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Tuesday, 17 January 2012 13:35

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Hurricanes.

When and where: 7 p.m., EST. Consol Energy Center.

TV: Root Sports, Fox Sports Carolina.

Record: 16-24-7, 39 points. The Hurricanes are in 13th place in the conference and fourth place in the Southeast Division.

Leading Scorer: Eric Staal, 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists).

Last Game: 2-1 road loss to the Capitals, Sunday. Cam Ward (right) made 22 saves for the Hurricanes.

Last Game against the Penguins: 4-2 road loss, Dec. 27. James Neal had a goal and an assist for the Penguins.

Hurricanes Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Staal. He has 30 points in 30 career games against the Penguins.

Ex-Penguins on the Hurricanes: Tom Barrasso, assistant coach; Tim Brent, C; Ron Francis, director of player development; Alexei Ponikarovsky, LW; Jim Rutherford general manager/president.

Ex-Hurricanes on the Penguins: Craig Adams, RW.

Useless Hurricanes/Whalers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Three former Penguins players have served as the Hurricanes/Whalers captains: Ron Francis, Mark Johnson and Russ Anderson.

Best Hurricanes/Whalers Video We Could Find: Two former Penguins - Gary Roberts, then of the Hurricanes and Rick Tocchett, then of the Coyotes - duking it out during the 1999-2000 season:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (21-12-2, 2.27 GAA, .912 SV%) for the Penguins and Cam Ward (16-17-6, 3.07 GAA; .903 SV%) for the Hurricanes.

Injuries: For the Penguins, right winger Arron Asham (undisclosed) is doubtful. Centers Sidney Crosby (head) Jordan Staal (knee), defensemen Simon Despres (knee) Kris Letang (head) are on injured reserve. For the Hurricanes, right wingers Chad LaRose ("upper body"), Jerome Samson ("upper body") and defenseman Jaroslav Spacek ("upper body") are day to day. Goaltender Brian Boucher ("lower body") and defenseman Joni Pitkanen (concussion/knee) are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' primary lines at today's morning skate were:

Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Pascal Dupuis - Dustin Jeffrey - Tyler Kennedy
Matt Cooke - Richard Park - Steve Sullivan
Eric Tangradi - Joe Vitale - Craig Adams

Paul Martin - Zbyenk Michalek
Brooks Orpik - Deryk Engelland
Matt Niskanen - Ben Lovejoy

The Hurricanes primary lines and defensive pairings against the Capitals Sunday were:

Jiri Tlusty - Eric Staal - Tuomo Ruutu
Jussi Jokinen  - Jeff Skinner - Alexei Ponikarovsky
Andreas Nodl - Brandon Sutter - Patrick Dwyer
Brett Sutter - Tim Brent - Anthony Stewart

Bryan Allen - Tim Gleason
Derek Joslin - Jamie McBain
Jay Harrison - Justin Faulk

Notes:

-Kennedy has appared in 299 career games.

-Martin has scored 199 career points.

-Park has scored 98 career goals.

-Neal has scored 97 career goals.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 6 p.m.. Please tune in.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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