Living for the City

The Carolina Hurricanes are finally at the end of their 5 day break and are in the "Iron City" to take on the Penguins tonight! Let's all hope that the Canes didn't have too much time off because sometimes teams get a little rusty when they haven't played a game in a few days. Carolina certainly will be welcoming the next break they get because they will be playing 6 games in the next 9 days, including two back to backs!

The good news on the injury front is that Mike Commodore is healthy and should be back in the line-up. The bad news is that Andrew Ladd re-injured his ankle at yesterday's practice and is not making this 2 game road trip, according to LSB. That means that Chad LaRose will continue to play on the same line with Justin Williams and Rod Brind'Amour. Hopefully, he can continue his recent, inspiring play. The rest of the forward lines should stay the same as the past couple of games. The defensive pairings should look as follows: Kaberle/Gleason, Hedican/Wallin, and Wesley/Commodore. Dennis Seidenberg participated in practice this week, so his injured knee appears to be healed enough so that he can play if needed. I expect Cam Ward to play tonight with John Grahame taking a turn in the City of Brotherly Love, tomorrow night.

The Pens are coming off a disappointing 5-4 loss to the Devils on Wednesday night. Not only will they be looking to rebound from that defeat, they'll be seeking redemption from the Canes because of their loss in Raleigh a couple of weeks ago. Pittsburgh has a record of 2-3 and is currently tied for last place in the Atlantic Division. "Sid the Kid" has yet to really crank up what he's capable of doing. The Hurricanes are hoping that he waits another game or two before he starts firing on all cylinders. Evgeni Malkin has a 5 game point streak.

In some other news, as most of you know I have been working as a part-time correspondent for NHLDigest.com. Tyler, the head honcho over at the site also runs a call in, interview segment called "The Neil Show". This week he got to interview the one and only, ESPN's John Buccigross! Nice job Tyler! You can check out the interview here.

For those of you who are Kevyn Adams' fans, the Chicago Tribune ran a nice story about him this morning. He seems to be fitting in well with his new role with the Hawks. I always liked Kevyn, and I wish him the best!

Game time is 7:30 tonight with the pre-game show starting at 7. Go get 'em Canes!

Stevie Wonder