Mark Madden: Hurricanes' forecheck, shooting make for tough matchup for Penguins

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Refreshing sports notes nipping at your nose…

• Carolina beat the Penguins for the second time in five days Thursday. The Hurricanes would be a hard playoff matchup for the Penguins. Their man-to-man method of forechecking frustrates, and their style of putting pucks on net from anywhere makes the Penguins play in chaos and traffic. Every second is a battle.

• Ex-Penguins center Jordan Staal provides a hard individual matchup. At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, Staal doesn’t need to play dirty. His size, positioning, grit, high hockey IQ and familiarity factor make him a big pain for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Staal, 34, still contributes offensively: 10 goals, and he tied things up late on Thursday.

• He didn’t play Thursday, but rookie goalie Pyotr Kochetkov is a godsend to Carolina: .928 save percentage, 1.94 goals-against average. If a former weakness transitions into a strength for the ‘Canes, they’re the favorites to win the Eastern Conference.

• Tristan Jarry has good stats: .920 save percentage, 2.67 goals-against average. He’s made great saves. His pad work and rebound control are sublime. But he got caught going the wrong way on Staal’s third-period wraparound, giving cause to remember that Jarry can come up bad at big moments. He still has much to prove.

• Malkin foolishly chasing behind the net just before Carolina’s overtime winner is a reminder that Crosby should start every OT. Crosby doesn’t make mistakes like that. Malkin’s pursuit gave Carolina an easy three-on-two. Malkin talked after the game about “lessons learned,” but that’s nonsense. He’s 36 and that’s Overtime 101.

• The Penguins are 1-5 in games decided by three-on-three overtime. That’s inexplicable given the skill and skating they can utilize. Even crazier is Jarry’s save percentage of .428 during OT. He’s stopped just three of seven shots.

• The Penguins scored to take a 1-0 lead, then allowed a goal 15 seconds later and again 17 seconds after that. The Penguins are prone to scoring, then conceding right away, and to giving up goals in the first and last minutes of periods. That’s about mental resolve.

• On an optimistic note, the Penguins are playing as well as anybody right now, and we’ve lately been treated to a bunch of great games that have been fun to watch.

• The retiring of Franco Harris’ No. 32 Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium has gone from magical moment to funeral dirge. It can’t and shouldn’t be canceled, but won’t be anything but depressing given the circumstances. Between Harris’ passing, freezing temperatures and the game’s meaningless nature, it couldn’t be worse.

• The Steelers have no agenda besides winning. Coach Mike Tomlin won’t use backup players by way of evaluation. Ergo, the Steelers’ remaining games have little value beyond further developing rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett.

• Marcus Allen remains a Steeler despite an egregiously stupid unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that gifted Carolina a first down and a field goal this past Sunday. Allen hasn’t played a defensive snap all season and is part of a special-teams crew that experiences more than its share of shoddy moments. But he’s a Tomlin favorite. Tomlin likes jerks.

• It might be time to wonder if the NFL should mandate that every new stadium be built with a roof. Those present at Acrisure on Saturday will wish they were indoors. The romance of football played outdoors in bad weather is overrated. All it does is make for bad football. Those who reminisce fondly about Green Bay’s “Ice Bowl” win in 1967’s NFL Championship Game (or any game similar) probably weren’t there.

• Here’s betting Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen wishes the Bills had an indoor stadium. If Buffalo gets home-field “advantage” in the AFC playoffs, snow and cold on the day would negate a lot of the good things Allen and the Bills offense do.

• The New York Mets gave infielder Carlos Correa a contract worth $315 million. The Pirates have spent $207 million in free agency since 2010.

• Pitt is in next Friday’s Sun Bowl, which is played in El Paso, Texas. El Paso is currently dealing with a large influx of migrants crossing the border. It’s a real-life transfer portal. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi should recruit them. Most would probably go back.