Pittsburgh Review

The Carolina Hurricanes continued their winning streak by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Thursday at Lenovo Center. This victory marked their eighth consecutive win, with Blake Lizotte scoring the sole goal for Pittsburgh. Since returning from a preseason concussion, this was Lizotte's second goal in four games.

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan commented on the team's performance, stating, “I thought we had a lot of guys that played really hard and didn't get rewarded for their efforts. I think there were a few guys that didn't live up to the expectation, and it's hard. We need everybody to bring it every night to give ourselves the best chance to win.”

Despite leading in shots with a 36-19 advantage, Pittsburgh struggled against Carolina's effective strategy. The Hurricanes capitalized on quality opportunities early on, scoring with their first shot just minutes into the game against Alex Nedeljkovic.

“It's very tough. You give up the first shot of the game, and it's never a good feeling,” said Nedeljkovic. He added that despite limiting Carolina to four shots in the first period, two ended up in the net.

Although Pittsburgh failed to capitalize on a power play opportunity late in the first period, they showed resilience during another power play early in the second period but could not score. Meanwhile, Carolina added two more goals at even strength before halftime.

Defenseman Erik Karlsson noted, “I think overall, we generated more than enough chances to put one or two in. And unfortunately, today we couldn’t.” He finished the game with a minus-3 rating.

Lizotte broke Pyotr Kochetkov’s shutout attempt early in the third period but it proved insufficient for a comeback.

Nedeljkovic reflected on missed opportunities saying, “Maybe if we leave the second period down two or three-nothing instead of four, maybe we got a little bit more life after that goal.”

The Penguins face another challenge as they conclude their three-game divisional road trip Friday in Washington.

Karlsson expressed optimism despite the loss: “Overall, I don’t think it was as bad as the score indicated today. We just got to find a way to get even more confidence.”