When he was hired on June 1, new president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas was short on specifics with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He didn’t offer much regarding potential free agent signings or trades.
But he did state one distinct pursuit he had in mind.
The Metropolitan Division.
“The major focus is, number one, is inside of our division,” Dubas said. “That’s the way that I always look at things. Rather than try to stack ourselves up against all 31 other teams, let’s focus on our division. And let’s focus on trying to win our division.”
Those ambitions were impeded incrementally Saturday as the Penguins fell, 4-2, against the Carolina Hurricanes — winners of the Metropolitan Division each of the past two seasons — at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.
For the Penguins, the result dropped their 2023-24 Metropolitan Division record to 2-2-0 and extended a losing streak against the Hurricanes to five games (0-3-2).
The defeat also extracted a physical toll as Penguins forward Vinnie Hinostroza did not complete the game due to an undisclosed injury, according to the team’s X account. He did not record a shift beyond the 9:28 mark of the second period.
Penguins forward Sidney Crosby opened the scoring with his 11th goal of the season 10:40 into regulation and extended a scoring streak to 11 games.
From behind his own cage, Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov tried to rim a puck to the right wing wall but had those plans foiled by Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson, who beat Hurricanes forward Stefan Noesen to the intended destination. That allowed Penguins forward Jake Guentzel to claim possession above the right circle, where he chopped a forehand pass to the far side of the crease. After the puck glanced off the stick of Hurricanes defenseman Tony DeAngelo — stationed above the crease — Crosby stopped it with his right skate then shuffled a backhander past the right boot of scrambling goaltender Antti Raanta. Guentzel and Karlsson had assists.
A miscue by two of the visitors’ top players allowed the hosts to tie the game at 13:06 of the second period via forward Sebastian Aho’s fifth goal.
From above his own right circle, Crosby forced a centering pass to the near blue line which defenseman Kris Letang was unable to cleanly accept. Aho claimed possession and scooted into the Penguins’ zone on the left wing then left a drop pass for linemate Seth Jarvis. Inside the left circle, Jarvis offloaded the puck to the top of the faceoff dot for Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen, who then one-touched a forehand pass to below the right hashmarks where Aho found some open ice and ripped a one-timer by the right skate of goaltender Tristan Jarry on the near side. Teravainen and Jarvis tallied assists.
Defenseman Brent Burns’ fourth goal supplied the Hurricanes with their first lead of the contest 2:46 into the third period.
As a Hurricanes power-play opportunity expired, Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin took a pass in the high slot, backpedaled a bit toward the right point and dished a forehand pass to the left point, where Burns boomed a one-timer that smoked Jarry’s glove on the far side. Assists went to Slavin and forward Andrei Svechnikov.
Svechnikov appeared to score at 8:32 of the third frame, but the Penguins issued a successful coach’s challenge claiming the sequence to be offside, nullifying the goal.
That turn of events allowed Crosby to tie the game with a legal goal at 9:16 of the third.
Settling a bouncing rebound in the left corner of the offensive zone, Crosby slid a pass to the center point for Letang, who golfed a slapper toward the cage. Jarvis leaned down in the slot to block the shot and the rebound caromed to the left of the crease, where it struck off Crosby’s chest and fell to the ice, allowing Crosby to sweep a backhander behind a sprawling Raanta. Letang and forward Bryan Rust had assists. For Letang, the assist was his 700th career point.
Jarvis reclaimed the lead for his team with his sixth goal at 11:52 of the final period after a clumsy shift by Karlsson.
From behind his cage, Karlsson forced an ill-advised pass to forward Rickard Rakell on the right wing boards. Teravainen broke up the sequence and fed a pass to the right of the cage for Jarvis, who tapped a shot attempt wide and off the end boards. Karlsson claimed the rebound but was muscled off the puck in the left corner by Jarvis, allowing Aho to take possession and then deal a pass to Burns at the right point. Burns faked a shot then fed a forehand pass to the left point for Slavin, who chugged his way up the boards and slipped a pass to the top of the crease. Establishing superior position on Rakell, Jarvis tapped in an easy forehand shot by Jarry’s left skate. Slavin and Burns had assists.
Jarvis capped the scoring at the 19:22 mark with an empty net goal off assists from Aho and Teravainen.
“We didn’t have any lulls in (that game),” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour told the Associated Press in Raleigh. “We could have easily dropped our heads when we get a goal that’s called back.”
Jarry made 30 saves on 33 shots as his record tumbled to 6-7-0.
The Penguins were 0 for 2 on the power play.
“I thought we struggled on the entry,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan told the AP. “So, we didn’t have a whole lot of zone time. For me, that was the biggest thing. … So, it’s hard to score when you’re not in the offensive zone.”
Notes:
• Prior to the game, the team recalled forward Jansen Harkins from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League and placed defenseman P.O Joseph on injured reserve. The exact nature of Joseph’s malady is not publicly known. Per the NHL’s official game notes, Joseph has been listed as a healthy scratch for the previous five games.
• Harkins and Penguins forward Jeff Carter were healthy scratches.
• Penguins forward Noel Acciari appeared in his 400th career game.
• The Penguins’ last win against the Hurricanes was a 4-2 home victory on March 13, 2022. Crosby scored the winning goal in that contest on an empty net.
• The only team the Penguins have a longer active losing streak against is the Metropolitan Division rival New Jersey Devils (0-5-1).
Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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