Coming off of a tough loss, the Carolina Hurricanes bounced back in a big way and took down the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
CAR PPG (4:57) – Jordan Staal (7), assisted by Justin Faulk (15), Victor Rask (14)
The Carolina Hurricanes struck early on the man advantage. Staal drove to the net, and he flipped the puck under the arm of rookie goalie Matthew Murray, giving the Canes a 1-0 lead.
CAR PPG (14:56) – John-Michael Liles (1), assisted by Brett Pesce (7)
On their 3rd powerplay of the period, the Carolina Hurricanes were able to increase their lead. Pesce set up Liles at the point, and ripped a one-timer top shelf past Murray.
2nd Period
PIT PPG (1:59) – Evgeni Malkin (15), assisted by Trevor Daley (7), Sidney Crosby (15)
The Penguins were able to bounce back into this game with an early powerplay goal in the 2nd period. That goal made him tied for 8th in the league in goal scoring.
3rd Period
No Goals
Three Stars
1st Star: John-Michael Liles (CAR) – 1 goal, 3 shots, 4 hits, 22:39 TOI
2nd Star: Cam Ward (CAR) – 38 shots faced, 37 saves, .973 save percentage, win
3rd Star: Matthew Murray (PIT) – 26 shots faced, 24 saves, .923 save percentage
Recap
In a game dominated by some great scoring chances and even bigger saves by the goalies, the Carolina Hurricanes came out on top over the Pittsburgh Penguins by a final score of 2-1 on the road.
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Coming off of a 16 save performance on Friday night, in which he allowed just 1 goal to the Florida Panthers, Cam Ward got the nod just one night later against a struggling Penguins team, and it was the right call from the Hurricanes.
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Ward stopped 37 of the 38 shots he faced at Console Energy Center on Saturday, including a heavy workload late in the 3rd period as the Penguins tried to net the tying goal with an empty net.
The young defenseman that Carolina bolstered tonight, and has all season, stood out and shut down the big offensive weapons of the Penguins for most of the night.
In particular, Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin both played a spectacular two-way game. Slavin logged a career-high 18:20 of ice time alongside veteran Ron Hainsey. Those two showed an instant chemistry and became a very difficult pairing to play against.
Pesce had an assist and 3 big blocked shots on Saturday evening in 15:59 of ice time. His assist came on Liles’ powerplay goal. He played a very efficient puck moving game against the Pens, especially on the man advantage.
The powerplay as a whole shined for the Hurricanes in route to their 2-1 win. They went 2/4 with the extra man, generating 7 shots on goalie Matthew Murray, who was making his NHL debut on Saturday.
Once again, the Carolina Hurricanes saw significant production from the Jordan Staal line, a unit flanked by Joakim Nordstrom and Andrej Nestrasil. They put 10 shots on net, good for 39% of Carolina’s shots. They held the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel in check at even strength while also combining for 3 hits and 2 blocked shots.
A big team effort from the Canes and a great performance from Cam Ward led to a big Saturday night win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
Next: Young Defense is a Big Reason for Optimism for the Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes will now return home to take on the Washington Capitals on Monday. It will be the club’s last game before the Christmas break.