Ben Salama
Jay McClement and goalie Cam Ward stop a great attempted shot by a Penguin Centre Malkin. Ward had 23 saves and gave up two goals. The Carolina Hurricanes squeezed out a narrow victory in overtime 3-2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PNC Arena on January 12th, 2016.
The Carolina Hurricanes have picked up where they left off in December. After forward Jeff Skinner’s overtime power play goal gave them a 3-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PNC Arena Tuesday night, the team has compiled a 3-1-2 record to start January, winning three straight games and giving them points in five out of the six.
While the Canes would have liked to finish off the game in regulation after having a 2-0 lead in the second period, they grabbed a big win, moving to 19-18-7 on the season to hold a winning record for the first time since the end of the 2013-14 season and move within two points of a wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.
“We’ve scraped and clawed to get to .500,” team captain and forward Eric Staal said. “Now, you’ve got to [continue to] climb, and you’ve got to beat teams in front of you. It’s tough, with them getting a point, but nonetheless it’s two points for us. We’ve got to continue to build and get points wherever we can. Good effort by everybody tonight, big home win.”
After former Penguin and forward Jordan Staal drew a hooking penalty in his own zone in overtime, the Canes struck quickly on the ensuing power play. Forward Elias Lindholm took a pass down low from defenseman Justin Faulk, then zipped a cross crease feed to Skinner, which he buried past Penguins goalkeeper Marc-Andre Fleury to lift Carolina over Pittsburgh (20-16-7).
“[Faulk] did a good job up top creating space for us down low,” Skinner said. “[Lindholm] made a great play, a lot of patience; he made a nice pass backdoor. I just put it in there.”
This hot streak has the Hurricanes believing that the playoffs are within their grasp. Head coach Bill Peters stressed the importance of continuing their improved play as they try and continue to climb the standings.
“The standings are up; they know the standings,” Peters said. We’re in the hunt, for sure, we’re right in the thick of things. We’re playing better. That’s what we like, it’s a process. Every time the calendar clicks off and it’s a new month, I think we take a step and are going in the right direction.”
Goalkeeper Cam Ward played well for the Canes, stopping 23-of-25 Penguins shots for his third win in his last four.
“He’s been real good, his numbers have been real good for a long time,” Peters said.
The game got off to a slow start, as both teams struggled to get anything going offensively in the first period. Neither Ward nor Fleury were tested much early.
The Canes struck quickly in the second period courtesy of an Eric Staal goal. Lindholm, who had three assists on the night, won a puck battle with two Penguins defenders behind the net and got the puck to forward Kris Versteeg at the top of the crease. Versteeg fed the puck across the crease to Staal, and the captain made no mistake as he buried it from point blank range about four minutes into the period.
The Canes benefitted from a fortuitous bounce to take a 2-0 lead about halfway through the period as Versteeg fired a shot from the left faceoff circle that deflected off the stick of Sidney Crosby, came off the glass up high behind the Pittsburgh net and down behind Fleury.
Pittsburgh cut the lead in half shortly after the Versteeg goal as Crosby won a faceoff back to defenseman Olli Maatta, who passed back to defenseman Kris Letang at the point. Letang wound up and fired a bomb of a slap-shot past Ward. Each team had a couple more chances in the period, including breakaways by Jordan Staal for the Canes and Phil Kessel for the Penguins, but the Canes headed to the locker room up by a goal.
Pittsburgh wasted little time tying things up in the third, as forward Chris Kunitz buried Sidney Crosby’s feed from behind the net top shelf to make it a 2-2 game. The Canes played too loose defensively in the third period, but Ward was sharp when he needed to be as the game headed to overtime.
The overtime period was the usual 3-on-3 madness, with odd-man rushes and chances going both ways, but the Canes held Pittsburgh off until their power play was able to go to work and finish it off with Skinner’s goal.
The Canes will next head to St. Louis Thursday night to take on the Blues.