Penguins-Hurricanes game a sign of things to come for regular season Metro Division rematches — maybe beyond

Carolina Hurricanes center Jordan Staal apologized for the hit on his former Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Evgeni Malkin.

“That was my bad,” Staal said. “I saw him late. He was kind of coming the other way. I was going the other way. He’s a big, heavy boy. I’m glad that he got up fine.”

During the third period of Sunday’s eventual 4-3 Carolina victory at PPG Paints Arena, the 6-foot-4, 220 pound Staal shoved the 6-foot-3, 195 pound Malkin, through the crease and into Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry, spilling both Penguins into the ice. Malkin got up slowly but returned to the ice eventually and finished the game.

Speaking after his team’s win, Staal felt bad about the collision. However, despite his friendship with Malkin as teammates with the Penguins from 2006-12, Staal wasn’t going to let up on the play.

That moment, as well as the nail-biting, emotion-swinging, back-and-forth nature of the game, seemed to be a harbinger of what could come between the clubs as they battle for Metropolitan Division supremacy.

Perhaps not just over their two remaining games in the regular season. Maybe during a best-of-seven playoff series as well.

Because of covid-19 cancelling the home stretch of the 2019-20 regular season, a temporary division change for the Hurricanes during last year’s modified schedule and a quirk in this year’s calendar, Sunday afternoon’s game was the first meeting between the franchises since March 8, 2020.

It came with both teams holding 70 points tied atop the Metro, and it ended with Sidney Crosby right on top of the goaltender, taking one last sweep at the puck toward the net as time was expiring.

“It was great,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said after his team’s win. “For 30 minutes, it was really good (for us). Then we had one bad shift. Of course, they scored. Then they got life. Then they took off. They got their game going. … Our (defense) played phenomenal.”

After the Canes controlled much of the early portion of play, the Penguins scurried back to end the afternoon with a slight advantage in shots, 34-30. The Penguins saw their Corsi number at just 34% after the first period but ended up with a 55%-45% advantage by the game’s end. The faceoffs were 31-28 Carolina.

For Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, the serve-and-volley nature of the game was no surprise. Nor was seeing the talent of the Hurricanes in person for the first time in nearly two years.

“It was everything we expected it to be. There’s not a lot of secrets in today’s game with technology and the amount of film that coaching staffs watch,” Sullivan said. “They are in first place for a reason. They are a good team. They have a lot of talent. They are a deep team. And they are well-coached. It was everything we thought it would be.”

As for Staal, he sees plenty of familiar traits present in this Penguins team that still remind him of the ones he played with that managed to make the Stanley Cup Final in 2008 and 2009.

“Very similar. A team that can bite you really quick. A team that plays with speed,” Staal said. “A good power play. They have a great squad. We are going to see some battles. We are going to play a fair amount against each other the next few weeks in the division. It’s a lot of fun. Two good teams going at it.”

The clubs square off next in Raleigh on March 4. Then they meet a third time back in Pittsburgh on March 13. From Sullivan’s point of view, he expects those two games will be tone-setters for what a Metro Divisional playoff series could look like.

“It’s a hard game. It had a playoff feel to it. There’s not a lot of room out there,” Sullivan said. “You have to fight for every inch. That’s the game we have to embrace moving forward. That’s playoff hockey.”

For now, the Hurricanes (74 points) now have a four-point edge in the standings, having also won an overtime game in Philadelphia 4-3 on Monday while the Penguins were idle. Sullivan’s club also has to worry about fending off the third-place New York Rangers (69 points) and the fourth-place Washington Capitals (65 points). The Rangers are another Division team the Penguins haven’t faced yet this season. They’ll do so on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena at 3 p.m.

The high temperature is only supposed to be 37 degrees that afternoon in Pittsburgh. But if last Sunday’s game against the Hurricanes was any indicator, it should feel like early May more so than late February inside the building.

Brian Metzer of the Penguins radio network joins me to put a bow on the first Penguins-Hurricanes showdown of 2022. We look ahead to Thursday’s game against New Jersey. And we discuss the pros and cons of Evgeni Malkin’s return thus far.

Listen: Tim Benz and Brian Metzer talk Penguins — from the Hurricanes game to the upcoming Devils matchup