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Hurricanes send Penguins to fourth straight defeat

Feb 26, 2011 - 5:39 AM Raleigh, NC (Sports Network) - Erik Cole scored one goal and set up another, and the Carolina Hurricanes posted a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the RBC Center.

Cam Ward made 33 saves for the Hurricanes, who improved to 4-5-3 this month. Carolina is eighth in the Eastern Conference with 67 points, three more than ninth-place Buffalo.

Pascal Dupuis supplied the lone goal for Pittsburgh, which suffered its fourth straight loss despite the acquisition of veteran forward Alex Kovalev from Ottawa on Thursday. Kovalev began his second stint as a Penguin after spending parts of five seasons (1998-2003) with the organization earlier in his career.

Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 11 shots. Brent Johnson stopped nine shots in relief.

Jay Harrison and Joe Corvo put Carolina ahead 2-0 with goals in the first period. Cole carried the puck along the right-wing boards and dished to a trailing Harrison, who beat Fleury on the glove side with a wrister from the high slot 1:44 into the contest.

The Hurricanes doubled their advantage on a power play as Corvo one-timed a Joni Pitkanen pass at 16:43.

After Pittsburgh failed to capitalize on consecutive power plays, Cole drove the net and tapped in a feed from captain Eric Staal, extending Carolina's lead to 3-0 with 9:01 to play in the second period. New addition Derek Joslin started the play by keeping the puck in the zone.

Dupuis then banged home a rebound to put the Penguins on the board with 4:28 remaining in the frame, but they wouldn't score again.

"It was a slow start, we took too many penalties. We gave them opportunities to put the game away, which they did, and it's tough to come back," said Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma.

Jussi Jokinen buried a Brandon Sutter pass on a odd-man rush to restore Carolina's three-goal cushion with 5:07 left in the third period.

"Going into [the third] period, we wanted to take the game to them, continue to play our game and get on the forecheck," Harrison said. "The best way to shut them down is to cycle that puck down low in their end."

Game Notes

Cole played in his 600th NHL game...Pitkanen collected his 200th career assist...Staal left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return...The Penguins have still won three of the four meetings against Carolina this season...Pittsburgh opened a five-game road trip.