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Third-period outburst lifts Penguins past Hurricanes

Oct 24, 2008 - 4:00 AM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Carolina Hurricanes shut down the Pittsburgh Penguins' high-powered offense for 48 minutes Thursday, but a four-minute span did in the visitors.

Captain Sidney Crosby and Ruslan Fedotenko scored 32 seconds apart as the Penguins tallied four times in the third period en route to a 4-1 triumph over the Hurricanes.

Maxime Talbot also tallied and Evgeni Malkin added an empty-net goal with 51 seconds remaining as Pittsburgh posted its third straight win and fourth in five games.

Crosby stated the obvious after the game.

"The third period was our best period," he said. "I think we played the whole third period like we finished the second. We had some really good chances and buried them."

"We dominated that game," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien added. "The first half, it was tight checking from both sides. I really like the way we played tonight. That's the way I wanted our team to play."

Brandon Sutter notched his first career goal and Michael Leighton made 31 saves for Carolina, which fell to 1-2-1 in its last four.

The 11th overall pick of the 2007 draft, Sutter opened the scoring with 6:53 remaining in the first period, collecting the puck off a turnover by defenseman Brooks Orpik at the blue line and backhanding a shot past goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The son of New Jersey Devils coach Brent Sutter, Brandon is the ninth member of the family drafted by an NHL team.

"It's nice to get the first one, for sure," Sutter said. "I had a few chances the last couple games, so it's nice to get the first one out of the way."

"It was nice to see that he got the first goal. He will get many more," Carolina defenseman Joni Pitkanen said.

Sutter's tally was the lone shot the Hurricanes were able to slip past Fleury, who finished with 24 saves.

"At times, Marc-Andre was not busy like usual, but he made some key saves," Therrien said. "When we were trailing by one goal, he made the difference. That gave us a chance to stay in that game, and to win the game. I'm really pleased by our performance."

Leighton stopped the Penguins' first 26 shots, making it appear as if Sutter's first-period goal might hold up. Then defenseman Niclas Wallin was whistled for hooking 7:52 into the third period.

Crosby leveled the contest just 23 seconds later, deflecting Malkin's slap shot past Leighton for his second goal of the season.

"(Crosby and Malkin) are the ones that can do the most damage," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said. "When you serve things up to them, that's really going to make anyone look good, and we served up too much."

The Penguins doubled the advantage shortly thereafter as Jordan Staal skated into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 and patiently waited for Leighton to commit before slipping the puck to Fedotenko. The Russian calmly blasted the puck past the out-of-position goaltender for his first tally as member of the Penguins.

"You try not to think (about it), but it's nice to get the monkey off my back, I'm not going to lie," Fedotenko said.

Talbot gave Pittsburgh a three-goal bulge just over three minutes later, when he skated in on Leighton and backhanded a shot between the netminder's pads.