*Photo from PensBurgh*
Dial up the flair in this game, it's a Metropolitan Division rivalry. Derek Stepan had a goal and an assist, Jordan Staal scored the winning goal, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 3-2 victory on Sunday night in Raleigh.
Staal, Stepan, and Brady Skjei each had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, with only two other players registering a point. They helped the Hurricanes run their current winning streak to 5 games, are now 9-0-1 in their last 10 games, and they have a current 11 game point streak.
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour said that "We kind of survived the first 10 minutes and then it kind of settled down. We actually put together a decent period. The second period was weird, but I thought the third period was really solid. I was proud of the group, they were tired for sure. Obviously it's a lot of games and we're missing a lot of pieces, but we're getting a lot of contributions now."
After a scoreless first period, Stepan started the scoring for the Hurricanes, giving them a 1-0 lead with his second goal of the season, coming 3:25 into the period. At the 12:20 mark of the second, Rickard Rakell scored a power play goal for the Penguins, tying the game 1-1 with Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang assisting.
To start the 3rd period, Brock McGinn gave the Penguins the lead on his 9th goal of the season, with Kasperi Kapanen getting the lone assist. 8:17 into the period was when Skjei tied the game, making it 2-2 with his 6th goal of the season. Staal scored the game winner at the 13:33 mark of the 3rd to give the Hurricanes the eventual 3-2 win.
Staal said after the game that "It was a tight game. There wasn't a ton of mistakes or room out there. I thought we started to build a game. It was an average start, Stepan got us going and I thought in the third period we took control of the puck. We started to play our style, play in their end and created some offensive chances. When you do that you give yourself a pretty good chance to win."
Drawing the start for the Hurricanes was Pyotr Kochetkov, who stayed hot in his latest NHL stint. Kochetkov stopped 23 of the 25 shots from the Penguins, posting a .920 save percentage. His record bumps up to 9-1-4 on the season.
The Penguins started backup goalie Casey DeSmith across Kochetkov. DeSmith took the loss, dropping his record to 4-6-1. DeSmith made 26 saves on the 29 shots the Hurricanes had on goal, recording a .897 save percentage in the loss.
Rakell said of taking the loss that "That was a tough battle for the whole game. We definitely had the chances to come out on top in this game, but we knew that it was going to take good defensive play to get the two points. Unfortunately, we didn't do that well enough. But we know that we play them soon again, so we can't get too down on this one. Just try to find a way to get to two points next time we play them."
Both teams resume play with Tuesday night home tilts. Kochetkov is expected to start for the Hurricanes as they face the New Jersey Devils. The Penguins play host to the New York Rangers, with Tristan Jarry lined up to start.
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