Pittsburgh @ Carolina preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 5, 2019 ) Carolina 4, Pittsburgh 0

The Carolina Hurricanes began a sterling 14-4-1 stretch with a resounding 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins last month, a win that was just the third in their last 13 meetings in the series. The Hurricanes aim to continue their quest toward their first playoff berth since 2008-09 on Tuesday when they play their Metropolitan Division rivals in the second contest of a five-game homestand.

Curtis McElhinney avenged a disastrous eight-goal performance in his previous outing by making 35 saves in Carolina's 4-2 triumph over Buffalo on Saturday. "Everybody's kind of doing their job right now. Critical time of year. It's been fun to be in that conversation, be in a spot and to keep picking up points," said the 35-year-old, who turned aside all 23 shots he faced in the shutout in Pittsburgh on Feb. 5. The Hurricanes occupy the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and reside three points shy of the Penguins, who recorded a shutout of their own in their last visit to Raleigh, N.C. -- a 39-save gem by Matt Murray in a 3-0 win on Dec. 22. Superstar captain Sidney Crosby set up all three goals in that contest and had recorded 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in a 10-game stretch before being held off the scoresheet with a minus-5 rating in his last two.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh, TVAS, FS Carolinas

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (39-24-10): Evgeni Malkin was a late scratch in Sunday's 2-1 overtime loss to Philadelphia and was labeled week-to-week by coach Mike Sullivan with an upper-body injury sustained after he was cross-checked by former Pittsburgh defenseman Robert Bortuzzo in Saturday's 5-1 loss to St. Louis. "He's a tough guy to replace. He's an elite player. That speaks for itself. As far as what we're going to do moving forward, we'll probably take it game to game and see how it goes," Sullivan said. Phil Kessel, who set up Teddy Blueger's third-period goal versus the Flyers, is expected to play in his franchise-best 320th consecutive game for the team on Tuesday.

ABOUT THE HURRICANES (39-25-7): Former Penguin Jordan Staal scored in the third period on Saturday to record his 500th career point, with the first 248 coming during his six seasons in the Steel City. "It's a nice round number and you're always proud of what you've accomplished, but my mind is really not on that right now," the 30-year-old Staal told the Raleigh News & Observer. "It's obviously on what's going on this year. It's on finding ways to win games and contributing to those wins." Captain Justin Williams and rookie Andrei Svechnikov each scored in both Saturday's tilt as well as the previous encounter with the Pittsburgh.

OVERTIME

1. Pittsburgh C Jake Guentzel tallied twice in the first contest with Carolina and has seven of his team-best 36 goals in his last nine games.

2. Hurricanes LW Sebastian Aho, who leads the team in goals (30) assists (48) and points (78), has been held off the scoresheet in both meetings with the Penguins this season.

3. Pittsburgh had permitted two goals or fewer in 11 of the previous 12 encounters with Carolina prior to last month's contest.

PREDICTION: Hurricanes 3, Penguins 2