Carolina Hurricanes at Pittsburgh Penguins, Game 2 (Pens lead 1-0)
Losing Game 1 in this year’s playoffs as Carolina did to Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference Finals was nothing new for the Canes, who did so on the road in their first two rounds and obviously still advanced – going seven games both times.
Historically the team that wins Game 1 at home wins the follow-up match 65 percent of the time and wins the series 77 percent of the time, so that’s what’s facing the Hurricanes again tonight, with Pittsburgh having opened as a -200 money line favorite on WagerWeb.com.
Eric Staal didn’t score in Game 1 for the Canes, meaning that Carolina should have lost. After all, the Canes are 7-0 in games in which Staal has scored this postseason.
The positive news out of Game 1 was that the line headed by Matt Cullen held Pens star Sidney Crosby to no goals, an assist and two shots during Pittsburgh’s 3-2 victory on Monday. Crosby was coming off an eight-goal series against Washington and leads NHL playoff scorers with 22 points.
“I thought the Cullen line played pretty good and I thought he made a good adjustment in making sure those guys stayed off the score sheet,” Carolina coach Paul Maurice said.
However, Carolina allowed a power play goal in Game 1, which was newsworthy. Its penalty kill is at 89.7 percent, which is second-best in the playoffs. The Canes have now allowed six goals on 50 power-play opportunities.
And Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin seems to be back to regular-season form, as he had a goal and an assist in Game 1 and has seven assists in the past four games. He already has more (14) than he did in the postseason last year (12), when he finished with 22 points in 20 playoff games.
That Game 1 two-point effort was Malkin’s eighth multiple-point game of this playoff run, the same number as Crosby.
The Canes do have two key injured wingers in Erik Cole (knee) and Tuomo Ruutu (lower body). Both left Game 1 with their injuries and both will be game-time decisions for tonight’s Game 2.
“They may skate, they may not,” Maurice said. “We’ll let the trainer make a decision for them.”
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