Penguins at Hurricanes
Scintillating special teams play has enabled the Pittsburgh Penguins to get back on track after a disastrous five-game losing skid. With points in seven of their last nine games (5-2-2), the Penguins look to continue their ascent in the Metropolitan on Tuesday when they visit the division-rival Carolina Hurricanes.
"I like the consistency," forward Eric Fehr told the Penguins' website of the team's perfect 25-for-25 run of killing off short-handed situations in the last nine contests. "... I like the way we all think on the same page, and it's worked for us so far." Fehr scored a short-handed goal and Patric Hornqvist tallied with the man advantage as Pittsburgh posted a 3-1 win over Montreal on Saturday. Former Penguin Jordan Staal has collected a goal and an assist in each of his team's last three contests, with the final two resulting in a home-and-home sweep of Columbus over the weekend. Staal, who was the second overall pick of the 2006 draft by Pittsburgh, also tallied in the Hurricanes' 2-1 victory over the Penguins on Dec. 19.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ROOT (Pittsburgh), TVA, FSN Carolinas
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (20-16-5): The Penguins are a blistering 11-for-32 (34.4 percent) on the power play since falling to the Hurricanes last month. Evgeni Malkin scored with the man advantage in that contest and has two goals and seven assists in his last six games. Captain Sidney Crosby, who set up Malkin for the lone goal versus the Hurricanes, recorded six tallies and as many assists during an eight-game stretch before being held off the scoresheet in each of the last two contests.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (18-18-7): John-Michael Liles has scored two goals in the last three games and also tallied in the first meeting with Pittsburgh. Fellow defenseman Justin Faulk, who notched an assist in last month's encounter with the Penguins, has impressed Bill Peters to the point that the Carolina coach feels that the 23-year-old should be included in the Norris Trophy conversation. Faulk's 12 power-play goals are just eight shy of the NHL record for a defenseman, set by Sheldon Souray in 2006-07.
OVERTIME
1. Carolina G Cam Ward made 37 saves against Pittsburgh last month to improve to 15-7-3 versus the club in his career.
2. Pittsburgh G Marc-Andre Fleury owns a stingy 1.94 goals-against average on the road this season.
3. The Hurricanes have scored a power-play goal in each of the last two contests after going 0-for-14 with the man advantage in the previous eight.