Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Detroit Red Wings (1-0) travel down to North Carolina for a meeting with the Hurricanes in the team's opening game at PNC Arena. The game can be live streamed here. Red Wings fans can access the action on 97.1 The Ticket, while Hurricanes fans can do the same on The Fan 99.9 FM.
These two teams, which met in the 2002 Stanley Cup Final claimed by Detroit, are squaring off for the first time since March of 2012, and Detroit is playing just its second game as a member of the Eastern Conference after Wednesday's opening win against the Buffalo Sabres, while the Hurricanes are looking to open up their season strongly at home.
Veterans Pavel Datsyuk and Mikael Samuelsson scored 36 seconds apart to lead Detroit to a victory over Buffalo in Wednesday's opener. Datsyuk has been one of the NHL's most potent scorers, and last year was no different as he posted 15 goals and notched 34 assists for 49 points in the 48-game lockout-shortened season. Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced Wednesday and is coming off of a year where he went 21-13-7 with a 2.13 GAA and a .923 save percentage.
Carolina will play its first game in the newly aligned Metropolitan division that pits them with teams such as the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers and old Southeast Division rivals in the Washington Capitals.
Carolina looks to be strong offensively this season despite injuries to Jeff Skinner (13 goals, 11 assists, 24 points last year) and Alexander Semin (13, 31, 44), that sidelined them for some of the preseason but won't stop them from playing in Game 1. The top two lines by Carolina will be anchored by the Staal brothers with Eric Staal leading the top line while brother Jordan Staal rounds out the second line.
"Jordan's line is set. Eric's line is set," coach Kirk Muller told the team's website. "It's just a matter of looking at the third and the fourth and seeing what the right combinations are there."
The Red Wings will look to continue a solid start to their Eastern Conference tenure, while Carolina hopes to open up strong at home.
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