, 6 points)
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Local markets tune into Sportsnet Pittsburgh and Bally Sports South, nationally in America the game is televised game on NHL Network
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Pens hit the road for a Sunday afternoon (3pm start) against Winnipeg and stay out West to play Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver on their long distance trip that will occupy them through next Saturday. But in happier news, the Pens get their first two-day break of the season on Oct 23-24 (next Wed-Thurs) to allow for a little extra bonding and provide a welcome break from the constant early slate of games.
Opponent Track: Carolina has only played two games this season, losing to Tampa 4-1 last week, then defeating New Jersey 4-2 on Tuesday in their most recent contest. The low total is in part due to a postponement last week in a game against Tampa (ironic the Hurricanes/Lightning game gets called off by an actual hurricane). Anyways, the State Fair is in Raleigh so the hockey team is hitting the road for the next 13 days starting tonight.
Season Series: Perhaps fortunately for the Pens, instead of the more usual four games between division rivals there are only three PIT/CAR games in 2024-25. (All NHL teams rotate playing two division teams 3x per year, and then their five other division teams 4x in the current scheduling format). The pacing is pretty weird too, the Penguins go to Carolina in a few weeks on November 5th, and then one more time in NC on January 5th and just like that the two Metropolitan clubs are finished with each other for the season.
Hidden Stat: Eight of the last 11 games between Pittsburgh and Carolina have been one-goal games (per Pens PR).
Getting to know the Hurricanes
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Andrei Svechnikov – Sebastian Aho – Seth Jarvis
Jack Roslovic – Jesper Kotkaniemi – Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook – Jordan Staal – William Carrier
Eric Robinson – Jack Drury – Jackson Blake
DEFENSEMEN
Jaccob Slavin /Brent Burns
Shayne Gostisbehere /Sean Walker
Dmitri Orlov / Jalen Chatfield
Goalies: Pyotr Kochetkov or Frederik Andersen
Possible scratches: none
IR: Jesper Fast, Riley Stillman
—Carolina has waived both forward Brendan Lemieux and defenseman Joakim Ryan In recent days and stashed them in the AHL leading to a very bare bones roster ahead of a long road trip.
—A lot of turnover in Carolina lately, four of the top 10 scorers from last season are gone (Teravainen, Skjei, Noesen, Bunting). Add in others like Jake Guentzel, Brett Pesce, Antti Raanta and Evgeni Kuznetsov who have also departed and the Hurricanes have dealt with their fair share of transition lately.
Player stats
(via hockeydb)
—It’s some wild early season fun when the opponent’s leading scorer has a single point.
—21-year old top prospect Jackson Blake scored his first NHL goal earlier in the week. The good news for Carolina having a stocked system means keeping many top young players like that despite adding at the deadline.
And now for the Pens
Infographic courtesy of the Pittsburgh Penguins
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Anthony Beauvillier – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting – Evgeni Malkin – Rickard Rakell
Drew O’Connor – Lars Eller – Jesse Puljujarvi
Kevin Hayes – Cody Glass – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves / Jack St. Ivany
Goalies: Joel Blomqvist or Tristan Jarry
Potential Scratches: Ryan Shea, Valtteri Puustinen, Alex Nedeljkovic (conditioning assignment AHL)
IR: Matt Nieto (knee surgery), Blake Lizotte, Vasily Ponomarev
—The Pens were resting yesterday in the middle of this long stretch of games. We’ll see what they have in mind for any potential changes, like moving Shea back into the lineup or what in the world to do in net. You’d think at a time like this it’s a big game to see how Joel Blomqvist measures up against tough competition.
Misters Overtime
From the Pens:
To cap off a historic night for the Penguins [on Wednesday], Sidney Crosby buried his 21st career overtime goal off a feed from two other overtime greats, Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson. Crosby’s 21st career overtime goal, which is the second most in NHL history (Alex Ovechkin, 26), doubled as his franchise-leading 91st career game-winning goal, tying Wayne Gretzky and Mark Recchi for the 21st most in NHL history.
Crosby’s 45 career overtime points are the most in NHL history, while Malkin’s helper on Wednesday night gave him sole possession of the most overtime assists in NHL history. The long-time Pittsburgh duo, along with Karlsson, all rank in the top-five in NHL history in overtime assists and points:
Most Overtime Assists, NHL History:
Player OTA
Evgeni Malkin 28
Patrick Kane 27
Erik Karlsson 26
Ryan Getzlaf 25
Sidney Crosby 24Most Overtime Points, NHL History:
Player OTP
Sidney Crosby 45
Evgeni Malkin 41
Alex Ovechkin 40
Patrick Kane 39
Erik Karlsson 37
Everybody pitch in
From the Pens again:
The Penguins have scored an NHL-best 20 goals through their first five games of the season, and the team’s 4.00 goals-per-game average is tied for fourth in the league behind the New York Rangers (5.00), Calgary Flames (4.75) and Vegas Golden Knights (4.25). Pittsburgh has 12 players on its roster who have scored this season, which is tied for the most unique goal scorers in the NHL:
Rickard Rakell leads the team in goals with three and is riding an active three-game goal scoring streak. His three-game streak is his longest as a Penguin, and with a goal tomorrow, he can tie the third-longest goal scoring streak of his career:
Longest Goal Streaks, Rakell’s Career:
Dates Streak Goals
Dec. 21, 2017-Jan. 2, 2018 6 7
Feb. 25-Mar. 8, 2018 5 8
Mar. 10-17, 2017 4 4
Oct. 12, 2024-Present 3 3
Rakell had the best seasons of his career in 2017 and 2018, it’s been a great start for him to shrug off last season and find the back of the net with regularity again.
The overall point of 12 different goal scorers, through just five games, is an impressive one as well. The Penguins have done well to have offense come from up and down the lineup so far.