The Carolina Hurricanes are a subject near and dear to my heart. Here's an anecdote.
I'm a Penguins fan that's lived in North Carolina for over half my life. A game at PPG Paints Arena would be just a short 10 hour drive. The way I get around that is mooching off my college roommate's season tickets whenever the Penguins visit Raleigh.
My luck in attending these games is, well, really bad. The Penguins haven't won a game at the Lenovo Center (formerly PNC Arena) since December 2018. Since then, Pittsburgh is 0-4-3 in what seems to be another Metro division house of horrors. Below is a totally real picture of Lenovo Center from the outside.
It looks really bad, I know, but look at that record again: 0-4-3. Winless, but three overtime losses. And when you look into the matchup a little closer, five of those seven games were decided by just one goal. One of the two that wasn't a one goal game finished 4-2 thanks to a late empty netter.
While, yes, I'm trying to find silver lining in a sea of storms, the truth is that the Hurricanes have whooped up on the Penguins this season, winning 4-1 in Pittsburgh in October and 5-1 in Raleigh in November.
Tonight's meeting is the last time the two clubs will meet in the regular season, and the Penguins are in danger of surrendering all six possible points to their Metro division boogeyman.
To make things worse, the Penguins have not won a road game since their 5-4 comeback win over the Nashville Predators back on December 19th.
Oh, and take a look at these stat categories where Carolina is top 10 in the NHL: goals per game, power play goals, power play percentage, shot volume, penalty kill percentage, goals against per game, shots against per game (2nd lowest), and penalty minutes (8th least). All stats according to ESPN.
Bruh
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 5, 2025
Yeah, for real. This game is impossible to win.
But wait...there's one stat they are not top 10 in: goaltending. Yeah, just goaltending in general. Any category you can think of.
Where the Penguins give up a lot of shots and goaltending isn't great, the Hurricanes give up hardly any shots and their goaltending is just as bad at times.
Their young, budding goalie Pyotr Kochetkov played last night in Carolina's 4-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild, which means the Penguins will get the chance to pepper pucks on Dustin Tokarski.
Astute Penguins fans will remember that name. Tokarski played for a handful of games with Pittsburgh in 2022-23. The 35-year old journeyman has started 70 games between the pipes in his career.
The only way the Penguins can win tonight is to take advantage of a goalie situation. While Kochetkov has been the guy in Raleigh in the foreseeable past, the Penguins get the benefit of facing Tokarski, who has played just three games this season.
The Wild Card standings have tightened up like a boa constrictor this week. While it might be a losing battle, the Penguins have to find a way against all odds.
Puck drop is scheduled for 6pm EST.
Final anecdote: The Hurricanes are 7-0-0 all-time in games I attend...and I'm going again tonight. Do with this information what you will. (Thanks for the tickets, Nathan.)