RALEIGH — The Penguins hadn’t won at Lenovo Center since December 2018, a string of eight straight losses, but found themselves on the power play after a furious late-game rally forced overtime against the Eastern Conference-leading Hurricanes.
And it wasn’t looking good for Carolina keeping its streak. Not only was the team on the penalty kill, but it was Jaccob Slavin — he of 0.127 penalty minutes per game in his career — in the box watching the 4-on-3.
But the Hurricanes held Pittsburgh without a shot on goal for the full two minutes, and shootout goals by Jackson Blake and Andrei Svechnikov and a pair of stops by Frederik Andersen gave Carolina a 5-4 win Tuesday in Raleigh.
“He’s not afraid. … He doesn’t feel pressure,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Blake, who had the clinching shootout goal. “That doesn’t mean you’re going to score, but I know he’s going to try something. And obviously that was a huge goal. (Svechnikov’s) was nice too. So, yeah, those guys will be going again.”
The game probably should have never gotten to overtime, but the Penguins — playing without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in Raleigh for the first time in more than 15 years — scored twice with goalie Stuart Skinner (39 saves) on the bench for an extra attacker.
“At the end, give them credit,” Brind’Amour said. “They put a couple into the net, and they got some bounces. So that’s really what happened there.”
That late rally followed one by Carolina early in the period.
Trailing 2-1 at the start of the third, the Hurricanes needed fewer than four minutes to turn a deficit into a lead. Mark Jankowski and Seth Jarvis scored 59 seconds apart as Carolina shook off a penalty-filled second period to regain control.
“When we simplify our game,” Brind’Amour said, “that’s what happens.”
The Hurricanes then seemingly delivered the dagger when defenseman Alexander Nikishin scored his ninth goal of the season on a 5-on-3 at just past the midway point of the third period to push Carolina’s lead to two.
He passed Justin Faulk for the most goals by a rookie defenseman in franchise history.
“It feels good … just making the history, it’s special,” Nikishin said via Svechnikov’s translation, “and (I) will never forget that.”
Brind’Amour praised Nikishin’s progress, though he said the young Russian has never lacked confidence offensively.
“We know he’s got a big shot,” the coach said. “Sometimes he, even tonight after he got the one, he didn’t want it; he was kind of hesitant. He needs to just keep shooting that thing. So we’ll keep on that with him.”
But the Penguins didn’t go quietly. With Skinner off for an extra attacker, a shot hit Noel Acciari and elevated over Andersen (24 saves) to cut the lead to 4-3 with 2:08 remaining.
Then Bryan Rust scored his second of the night with 36 seconds left in regulation when a blocked shot by Carolina defenseman K’Andre Miller — one of his season-high four — kicked right to the Pittsburgh winger for his 23rd goal of the year.
“A little bit sloppy at the end of the game,” Nikishin said.
The Penguins got the two late goals in regulation, but Carolina was the team that scored early.
After registering five of the first six shots in the first seven-plus minutes of the game, the Hurricanes got on the board when Logan Stankoven got the puck during a scramble in the slot and fired it past Skinner for his 12th goal of the season at 7:46 for a 1-0 Carolina lead.
The Penguins knotted the game late in the period after the Hurricanes suffered a scare.
After Nikolaj Ehlers went to the locker room following a knee-on-knee hit from Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson — Ehlers returned to start the second — Pittsburgh scored on the ensuing shift.
Former Hurricanes draft pick Ville Koivunen — two years and three days after he was part of the trade that sent Jake Guentzel to Carolina — set up Anthony Mantha in the slot, and rejuvenated winger snapped in his 24th goal of the year with 56 seconds left in the opening frame to even things up.
Carolina was called for three straight penalties in the second period, and Pittsburgh converted on the final one.
After Carolina defenseman Slavin’s stick broke, forward Jordan Martinook handed him his. Unfortunately, that wound up opening a lane for Egor Chinakhov, who fired a seam pass through the Hurricanes’ defenses. Rust was the recipient and roofed a shot to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead shortly after the midway point of regulation.
Three straight Hurricanes goals followed by the pair of extra-attacker goals by Pittsburgh set up overtime, and Blake, Svechnikov and Andersen secured the second point for Carolina.
“They get two late ones, which, it’s the game of hockey; it happens, right?” Blake said. “So just everyone, nothing was wrong there, and we just finished the job in the shootout.”
Notes: Shayne Gostisbehere did not play due to a lower-body injury. Nicolas Deslauriers and Jesperi Kotkaniemi were healthy scratches for Carolina. … Jordan Staal won 15 of 23 faceoffs, including 8 of 10 in the third period and overtime. … Nikishin had the third multipoint game of his career and goals in consecutive games for the first time. … Andersen has lost in regulation once in his last nine starts (5-1-3).
