Penguins at Hurricanes
The Pittsburgh Penguins are coming off a win that many of the players felt was their biggest of the season, but the afterglow of the come-from-behind victory did not last long. Goaltender Matt Murray will be among four players sidelined when Pittsburgh opens a three-game road trip at the resurgent Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.
Star defenseman Kris Letang missed Wednesday's 5-4 shootout victory over Columbus, a game in which the Penguins erased a two-goal deficit on three occasions. The victory came at a cost as Murray, forward Bryan Rust and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel suffered injuries -- with the latter two expected to miss significant time. Carolina has turned things around since a four-game skid early in the month, winning three straight and six of seven to move into a tie with Pittsburgh for sixth place in the Metropolitan (with two games in hand). The Hurricanes have been unable to solve the Penguins, however, losing seven in a row and getting outscored 10-2 in their two home losses last season.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, AT&TSN-Pittsburgh, FSN Carolina
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (19-16-3): Murray (upper body), who missed the first six games this month due to a lower-body injury, is listed as day-to-day and has been ruled out Friday along with Letang, prompting the recall of defenseman Frank Corrado from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Rust was listed as longer-term and Ruhwedel is week-to-week, both with upper-body injuries. Tristan Jarry, who started all six games when Murray was hurt, is 5-2-2 with a 2.43 goals-against this season.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (17-12-7): After scoring in only one of the previous 14 games, second-year forward Sebastian Aho has three goals and consecutive multiple-point games in the last two. The turnaround for Carolina, though, has been sparked by veteran Cam Ward, who seemingly had been relegated to backup goalie status before winning five consecutive starts as part of a seven-game point streak (6-0-1) in December. He has started three in a row for the first time this season and surrendered four goals.
OVERTIME
1. Penguins F Evgeni Malkin has scored four goals in the past five games and also tallied in Wednesday's shootout.
2. The Hurricanes are 4-for-13 on the power play during the three-game winning streak.
3. Penguins F Phil Kessel had a goal and five points in four games versus Carolina last season.