So, Did You Know Jordan and Eric Staal Are Brothers?

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.

Brooks Orpik vs. Erik Cole: When the Carolina Hurricanes won their Stanley Cup during the 2005-06 season, they played much of the postseason without the services of forward Erik Cole because he was on the receiving end of this Brooks Orpik hit.



Cole suffered a broken vertebrae and, because he's a hockey player, somehow managed to return for the final two games of the Stanley Cup. Two years later on February 2, 2008, the two settled it like gladiators on the ice with a fight five minutes into the game. Well, it was a fight in the sense that both players dropped their gloves. No actual punches were thrown.

Over/Under on number of references in the series: 25

Who Is Bill Cowher Cheering For? And does anybody care? Puck Daddy touched on this last week, but the Penguins-Hurricanes meeting will bring former Steelers coach Bill Cowher into the spotlight because, well, the NFL always finds a way to take over the sporting world. Cowher, born in Pittsburgh and head coach of the Steelers for 16 years, including two trips to the Super Bowl (winning one), is also a resident of North Carolina and he's made his presence felt at Hurricanes games this season. I'm a Steelers season ticket holder, and I love what Cowher did for the team for a decade-and-a-half, but at his rooting interest in this series means nothing to me. Plus, there's a new sheriff in town.

Over/Under on number of references in the series: 10

Which Roger Wood Song Is Better? This is probably an impossible question to answer, seeing as how they're the exact same song, while both are the product of singer/songwriter Roger Wood. We examined the history behind Let's Go Pens and Let's Go Canes at the start of the playoffs and, just as a reminder, here they are once again.

Let's Go Pens

Let's Go Canes

We're still not sure which song came first.

Over/under on number of references in the series: 1

Ron Francis And Tom Barrasso Won Stanley Cups With The Penguins: On March 5, 1991, Craig Patrick pulled off one of the great trade deadline day deals when he acquired Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings from the Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes) in exchange for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker. Francis went on to play eight seasons with the Penguins, while being one of the cornerstones for the teams back-to-back Stanley Cup wins in 1991 and 1992. It also marked the beginning of the end of the Whalers run in Hartford. The starting goaltender on those Penguins teams? Tom Barrasso. Relevance to this series? Both players are now assistant coaches with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Over/under on number of references in the series: 30