Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Carolina Hurricanes 1/13/2024 - Lines, how to watch

The Canes enter on a hot streak, but without their two top goaltenders.

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (19-15-4, 42 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Carolina Hurricanes (23-13-6, 51 points, 3rd place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: BSSO, SN-PIT

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins are back home Monday to take on the Seattle Kraken, then they get an extended break with four days off before heading out West to take on the Vegas Golden Knights and Arizona Coyotes.

Opponent Track: The Hurricanes are on a hot streak. They’ve won six of their last seven, and the L was a one-point shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues.

Season Series: The Canes and Pens have split the season series, with the Penguins losing 4-2 in November and winning 2-1 in a December shootout victory.

Hidden Stat: The Hurricanes are are 15-1-1 when leading after two periods at home.

Getting to know the Hurricanes

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen

Michael Bunting - Jasperi Kotkaniemi - Stefan Noesen

Jordan Martinook - Jordan Staal - Seth Jarvis

Brandon Lemieux - Jack Drury - Jesper Fast

DEFENSEMEN

Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns

Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce

Dmitry Orlov - Jalen Chatfield

Goalies: Antti Raanta, Yaniv Perets

Possible scratches: Martin Necas, Anthony Deangelo, Pyotr Kochetkov

IR: Frederik Andersen

• Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov entered concussion protocol after leaving in the second period of the Canes’ Thursday victory over the Anaheim Ducks. He will be out indefinitely, according to head coach Rod Brind’Amour.

That is very unfortunate news for the Canes, who are also without Frederik Andersen, who is also out indefinitely due to a blood clotting condition.

Without Andersen or Kochetkov the Hurricanes will turn to veteran Antti Raanta, who has so far struggled this season. He has a .861 save percentage (his lowest since his rookie 2023-14 season) in 16 games played.

Yaniv Perets of the Norfolk Admirals will be recalled from the ECHL in order to back up Andersen, per Hurricanes.com’s Walt Ruff. He has yet to make his NHL debut.

Player stats

(via hockeydb)

• Seth Jarvis has been one of the biggest threats in Carolina during the team’s ongoing seven-game point streak. He has seven points (four goals, three assists) over the span, including a goal and two apples against the Ducks on Thursday.
• It would be a good idea for the Penguins to allow the Canes as few drawn penalties as possible. In the Canes’ last eight games, they’ve scored a power play in each contest while going 14-for-28 over the span, according to NHL.com’s Kurt Dusterberg.

And now for the Penguins

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell

Drew O’Connor - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust

Radim Zohorna - Lars Eller - Valtteri Puustinen

Jansen Harkins - Noel Acciari - Jeff Carter

DEFENSEMEN

Marcus Pettersson / Kris Letang

P.O. Joseph / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves / Chad Ruhwedel

Goalies: Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic

Potential scratches: Ryan Shea

IR: Matt Nieto (recovering from knee surgery), John Ludvig (upper body injury)

• Reilly Smith will be out “longer-term” with an upper body injury, according to Mike Sullivan and Pens Inside Scoop.
• Hard to evaluate who exactly will be replacing him tonight from Friday’s practice, because several other players (including Evgeni Malkin, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Jeff Carter and Rickard Rakell, as well as Erik Karlsson) were not present. But it seems likely Radim Zohorna will slot back onto the roster in Smith’s stead.
• The Pens have been leaning on the hot glove of Alex Nedeljkovic lately, but one might expect Tristan Jarry to get this start after Nedeljkovic was pulled Thursday following three goals against on nine Canucks shots in the first period of the Pens’ Thursday overtime loss.
• For those wondering, Ryan Graves and Noel Acciari are winners of the team fantasy football championship;