The most telling aspect of Carolina coach Paul Maurice's comments about his two injured players yesterday was the relief in his voice.

"It could have been worse, I guess," Maurice said of wingers Erik Cole and Tuomo Ruutu, who were hurt in a 3-2 Game 1 loss in the Eastern Conference final against the Penguins.

Neither practiced. They are considered day to day, with a determination about their availability for Game 2 tonight at Mellon Arena coming perhaps at the last minute.

"We'll make an assessment [this] morning," Maurice said of the morning skate. "They may skate; they may not. We'll let our trainer make that decision for them.

"Then, they'll be both game-time decisions."

Ruutu has an apparent leg or foot injury from a first-period hit by Penguins defenseman Mark Eaton. Cole has a right knee problem after a third-period collision with Penguins winger Matt Cooke.

Cole and Ruutu lead the Hurricanes in hits.

"Two pretty important pieces to our team," center Eric Staal said. "If [they can't play], we're going to have guys step up and jump into those spots and be ready to play. It's going to take everybody, but we can get it done."

Judging from the first game, Maurice said, this series has a different edge to it from Carolina's earlier matchups with New Jersey and Boston.

"It wasn't the same kind of physicality as the last two series," he said.

"That last series especially, it was an agreed-upon mugging up and down the ice. The puck carrier was going to get hit as hard as they could. It wasn't even the physicality with the puck. Guys driving the net got locked on early and you had to fight, fight, fight."

Game 1 against the Penguins, he said, was called differently, leading to three interference penalties against the Hurricanes.

"It was, you can hit, but you're not allowed to ... like we say in NASCAR country, there's no rubbing allowed," Maurice said.

"We just have to make the adjustment. That's just the way it goes. Every series has its own life and its own temperature. We have to learn that we have to be careful with any contact or, if you're going to drive the net, you're not allowed to bump -- which is fine, as long as it goes both ways."

Eric Staal was regularly matched against his younger brother, Jordan Staal, the Penguins' third-line center, in Game 1, starting with the opening faceoff.

"He did get the better of me in the first one in the game, and the crowd liked that," Eric Staal said.

"But the rest of the game, you know, I did have the advantage on him. But I've got to make sure that keeps getting better as the series goes on. It gets more and more important as the games get bigger."

Jordan Staal won 6 of 14 faceoffs. Eric Staal won 14 of 22 and estimated they went against each other 15 to 17 times, with him winning "the majority of them."

Jordan Staal got kicked out of the draw a few times.

"Well, he's cheating. That's why," Eric Staal said.

"He's got no choice. He's got his stick in the air and is turning his body. The linesmen know how important faceoffs are in the playoffs, and they're going to call it the right way. They did a good job of that in Game 1."