Eastern Conference Final

Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (6)

Monday, May 18 - at Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m. - VERSUS, TSN, RDS
Thursday, May 21 - at Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m. - VERSUS, TSN, RDS
Saturday, May 23 - at Carolina, 7:30 p.m. - VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Tuesday, May 26 - at Carolina, 7:30 p.m. - VERSUS, CBC, RDS
* Friday, May 29 - at Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m. - VERSUS, CBC, RDS
* Sunday, May 31 - at Carolina, 7:30 p.m. - VERSUS, CBC, RDS
* Tuesday, June 2 - at Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m. - VERSUS, CBC, RDS

* = If Necessary


Regular Season:

Carolina - 45-30-7, 97 points, 2nd place, Southeast Division, 6th place, Eastern Conference
Pittsburgh - 45-28-9, 99 points, 2nd place, Atlantic Division, 4th place, Eastern Conference

Carolina - 26-14-1 at home, 19-16-6 on the road
Pittsburgh - 25-13-3 at home, 20-15-6 on the road

Special Teams:

Carolina PP - 18.7%, 18th overall
Pittsburgh PP - 17.2%, 20th overall

Carolina PK - 80.4%, 18th overall
Pittsburgh PK - 82.7%, 8th overall

Scoring:

Carolina - 2.88 per game, 16th overall
Pittsburgh - 3.15 per game, 6th overall

Carolina - 2.70 allowed per game, 8th overall
Pittsburgh - 2.84 allowed per game, 17th overall

Season Series: Pittsburgh 2-1-1

-October 23, 2008 - Pittsburgh 4, Carolina 1 at Mellon Arena
Brandon Sutter's first career NHL goal in the first period looked to hold up for 48 minutes, but the Pens let loose in the third. Sidney Crosby tied the game on the powerplay and Ruslan Fedotenko gave the Pens the lead just 30 seconds later. Maxime Talbot put home another one a few minutes later, and then Evgeni Malkin sealed the deal in the final minute with an empty netter.

-December 4, 2008 - Pittsburgh 5, Carolina 2 at RBC Center
Paul Maurice's first game back in Raleigh was not indicative of how the remainder of his season with the team would be, as a disorganized Carolina team fell at home less than 48 hours after Peter Laviolette was let go and Maurice hired. Pittsburgh led 3-0 before Tuomo Ruutu scored minutes into the second period. Miroslav Satan answered minutes later before Matt Cullen scored on a powerplay, but Ruslan Fedotenko again put the Pens out of reach with a late second period goal. Carolina outshot Pittsburgh 36-22 but Michael Leighton had a poor game in place of the injured Cam Ward.

-January 20, 2009 - Carolina 2, Pittsburgh 1 at Mellon Arena
Evgeni Malkin scored less than 3 minutes into the game, but Cam Ward never looked back, stopping 32 of 33 saves in the game. Ray Whitney tied the game in the first on the powerplay, and Eric Staal scored midway through the 2nd before Carolina shut down the Penguin attack.

-April 4, 2009 - Carolina 3, Pittsburgh 2 (Overtime) at RBC Center
The Carolina Hurricanes returned to the NHL playoffs by beating the team that they will not face in the Conference Finals. Cam Ward stopped 33 shots, including a Sidney Crosby breakaway and an Evgeni Malkin penalty shot. Eric Staal and Chad LaRose scored for Carolina, followed by Anton Babchuk bringing the house down in overtime with his 14th goal of the season on a bomb from the point just over a minute into overtime.

Playoff History:

Teams have never met.

Pittsburgh Players to Watch:


Sidney Crosby, Center. A pretty decent hockey player.


Evgeni Malkin, Center. A pretty decent hockey player.


Jordan Staal, Center. We get to hear over and over and over how Eric and Jordan are playing against each other oh my this must be tough for Linda and Henry who are they cheering for what was it like playing on the pond growing up etc etc.


Petr Sykora, Winger. Scored 25 goals in the regular season and hasn't done jack in the playoffs. In fact he has been benched several times.


Ruslan Fedotenko, Winger. Always a guy who comes up with timely playoff goals.


Chris Kunitz, Winger. The Pens shipped off talented young defenseman Ryan Whitney to try and get a winger to play with Crosby. Kunitz put up 18 points in 20 games after coming over, but has not scored a single goal in the playoffs.


Bill Guerin, Winger. Trade deadline rental player has scored 5 goals in the playoffs for the Pens.


Sergei Gonchar, Defenseman. One of the great offensive defenseman in the NHL. Missed most of the regular season injured and missed some playoff games after being hit knee-on-knee by Alex Ovechkin, but he's back and will be quarterbacking the Penguin powerplay.


Brooks Orpik, Defenseman. Fuck this man.


Marc-Andre Fleury, Goaltender. Doesn't put up fantastic numbers, but makes the big save at the right time and knows what it takes to get to the Finals as he did it last year.


BEEP BEEP



[Edited on May 15, 2009 at 12:25 PM. Reason : DO ONE]

5/15/2009 12:24:37 PM

IN FIRST!!!

[Edited on May 15, 2009 at 12:29 PM. Reason : JUSSI SO SEXY!!!! GO CANES!!!!!]

5/15/2009 12:25:39 PM

LETS

DO

THIS

5/15/2009 12:27:38 PM

WOOOO

IN ON PAGE 1

5/15/2009 12:27:52 PM

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


GO CANES

5/15/2009 12:28:23 PM

so just looking at season stats, these teams appear almost identical, yet no one outside of NC seems to be giving us a shot. wtf?

5/15/2009 12:33:36 PM

WOOOOOOOO GO CANES

5/15/2009 12:38:34 PM

WOOOOOOOO CANES!!!!

5/15/2009 12:39:07 PM

in on page

5/15/2009 12:40:41 PM

man fuck VS channel

5/15/2009 12:43:57 PM

I love being in the role of "underdog"...fits us nicely.

5/15/2009 12:45:10 PM

DO

ONE

5/15/2009 12:45:55 PM

5/15/2009 12:54:41 PM

iop1 again!

Quote :

"LET'S GO CANES!!!!"

5/15/2009 12:54:54 PM

in on page 1

man, their team looks like a damn all-star team on paper

5/15/2009 12:55:23 PM

we got this

5/15/2009 1:05:44 PM

but the penguins want it ...lol

5/15/2009 1:08:56 PM

may the better Staal win!

5/15/2009 1:12:06 PM

Quote :

" Your Price Was Accepted Congratulations, your price of $40 was accepted by Residence Inn Pittsburgh Airport. You've saved even more with your $50 Bonus Cash! "

wooooooooooo

5/15/2009 1:14:30 PM

?CANES

5/15/2009 1:19:02 PM

vulcan we get it, you are there

stop rubbing it in our jealous faces

5/15/2009 1:21:12 PM

In on page 1.

GO CANES!!!!!

5/15/2009 1:21:43 PM

lol Paul Maurice's reaction at about 4:38 in the video is epic

Quote :

"DOUBLE FIST PUMP"

5/15/2009 1:42:33 PM

I like how he goes

-DOUBLE FIST PUMP!!!
-START THE CHAINSAW!
-HUG Francis!
-Hug the Other Guy.
-Hearty handshake, saw some wood.
-back to normal


in like 8 seconds of time.

5/15/2009 1:47:21 PM

Mo on NHL Live right now

5/15/2009 1:48:04 PM

in on page one! go canes!

5/15/2009 1:54:04 PM

Quote :

"Brooks Orpik, Defenseman. Fuck this man."

haha

5/15/2009 2:03:22 PM

5/15/2009 2:09:23 PM

iop1

Also, Tyler Kennedy is one of the dumbest looking motherfuckers I have ever laid eyes on.

5/15/2009 2:09:42 PM

in on page 1

SCOTT WALKER HAPPY DANCE


MO MONEY, MO FUCKING RIGHT

5/15/2009 2:11:24 PM

in on page 1?

5/15/2009 2:13:20 PM

5/15/2009 2:14:17 PM

So fucking pumped about this series! Thinking about making another playoff roadtrip like Vulcan91.

5/15/2009 2:16:49 PM

i, too, am super pumped about this series!

5/15/2009 2:20:31 PM

TD Banknorth Garden renamed to

SCOTT WALKER'S WACKY WAVING EXCITABLE ARM-FLAILING VINDICATED MAN WAREHOUSE & EMPORIUM!!!!


[Edited on May 15, 2009 at 2:22 PM. Reason : oh, it's a garden.]

5/15/2009 2:21:30 PM

Quote :

"The Canes now are optimistic that Rod Brind'Amour, injured in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins, will play Monday in the Eastern Conference final opener against Pittsburgh. "

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/canes/canes-optimistic-on-brindamour

Good news for the captain.

SO PUMPED

5/15/2009 2:25:39 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/index


needs a cam ward poll skew

5/15/2009 2:27:53 PM

Quote :

"FUCK THE PENGUINS!"

Go Canes! Go Cam Ward!

5/15/2009 2:31:17 PM

5/15/2009 2:34:42 PM

5/15/2009 2:35:46 PM

from The Hockey News' blog:

Quote :

"Nobody expects the Hurricanes to win, but all that means is that even before the series starts, the ‘Canes have the Penguins right where they want them."

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/26223-THNcom-Playoff-Blog-Ward-weaves-Game-7-magic-once-again.html

5/15/2009 2:57:35 PM

In on page 1.


GO CANES!!

5/15/2009 3:07:32 PM

I can't wait to make a fake user name, go to the Pittsburgh message board and threaten to run over Eric Staal!!

5/15/2009 3:16:48 PM

got my game 4 tickets... LETS GO CANES!!!!

5/15/2009 3:30:34 PM

woooooooooooo!! GO CANES!!

5/15/2009 3:52:32 PM

iop1

GO CANES!!!!!

Cam Ward for the win


I say we win it 4-2 on our ice.

5/15/2009 3:57:59 PM

Quote :

" STAAL BROTHER DRINKING GAME RULES Drinking begins at puck drop. If there is anything during pre-game, you're just going to have to bite your tongue because you at least want to generally remember the game, don't you? Well, maybe not. It is MSG. But we kind of want to know the result without having to check NHL.com Tuesday morning. Single shot to be taken if: - it is mentioned that the Staals are brothers - if it is mentioned that there are other Staals, not present, who are also in the NHL - if a phrase such as "sibling rivalry" is used - if it is pointed out that BOTH STAALS ARE ON THE ICE - if anyone mentions the sod farm - if any random facts are introduced about the present Staals or the Staal family - if the Staal parents are mentioned - if any Staal reference occurs that would simply not occur in a one-Staal game Doubleshot to be taken if: - a comparative Staal brother graphic is shown on the screen - if they are verbally compared AT LENGTH by the announcers (use your own discretion in deciding what "length" is) - if a video clip of the brothers/family is shown - if an interview with a Staal brother happens at intermission (add an additional shot if the Staal brother is asked anything about playing against his brother) - if the Staal parents are in attendance (this cancels out taking a single shot if the parents are mentioned, but not if they are mentioned separately from the fact that they are in attendance) If you're playing an advanced version of this game, you can mix yourself a drink and keep it nearby. You can work on the mixed drink if: - there is an intermission feature on the Staal brothers - there is a mention of a Staal on Staal play, such as a Staal delivering a crushing check on another Staal, or a Staal being stripped of the puck by another Staal - if the game is over and the team you were rooting for shit its pants Stop if you feel sick/want to stop. We will not be held responsible for any shit that happens to you playing this game. You play at your own risk, kids."

5/15/2009 4:04:33 PM

Interesting fact: One of the few ways Penguins can fly is when Hurricane-winds lift them up, and slam then into the glass!

GO CANES!

5/15/2009 4:07:34 PM

woooo go canes you mothafuckas

5/15/2009 4:08:56 PM

Tthese games should all be on Versus, so we shouldn't have to worry about it, but there are some rule exceptions for the Staal drinking game that must be applied when Tripp Tracy is involved to prevent death.

5/15/2009 4:09:32 PM