The Pittsburgh Penguins reached the midpoint of their 2024-25 season with a narrow 4-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. Despite the defeat, they moved past Ottawa into the second Wild Card playoff spot.
“After the start we had, I think we dug deep and got ourselves into a position where every game’s meaningful,” said Kevin Hayes. “I think as of late, there’s a lot more better games than bad games.”
Hayes opened the scoring for Pittsburgh with his fifth goal of the season, marking his return after being a healthy scratch for nine games. Michael Bunting followed up shortly after to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead by the first intermission.
“I think we just played with the puck a little bit more. We held on to it and made them defend,” Erik Karlsson explained. “That drains them on energy and makes sure that they don’t have as much to play offense on their side.”
However, Carolina responded strongly in the second period with three unanswered goals, taking control of the match. “We became a little bit hesitant, and they took over,” noted Karlsson, who later equalized in the third period after assisting Bunting’s goal.
Despite efforts to regain momentum, including a power-play opportunity late in regulation against one of NHL’s top penalty kills, Pittsburgh could not capitalize. Their power play units failed to score in all three attempts during this match.
“In the third, I think we started off well,” said Karlsson. “We tied it up. And then again, we started giving them the puck a bit too much… Getting a point is better than none.”
Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made 26 saves out of 30 shots against his former team but expressed some disappointment: “I think you’d like another save or two there in the second period… it’s a tough one to swallow.”
Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan reflected on their performance: “We just got outcompeted… Every time we’d pinch on the walls, we’d lose that battle.” Regarding Nedeljkovic’s self-assessment, Sullivan remarked: “I don’t know; the goals they scored were good goals.”
Sullivan also commented on their power play struggles: “Execution, speed, tempo… I thought after [the first period], we were ordinary.”
