Penguins Nip Hurricanes 2-1 in Shootout

It wasn’t a pretty win. Especially by recent standards. Indeed, if the Penguins perhaps deserved a better fate during Wednesday’s 3-0 home-ice loss to the Rangers, they were downright lucky to escape from Raleigh last night with a point, let alone two.

Contrary to their preferred style of play under Mike Sullivan, the Pens spent a significant portion of the 2-1 shootout victory refuting the notion that it’s better to give than receive. Lacking their recent hop, the black and gold struggled to apply consistent pressure to Carolina goalie Cam Ward, who turned aside 25 shots through 65 minutes of play.

“They had a little bit more jump than we did,” confessed Marc-Andre Fleury in what amounted to the understatement of the century.

There were few bright spots. Normally possession drivers, the bottom-six forwards took their lumps (a ghastly minus-56 Corsi according to the Tribune-Review’s Jonathan Bombulie). The pronounced lack of sizzle applied to defensive-zone coverage as well. The Pens surrendered the slot to the home-standing Hurricanes with stunning ease, leading to a slew of high-quality scoring chances.

“We were kind of watching and we made some mistakes that gave them momentum,” said Pens captain Sidney Crosby, who was held off the scoresheet for a second-straight game. “We gave them some really good zone time.”

Fortunately, Fleury was razor sharp. Emerging from a post All-Star Game funk, “Flower” turned aside 29 shots with a brilliant effort that reinforced his status as one of the Pens’ elite.

He was especially strong during the opening 20 minutes, when the ‘Canes tilted the PNC Arena ice to the tune of a 13-8 advantage in shots on goal. In particular, Fleury’s larcenous stops on Ondrej Nestrasil and Kris Versteeg kept the game from slipping away.

Number 29 got a little help from his friends, too. Breathing fire from the opening draw, Phil Kessel picked a perfect time to up his game. Leading by example, the normally reserved winger fired off a game-high seven shots. At 15:43 of the second period he took a short pass from ex-Cane Matt Cullen to the left of the Carolina cage and snapped the puck past Ward on the short side to stake the Pens to a 1-0 lead.

“We’re obviously a better team when [Kessel] scores,” Sullivan noted. “He shoots the puck differently than most guys. It comes off his stick in a way that is different. He’s a dangerous guy when he gets inside those dots.”

Kessel’s tally stood as the difference until 14:42 of the third period, when Nestrasil cruised unimpeded through the right circle and beat Fleury with a bullet to the glove side. Flower stiffened in overtime, stopping Elias Lindholm in the slot, before denying the ‘Canes in the shootout. Kris Letang flipped the puck past Ward with his patented forehand-to-backhand move to secure the extra point for the Pens.

Daley Okay

Defenseman Trevor Daley returned to the lineup last night. Showing no ill effects from the back injury that forced him to exit the Rangers game, the mobile rearguard logged 21:18 of ice time.

Evgeni Malkin missed his fifth game in a row. The big center continues to rehab what’s described as a nagging lower-body injury. The Pens are 3-2 in “Geno’s” absence.

Elsewhere on the injury front, forward Eric Fehr missed his fifth game in a row due to a lower-body injury. Forwards Beau Bennett (upper-body) and Nick Bonino (hand) remain on injured reserve. No time table has been set for their return.

Defenseman David Warsofsky (concussion) has resumed skating with the team.