The Pittsburgh Penguins have lost 23 games in regulation this season. Thursday night’s 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes might have been the most embarrassing of the bunch.
The Hurricanes came into the contest having lost nine out of their last 11 games and are closer to the bottom of the table than a playoff spot.
That didn’t seem to stop them from thrashing a listless Penguins club. The Penguins started out on the right foot, outshooting the Canes 14-7 in the opening frame and taking a 1-0 lead when Brandon Sutter beat his former team after Sidney Crosby forced a turnover in the Carolina zone.
Crosby’s 51st assist of the season brought him back into a tie for the NHL scoring lead. Ben Lovejoy earned the second assist.
The Penguins lead was short-lived as 1:09 later, Jordan Staal intercepted a Rob Scuderi pass and found his brother Eric, who beat Marc-Andre Fleury to even the score at 1-1.
At 6:15 of the first period, the Penguins got the game’s first power play when Brad Malone took an interference minor, but the Hurricanes were able to kill off the minor and Victor Rask found Malone, who fed Ryan Murphy, who had slipped behind the Penguins defense and scored his third goal of the season.
The Penguins did have several solid scoring chances in the first frame, but Carolina goaltender Cam Ward was up to the task. He finished the game with 26 saves.
In the second period, it was all Hurricanes. Jay McClement scored his seventh goal of the season on a one-timer from Malone at 11:38 of the middle frame. 3:18 later, Alexander Semin was wide open at the end of an odd-man rush to give the Canes a commanding 4-1 lead.
The third period was more of the same, with Andrej Nestrasil scoring a power-play goal at 13:14. Ian Cole did get one back for the Penguins at 15:55 of the final period. It was Cole’s first goal with the Penguins.
The New York Islanders also lost, 3-2 to the Los Angeles Kings, so the Penguins remain two points back of the Isles with a game in hand for potential home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
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