Penguins 4, Hurricanes 2
PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby scored twice for his 30th and 31st of the season, Phil Kessel added a goal and an assist and goaltender Matthew Murray withstood giving up two early goals as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Thursday.
Crosby extended his scoring streak to 10 games -- the first time in his career he's had two such streaks in a season -- and the Penguins came back from a 2-0 deficit barely five minutes into the game to win their fourth in a row.
They haven't lost in three games since star center Evgeni Malkin went down for at least the rest of the regular season with an injury Friday -- and Crosby has three goals and two assists in those three. He has six goals and 10 assists during his 10-game streak.
Carl Hagelin assisted on three goals, including Nick Bonino's fifth of the season that made it 4-2 and sealed it with 6:40 remaining. Bonino, replacing Malkin as the second-line center, skated to the far post and put it Kessel's perfectly placed pass from along the goal line.
Murray, starting at Consol Energy Center for the first time since Dec. 30, made 31 saves and shut out Carolina over the final 54:50 after allowing the game's first two goals to Phillip Di Guiseppe and Riley Nash.
Di Guiseppe turned a Chris Kunitz turnover into a rather soft goal 42 seconds into the game.
Murray didn't react quickly enough after Kunitz turned the puck over, and Di Guiseppe beat him with a wrist shot from the left circle for his seventh goal of the season.
Nash made it 2-0 less than five minutes later. Chris Terry couldn't convert on a 3-on-1 break, but the Hurricanes kept the puck alive in the Pittsburgh end and Nash scored from in front after being left virtually undefended.
But Murray, who beat New Jersey 6-1 on March 6 in his last previous start, tightened up after that as the Penguins finally found an offense that will miss Malkin.
Crosby used an inside-out move while skating across the crease to beat Carolina goalie Eddie Lack at 13:53. Crosby has scored at least 30 goals seven times in a career that began in 2005.
Kessel tied it midway through the second, ending a six-game streak without a goal with his 21st. Defenseman Ian Cole whiffed on a shot in front, but the puck went directly to Hagelin, and he promptly fed it to Kessel for an undefended shot along the edge of the crease.
Crosby, the only NHL player this season with two scoring streaks of 10 games or longer, gave the Penguins the lead with 2:01 left in the period by going to his knee to perfectly redirect Cole's pass to the slot past Lack -- finishing off a tic-tac-toe sequence that began with Hagelin's pass.
Crosby has six two-goal games this season and another with a hat trick.
NOTES: Penguins LW Scott Wilson (lower body) needs surgery and is out indefinitely, according to coach Mike Sullivan. Wilson injured what appeared to be an ankle or foot last Friday in Columbus. ... The Penguins no doubt were glad longtime antagonist C Eric Staal no longer is with Carolina after being traded to the New York Rangers last month. Staal has 19 goals and 27 assists in 48 games against Pittsburgh. ... Carolina played the fourth game of a five-game road trip. The Penguins face a difficult weekend at Philadelphia on Saturday and at home against the Washington Capitals on Sunday. Both teams are ahead of them in the standings. ... Penguins D Ben Lovejoy (13 games) and F Beau Bennett (23 games) both appear close to returning from upper-body injuries. ... Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury's eight 30-win seasons are second among active goalies to Henrik Lundqvist's 10 for the Rangers. ... Carolina scratched D Justin Faulk and C Andrej Nestrasil. Pittsburgh held out D Derrick Pouliot, G Jeff Zatkoff, Lovejoy, Wilson and injured C Evgeni Malkin.