Carolina Hurricanes at Pittsburgh Penguins, Game 1
When the Carolina Hurricanes reach the playoffs, they don’t mess around. The Canes have won two Game 7s this postseason on the road, earning them a date with reigning Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh.
The Canes have won six straight playoff rounds dating back to their Stanley Cup run in 2006. They’ve won the past four series in seven games.
The Penguins needed six games to dispose of Philadelphia before going seven themselves against the Washington Capitals. They are -190 Game 1 favorites on WagerWeb.com.
Eric Staal is probably the player to watch this series, all apologies to Sidney Crosby, who was stellar against the Caps. Staal leads the team with 13 points in 14 playoff games this spring. The Hurricanes have won every game in which he scored in the postseason. (His nine goals ranked third overall heading into the conference finals.) His brother Jordan is a key contributor for the Pens.
Pittsburgh defenseman Sergei Gonchar has returned to practice and hopes to play in the opener. He sat out Games 5 and 6 of the conference semifinals against Washington after injuring his right knee while being hit by Alex Ovechkin in Game 4. He unexpectedly returned for Game 7 on Wednesday, but his playing time was reduced, and he had not skated until practicing Sunday.
“It looks promising,” said Gonchar.
The Pens went 9-for-29 on the power play in the last six games of the Caps series, though Gonchar’s presence is key. Pittsburgh has gone on the power play 17 more times than it has been shorthanded. The Canes are minus-6 in that department.
Crosby has 12 goals and 21 points in 13 games in this year’s NHL playoffs.
Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (2.72 goals-against average and .901 save percentage) doesn’t have quite the numbers his counterpart Cam Ward does (2.22 and .927).
The Canes have lost the opener in each of their previous series, dropping 4-1 decisions to the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins.
“Yeah, that’s something we could learn from the previous two rounds, that we weren’t really ready for that Game 1, but still got away with it,” Ward said.
Fourth-seeded Pittsburgh and No. 6 Carolina split the four-game series in the regular season, each team winning once on the road and at home, each team enjoying a three-goal win and a tight one-goal victory.
Pittsburgh outscored Carolina 12-8 in their head-to-head meetings. Ward, however, was undefeated against Pittsburgh, going 2-0-0 with a 1.49 goals-against average.
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