Pittsburgh Penguins: Lessons Learned vs. Hurricanes
By Rob Joncas
The Pittsburgh Penguins were systematically dismantled by the Washington Capitals on Sat. afternoon and will be looking for a huge response today against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Pittsburgh Penguins barely showed any signs of life in yesterday’s loss to their bitter rivals from Washington. While it’s not quite time to panic, Pittsburgh should have their fingers on the trigger.
With the loss, the Penguins dropped to 3-7-0 in their past 10 games.
The team needs to find a way to start gutting out some victories to remain in control of their fate, as the lower-seeded teams in the Metropolitan Divison have begun to put some urgency in their games and adding pressure to Pittsburgh.
While we wait to see what this afternoon’s game has in store for us, here’s a look back at some history between the Penguins and Hurricanes.
Season Series
The Penguins and Hurricanes have played 86 games since Carolina relocated from Hartford. Pittsburgh holds the series with a record 45-30-4-7.
Today is the first meeting of the season for the clubs and they will meet three other times before the calendar changes to Apr.
First Game Frenzy
The first game between the clubs was held on Oct. 3, 1997, at the Greensboro Coliseum. Tyler Wright scored two goals for the Penguins, as Ed Olczyk and Andreas Johansson each collected two points of their own in a 4-3 Pittsburgh victory.
This game also featured a plethora of infractions, as the teams combined for 115 minutes in penalties. Alex Hicks accounted for the majority of the Penguins as he earned 15 penalty minutes, with Olczyk (9) and Darius Kasparaitis (6) rounded out the top three.
Best of Times and Worst of Times
The Penguins best game vs. Hurricanes occurred on Apr. 27, 2013, an 8-3 Pittsburgh win.
James Neal led Pittsburgh with one goal and four points, and Evgeni Malkin added one goal and three points. Matt Cooke, Jarome Iginla, Jussi Jokinen, Chris Kunitz, Kris Letang, Paul Martin, and Brendan Morrow each added two points in the victory. Hurricanes goalie Justin Peters was in net for all 8 Pittsburgh goals.
The Penguins worst game vs. the Hurricanes was on Dec. 16, 2001, a 7-0 loss.
Rod Brind’Amour scored one goal and 5 points, as former Penguins Ron Francis (4 points), Jeff Daniels (one goal), and Tom Barrasso (11 saves) all played their parts in dismantling Pittsburgh.
Leading Scorers
Sidney Crosby is the leading scoring vs. Carolina. Crosby has collected 15 goals and 53 points in 47 games played. Malkin takes second place with 13 goals and 38 points in 38 games played. Kris Letang – 13 points, Jake Guentzel – 11 points, Patric Hornqvist – 8 points, round out the top 5 scorers.
Leading Goalies
Casey DeSmith earned a victory in his only game vs. Carolina, with a goals-against-average (GAA) of 1.00. Matt Murray takes second with a record of 7-3-1 in 12 games played with a GAA of 1.79 and one shut out. Tristan Jarry took a loss in his only game against the Hurricanes with a GAA of 2.05.
Enemy Lines
Heres’s a few of the players that crossed enemy lines during their careers:
Craig Adams, Bob Boughner, Zach Boychuk, Paul Coffey, Matt Cullen, Ron Hainsey, Kevin Hatcher, Jussi Jokinen.