FanHouse BrooksOrpik

I don't know how Penguins general manager Ray Shero pulled it off, but he managed to not only retain the services of Ruslan Fedotenko and Bill Guerin, two of the teams top-six forwards from their Stanley Cup winning team, but he did so while getting them to take paycuts.

After signing Guerin to a one-year deal on Monday, the Penguins announced that they agreed to terms with Fedotenko Friday afternoon. Rob Rossi of the Tribune Review reports the deal as being worth $1.8 million, down from the $2.25 million he made a season ago.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals certainly didn't disappoint, as the Penguins and Hurricanes took part in an up-and-down track meet while both goalies put on a clinic in net. In the end, Marc-Andre Fleury was just a touch better than Cam Ward, while Phillipe Boucher's power play goal with just over eight minutes to play in regulation proved to be the game-winner in Pittsburgh's 3-2 win.

The Penguins came out smoking in the first period, overwhelming the Hurricanes with an offensive barrage that was highlighted by Miroslav Satan and Evgeni Malkin beating Ward just 80 seconds apart to stake the Penguins out to an early 2-0 lead. For Satan, it was his first goal in the NHL since March 1.

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It wasn't even 30 seconds into Eric Staal's post game interview on VERSUS Thursday night when we received our first reference to the fact that he and his brother, Jordan Staal, were about to face off in the Eastern Conference Finals. Get used to it, because you're going to hear about it ... a lot. To get you ready for the Staal family reunion, head on over to Puck Huffers to get your set of rules for the official Staal Brothers Drinking Game.

Over/under on number of references in the series: 200

This is just one of the many random story lines you're sure to hear about as the Penguins and Hurricanes fight for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Here are some of the others.

Wednesday's Penguins-Capitals tilt was another in a long line of exciting playoff games in the NHL this season, featuring a strong individual performance from Evgeni Malkin, another stellar night between the pipes for Simeon Varlamov, and a game-winner in overtime from a player that had been struggling for much of the playoffs.

It also included Washington's Alex Ovechkin attempting to skate through Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik.

Forget for one second, if you can, that Bill Guerin scored a pair of goals -- including the game-winner in overtime -- in Pittsburgh's 3-2 win over Philadelphia on Friday night. The biggest moment of this game, and the highlight of this game, was without question Marc-Andre Fleury's ridiculous save on Jeff Carter midway through the third period.

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With the NHL playoffs just around the corner, FanHouse takes a look at some of the lesser-known teams that qualified. Friday's installment: the Carolina Hurricanes

When the Whalers left Hartford back in 1997 to become the Carolina Hurricanes, they left a lot of things behind: the best jerseys in the NHL, Brass Bonanza, and, perhaps, most importantly, a losing tradition. In their 18 seasons in Hartford, the Whalers qualified for the playoffs eight times, and only once advanced beyond the first round.

Since moving to Carolina, the team has played in the Stanley Cup Final twice (2002 and 2006) while ultimately winning it all during the 2005-06 campaign. Heading into the playoffs this year, the Hurricanes are one of the hottest teams in the NHL, steamrolling the opposition. So, who are these guys?

Hopefully by now you've seen the video of Sidney Crosby and his attempt to light a fire under his teammates by mugging Brett McLean during Saturday's game in Pittsburgh. Actually, it looked like he may have been trying to steal McLean's lunch money. Following the game, both sides had an opportunity to sound off on the showing, and the word "embarrassing" was thrown around the Florida locker room.

First, let's start with Crosby and the Penguins. In his locker room interview with the Pittsburgh media, Crosby acknowledged that he asked McLean if he wanted to go -- as was initially pointed out in the comments section of our earlier post -- and Crosby, naturally, claims that he accepted the challenge.

When a reporter pushed for further confirmation that McLean agreed to dance, Crosby repeated his "yes" and offered up the possibility that the Panthers forward didn't take his offer seriously. He also made some reference to "wasting 20 minutes in the box," while also suggesting his efforts weren't worthy of 19 minutes in penalty time. I'm guessing those statements will fly like a led balloon with hockey fans outside of the 412 area code.

Anyway, if Crosby really did challenge McLean, why did it appear that McLean was ambushed right off the draw? Here's what he told George Richards of the Miami-Herald.

The Pittsburgh Penguins defense has been crushed by injuries through the first three months of the season, as they've been without their top two defenders -- and power play quarterbacks -- in Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney. A couple of weeks ago, they also lost Hal Gill to a shoulder injury, meaning the Penguins have been skating the past three weeks without their top three defenders from last season's playoff run.

Factor in the month that No. 1 goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury missed with a groin injury, and the various other injuries suffered by Tyler Kennedy, Mike Zigomanis and Max Talbot throughout season, and, well, it's been crazy. Actually, it's not that different from a year ago.

Good news, however, as Whitney will be making his return to the lineup tonight when the Penguins take on Tampa Bay at Mellon Arena. Whitney's been out all season after undergoing foot surgery over the summer.

Whitney certainly has his critics among Penguins fans -- myself included, sometimes -- he's still going to be a welcome addition to the lineup with his puck-moving skills, which will hopefully help what has been a mind-numbingly inconsistent power play unit.

What an incredible night of hockey. Let's get right to it.

The last time the Lightning and Rangers met, way back on November 6, Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith went crazy on Rangers forward Aaron Voros, giving him a few subtle hacks to the leg, shots to the head, and various other random acts of violence. As a result, the two had a "fight" that led to Voros trying to punch Smith through his mask, and Rangers coach Tom Renney calling for the Tampa goalie to face some sort of suspension.

This time around, there was another fight involving two unlikely participants, as Rangers forward Nikolai Zherdev squared off against No. 1 overall pick, Steve Stamkos. And it was actually a pretty good showing.

Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: Miroslav Satan, F (FA-NYI), Ruslan Fedotenko, F (FA-NYI), Matt Cooke, F (FA-WAS), Eric Godard, F(FA-CGY), Janne Pesonen, F (FA-Kärpät, Finland)

Who's Out: Marian Hossa, F (FA-DET), Ryan Malone, F (FA-TBA), Jarkko Ruutu, F (FA-OTT), Gary Roberts, F (FA-TBA), Georges Laraque, F (FA-MTL), Ty Conklin, G (FA-DET), Adam Hall, F (FA-TBA)

What's Changed: Everything is different but nothing has changed in Pittsburgh. Hossa, Malone, Roberts, and Ruutu are gone, but this was Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin's team when they were all in Pittsburgh and the team still belongs to them with those four gone. A lot has been made about the guys that have departed, especially Malone and Hossa, but Malone's breakout was greatly aided by Malkin and the Penguins earned the second seed in the playoffs last year almost entirely without Hossa's help. At this point, there's no use in talking about the guys that are gone because they're gone.