Update: Halak looks to be playing the full 60 minutes tonight according to Jack Capuano.
That leaves Kevin Poulin warming the bench once again.

Now, according to my hockey boss, Eklund, the Bruins and Isles are talking. Let's see... Who isn't playing tonight? Bailey and Grabner. Discuss.


Are you ready to rock the barn tonight? Many fans on Twitter certainly are. As the first, and only pre-season game to be played in Uniondale, it's a dress rehearsal for the fans as well. Although I don't believe that tonight's 7 pm tilt will bring out any "Caniacs" to the parking lot grilling and chilling. But if you want tickets, surprisingly enough, there are still plenty available ranging from $33.20 to $139.50 with those pesky ticketmaster rape fees.

As for the game itself -- well, this one won't be on MSG either, but we will have the ITV team doing their best bringing the game to your home computer or mobile device. So we've got that going for us.

Yesterday, Art Staple of Newsday released what may very well be the line-up for tonight's game. Of course, the line-up could change after today's morning skate, but for the most part, expect to see this:

Grabovski-Tavares-Okposo
Lee-Nelson-Strome
Conacher-Nielsen-Skille
Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck (Or should we just call them the CCM line?)

Hickey-Visnovsky
Reinhart-Pokka
Ness-Brennan

And Halak and Poulin sharing the net, but may not share the game. That is yet to be determined.

So you can see, this line-up has more than the required eight NHL contracted players which must play in each pre-season game. It's a change for Reinhart to show Jack Capuano where he should be this coming season.

What you won't see tonight is Carolina's Jordon Staal who suffered a broken bone in his right leg in the Cane's pre-season 2-0 loss to the Sabres. The Canes will be looking for redemtion and this one may get a big ugly.

Who cares? Hockey is back at the barn for the first time this season. What could be bad?

Sideboard: The Hurricanes were a hot topic yesterday in the hockey media not just for the loss of Jordan Staal, but also for the potential sale of the team. Once again, the fear of moving the team from Raliegh was at the forefront of the conversations, however the owner assured everyone the team wasn't going anywhere and that the Hurricanes ARE the sports franchise of Raliegh.

It is said that a team defines a community. We knew that. Yeah.

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