The Carolina Hurricanes have offered plenty of frustration to the Pittsburgh Penguins in recent years.
Employing a suffocating and aggressive man-on-man style of defense somewhat exclusive to their team, the Hurricanes have compiled an 11-3-1 record against the Penguins in the previous 15 games between the two outfits entering Friday.
Their latest entanglement followed a similar pattern as the Hurricanes claimed a 4-1 victory at PPG Paints Arena.
Unofficially limiting the hosts to 26 shots, the Hurricanes stymied a Penguins offensive attack that had erupted for a touchdown in a 6-5 overtime home win against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.
Penguins forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin — who entered the day leading the NHL in scoring with 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in five games — were each held without a shot.
“When you look at (the Hurricanes’) personnel group, they’ve always tended to have a defensive DNA,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said after a morning skate in Cranberry. “They’ve been very strong on their blue line. They’ve had forwards that are very good (defensively). … For the most part, they have tended to have a defensive DNA.
“The game that they play, they’re very good at and they’ve had a lot of success playing that way.”
Penguins forward Drew O’Connor found success by opening the scoring 12 minutes, 20 seconds into regulation with his third goal of the season.
After Penguins forward Jesse Puljujarvi won a puck battle against Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis on the boards in front of the home bench, linemate Lars Eller jumped in to claim possession and slipped a backhand pass surging up ice. Gaining the offensive blue line, O’Connor pushed play between Hurricanes defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker then fired a wrister from a deep angle in the left circle to the far side that eluded the glove of goaltender Frederik Andersen.
It took the Hurricanes only 64 seconds to tie the score via rookie forward Jackson Blake’s second goal.
Swooping in off the right-wing boards of the offensive zone to claim a rimmed puck, Hurricanes forward Eric Robinson navigated his way to the end boards and flicked a backhand pass to the lower edge of the right circle. Blake, the son of former New York Islanders forward and longtime Penguins nemesis Jason Blake, found a little open real estate in that area and fired an immediate wrister to the far side past rookie goaltender Joel Blomqvist’s blocker.
Hurricanes forward Martin Necas found his first goal during a power-play sequence at 6:52 of the second period.
Accepting a pass in the Penguins’ slot, Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis considered a wrister for a moment then offloaded a blind backhanded dish to the left dot. Necas took the puck on his backhand, adjusted to the forehand and lasered a wrister to the far side by Blomqvist’s glove.
Another power-play score by Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere put the visitors up 3-1 at 17:13 of the second. It was his second goal this season.
Gaining the offensive zone on the right wing, Necas slid a cross-ice pass to the far boards for Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov, who then slid the puck to the high slot, where Gostisbehere leaned on his left knee and golfed a one-timer. The puck glanced off the back of Penguins forward Noel Acciari then found an avenue over Blomqvist’s left shoulder.
Hurricanes forward Jack Roslovic delivered the coup de grace at 11:00 of the third period via his first goal.
Off a one-touch pass by Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Roslovic moved up the right wing into the offensive zone and ripped a wrister by Blomqvist’s glove on the near side. Kotkaniemi and defenseman Dmitry Orlov orchestrated assists.
Blomqvist stopped 35 of 39 shots as his record fell to 2-2-0.
