Jiri Tlusty Scores Twice as the Carolina Hurricanes Take Down the Pittsburgh Penguins

Scoring Summary

Carolina Goal: 15:47 of 1st period – Jiri Tlusty (9), assisted by Jay McClement (4)

Jiri Tlusty came into the Pens zone with speed and through the puck on net from the boards. The puck then bounced off Maatta in front and past Fleury. Dwyer had a good drive to the net to help make it happen.

Pittsburgh Goal: 16:30 of 1st period – Kris Letang (4), assisted by Sidney Crosby (23), Nick Spaling (5)

Letang put an easy rebound shot into the empty net past Cam Ward as he was being interfered with in front by Crosby and Lindholm. The refs may have missed the call, but the goal stood and made it 1-1.

Carolina Goal: 2:54 of 2nd period – Patrick Dwyer (2), assisted by Jiri Tlusty (3), Justin Faulk (11)

Faulk did a great job forcing a turnover at center ice, and Tlusty hit Dwyer with a beautiful spin-around pass. Dwyer then walked in and sniped one top shelf on Fleury to give Carolina a lead.

Pittsburgh Goal: 15:52 of 2nd period – Patric Hornqvist (11), assisted by Sidney Crosby (24), Chris Kunitz (11)

Hornqvist came in the Canes zone on the right wing and sniped one top-glove on Cam Ward. It was a goal that Ward will want back, but it tied the game at 2 in the second.

Carolina PP Goal: 3:10 of 3rd period – Nathan Gerbe (3), assisted by Elias Lindholm (5), Victor Rask (3)

Lindholm zipped a rocket of a pass across the Pens zone to Gerbe, and he ripped a shot off of the post and past Fleury to give the Canes a lead.

Carolina PP Goal: 19:47 of 3rd period – Jiri Tlusty (10), assisted by Eric Staal (8), Justin Faulk (12)

Jiri Tlusty finished off the Penguins with an empty net goal on the power play late in period three.

Three Stars

1st Star: Jiri Tlusty (CAR) – 2 goals, 1 assist, +2, 4 shots, 4 hits, 19:15 TOI

2nd Star: Nathan Gerbe (CAR) – 1 goal, 6 shots, 1 hit, 18:40 TOI

3rd Star: Cam Ward (CAR) – 20 saves on 22 shots, winning goalie

Recap

The Carolina Hurricanes went into Pennsylvania with hopes to break their 3-game losing streak. They accomplished that and took down the Penguins by a final score of 4-2.

Cam Ward said it best after the game. He said that the Hurricanes played one of their most complete games of the season. They did exactly that on Friday. They played 60 minutes without letting up.

In net, Ward saved 20 of 22 Penguin shots. He played very well, and he picked up his 7th win of November. He also made his save of the year early in period one on Blake Comeau with a diving stick stop.

The Carolina Hurricanes outworked the Pens on Friday. The effort was there for the Canes, and the team got great efforts from key players, including Alexander Semin.

Semin played his best game of the season against the Pens. He put forth the effort that the coaching staff expects from him, and he nearly put a few points on his stat sheet as well.

Victor Rask struggled against the Penguins. He saw a lot of time against Crosby’s line, which limited his offensive opportunities. He also won just 1 of his 11 faceoffs (8%).

Tlusty and Faulk both put up multi-point nights. Tlusty tallied 2 goals and had 1 assist, and Faulk had 2 helpers in route to Carolina’s win.

The Carolina Hurricanes improved to 7-12-3 with their win on Friday. Things got chippy near the end of the game, which is bound to make tomorrow night’s game between the same two teams in Raleigh even more interesting.

Sidney Crosby hit Riley Nash up high late in the third period and received a 10-minute misconduct penalty for it. The play will be reviewed by the league because of the misconduct penalty. Crosby also speared Lindholm earlier in the game, but did not get penalized, for whatever reason.