One of the more interesting match ups will be between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Pittsburgh Penguins with another full line up of NHL games scheduled for Saturday night.

The Pittsburgh Penguins trail the Philadelphia Flyers by just three points for first place in the Atlantic Division as Carolina currently sits three points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

For this matchup NHL betting Odds have not yet been posted.

As the Penguins deals with the loss of star center Sidney Crosby, who is still out with a concussion, recently they have been playing average hockey. The Penguins are just 2-3 and have only scored more than three goals in a game once, in the last five games that Crosby has missed. The team hopes to have him back in time for this weekend’s game as it is certainly no secret that the Penguins miss Crosby’s offense when he is not in the lineup.

Carolina seems to be coming into their own recently while having struggled at different points of the season. The Hurricanes may be peaking at the right time when they are scheduled to face one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference having won four of their last six games. Carolina has been able to stay within striking distance of the last few playoff spots this season unlike last year when the team was out of contention in the early part of the schedule, using a balanced offensive attack that has seen the Hurricanes average 2.9 goals per game and an 18.3% power play.

The Penguins should have little trouble beating the Hurricanes on their home ice, must Crosby return for Saturday’s game. Carolina has a chance to pull off the mild upset due to Pittsburgh’s recent lack of scoring if Crosby is still out of action though.