Posted by Scott Burnside
PITTSBURGH -- A communications blackout has now been imposed on the battling Staal brothers.
For the second year in a row, Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal will be facing off against one of his brothers in the playoffs. Last season, it was defenseman Marc, a member of the New York Rangers. Now, he will face off against Eric, the only Staal brother with a Stanley Cup ring to his name after winning it all with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.
"I talked to him a couple of days ago," Jordan said Sunday. "Kind of said, you know, have fun, and that was about it. It's probably the last I'm going to talk to him until the end of the series and, you know, I think we both agreed that was the right way to do it."
Competitive? Ha.
We recall meeting with the three Staal brothers at an NHL media event in New York before the start of the 2008-09 regular season. Jordan and Eric were still jawing at each other over a summer of golf and who was ahead after the final round of the season.
"It's been like that for a while now," Jordan said of the brothers' desire to win and, preferably, win against each other. "We're all really competitive in any sport or anything we're playing, board games or volleyball or hockey, it doesn't really matter. We're all really competitive. It makes it that much more fun."
Ask both Jordan and Eric who is ahead in head-to-head faceoffs and both say virtually the same thing: it's close, but each believes they hold the edge.
Talk about conflicting emotions, though. Flesh and blood versus a trip to the Stanley Cup finals.
"I have thought about it, but I don't think I'll realize it until probably Game 1 starts and you move into the series a little bit more," Eric said after the Hurricanes arrived in Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon. "This is a huge time of the year. This is one team moves onto the Stanley Cup finals. Probably see a lot of each other, not only on the ice, but against each other. I'm going to have to have my edge and my best competitiveness to get the job done in the end."
As for not speaking, Eric is in agreement the two should keep to themselves.
"Once you get into a series and you get into the playoffs, you kind of get your own focus and your own kind of bubble that you feel comfortable in," Eric said. "We talked after his win against Washington and our win against Boston, and now you get focused on what you need to do to help your team to win. Hopefully for me, it's enough to push us to the finals.
"I know when I watched Marc and Jordan, I just wanted a competitive series and both of them to play well, and they did. I just hope I'm the one playing better than he is and we move on."
Someone noted one of the more famous brother confrontations involved Wayne and Keith Primeau, who at one point actually dropped the gloves with each other.
"I'm sure we both don't want to lose, and again, we're both really competitive, so I'm sure the fire could get heated up a little bit," Jordan said. "That's part of hockey, but I'm sure we'll both still be brothers afterwards."
One area Eric concedes to his younger brother is in the playoff beard growth department. He told reporters in Carolina that Jordan reached puberty at age 12, so he has an edge there.
"That's right," Jordan said. "I definitely look a lot better with it, too."
As for parents Henry and Linda, they'll be watching this one from the comfort of the family's home on their sod farm outside Thunder Bay, Ontario.
"Well, it's obviously not a nightmare when both their sons are playing this far and obviously the farthest they can go until they meet each other, so they're obviously excited about that," Jordan said. "I don't think they would really change anything."
Earlier in the playoffs, the Staal parents were watching hockey on two televisions rigged up in their basement as all three Staal brothers were in action in the first round.
"Now they can turn off the little TV," Jordan said.
Two brothers, one series and a trip to the Stanley Cup finals in the offing. Sounds like fun.
Just don't expect the two of them to do much talking about it, at least to each other, along the way.
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
