Carolina Hurricanes vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: Preview

Led by an onslaught of goals from defensemen, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2 Thursday night to end a little four-game skid.

Now the Canes come back home to PNC Arena for a tilt with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were on the losing end of not one, not two, but three games in Carolina’s historic win streak through November and December.

The Penguins will be on the back half of a back-to-back, coming off a rough 4-1 loss to Winnipeg Friday night. They won their two games before that, but as a whole have been pretty up and down to start the new year.

The Canes finally got Frederik Andersen back against the Blue Jackets, but Max Pacioretty exited that game with injury unrelated to his Achilles issue.

Now the Hurricanes will look to build a winning streak once again, as Pittsburgh looks to get its first win over the Canes in its fourth try this season.

Game Notes

• Carolina is 3-0-0 against Pittsburgh this year, with all three games coming during Carolina’s historic November/December winning streak.
• Saturday’s game is the first in a back-to-back for the Canes, who are 3-2-1 so far this year in the opening leg of such games. Somehow, Carolina is a staggering 6-0-0 in the second game.
• Rod Brind’Amour will be looking for win number 201 as an NHL coach Saturday night.
• Sebastian Aho, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Brett Pesce and Teuvo Teravainen all carry point streaks into Saturday’s affair.