Special welcome to guest blogger, Josh Feitknecht @JoshFeitknecht for his preview

Pens (13-7, 8-3 Road) at 'Canes (9-8-1, 3-4 Home), 7:00 pm ET, PNC Arena, ROOT-NHL Network,



Thursday night in Carolina the Pittsburgh Penguins will be trying to start another winning streak. They will also be getting their first look at former Penguin center, Jordan Staal in a Carolina Hurricanes uniform. Staal spent the last six seasons with the Penguins being traded last summer during the NHL Draft, which coincidentally, was held in Pittsburgh. It was an emotional day for many people who had watched him be drafted by the Penguins and steadily become a force to be reckoned with on the ice.

There was plenty of concern that Staal would not re-sign in Pittsburgh because of his desire for an expanded role. Those concerns were confirmed when the trade was made before the Hurricanes were set to pick 8th overall on the draft floor. Staal had turned down the contract the Penguins offered him and Pittsburgh and Carolina agreed to swap the 8th overall pick, Brandon Sutter and Brian Dumoulin for Staal. With the 8th overall pick the Penguins selected Derrick Pouliot from the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League.

So far the Penguins have been happy with the return. Brandon Sutter has replaced Staal as the third line center. Through 20 games, Sutter has 4 goals and 4 assists. Brian Dumoulin has been playing in Wilkes-Barre Scranton for the Penguin’s American Hockey League affiliate. He has played 51 games and has 4 goals and 12 assists. Derrick Pouliot has been extremely solid in the Western Hockey League this season for the Winterhawks. He has 8 goals and 30 assists through 39 games. Pouliot is also +31 on the season.

The Penguins may be happy about their trade return for Staal, but when they get to Carolina they will be bringing with them an ugly loss to the Florida Panthers. Had they won, maybe they would be a bit more friendly with their old pal. I don’t expect that to be the case now. They will need to be weary of Jordan. That goes without saying. However, the most important Hurricane has been Eric Staal. He is on pace for 87 points and 296 total shots on goal (in a regular 82-game schedule). With 9 goals and 10 assists over 18 games he is arguably the best player on the Hurricane’s roster.

With the way that the Penguins have been playing defensively over the past few games, the last thing they may need is to see a player that is so deft at getting in and around the net. What may prove to be their biggest asset though is getting a crack at Hurricane’s goalie Cam Ward. Through 13 starts, Ward has 6 wins and 6 losses while giving up 3.15 goals against. The Penguins have had no shortage of offense. Look for them to pepper Ward early to see if they can get him flustered. This isn’t anything new for the Penguins to attempt, but Ward hasn’t been as steady as usual.

The Penguins also hold a considerable edge in power play time. They rank 1st in the NHL with 123 total minutes of power play time while scoring 18 goals on 5-4 power plays and 4 goals on 5-3 power plays. The Hurricanes currently rank 20th in the NHL with 113 total minutes of power play time while scoring 10 goals on 5-4 power plays and 1 goal on 5-3 power plays. The Penguins certainly have one of the most potent power play units in the NHL even without Evgeni Malkin. They rank 3rd in the NHL while Carolina ranks 21st.

The Penguins may not be facing the 10th ranked power play unit they faced in the Florida against the Panthers, but that doesn’t mean they should be able to play as recklessly as against the Hurricanes. The Panthers were awarded 7 total power plays and scored on 4 of them. Those 4 were also consecutive. The Penguins power play has blossomed but their penalty kill has regressed considerably. They currently rank 21st in the NHL. If the Penguins aim to get back in the win column and show Jordan Staal they are doing fine without him, a more disciplined approach will absolutely be necessary.

I fully expect to see a very confident Marc-Andre Fleury in net and a lot of extra attention paid to a few choice centers on both teams. I’ll let you go ahead and make your own assumptions as to who I am referring to. Thanks for reading. Let’s Go Pens!

Enjoy the game!


Josh Feitknecht

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