Hagelin Helps Penguins Rally Past Hurricanes
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Carl Hagelin scored with 4:15 remaining and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Hagelin got his fifth of the season and second in two games off a feed from Patric Hornqvist. That followed a tying goal from Chris Kunitz early in the period.
Sidney Crosby scored his league-leading 26th goal in his 31st game and moved into a tie with Edmonton's Connor McDavid for the league scoring lead at 42 points. Crosby, who missed six games with a concussion at the start of the season, trailed McDavid by nine points when he made his first start Oct. 25 against Florida.
The Penguins have won three straight and four of five. They have points in 10 consecutive home games and are 11-1-2 in December.
Matt Murray started for Pittsburgh and stopped 25 of 27 shots before Marc-Andre Fleury replaced him for the start of the third period. Fleury made 19 saves for his 11th win.
Lee Stempniak scored his seventh goal and Elias Lindholm his third for the Hurricanes, who ended a three-game winning streak. Cam Ward stopped 23 shots for Carolina.
Crosby scored in a season-high fifth straight game and has 11 goals this month. He has five goals and nine points during a six-game point streak. Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz had an assist and now has 18 points in his last 15 games.
Stempniak gave Carolina a 2-1 lead through two periods, but Kunitz tied it 1:59 into the third period with his first goal in 16 games to start the comeback.
Both teams are dealing with injuries along the blue line.
Carolina's Justin Faulk is week-to-week after getting a lower-body injury during an overtime win against Boston on Dec. 23. Faulk, who started the season with seven points in 22 games, had four goals and nine points in his last eight. Ryan Murphy took Faulk's spot in the lineup alongside Ron Hainsey.
The Penguins were without three of their top defensemen on Wednesday.
Kris Letang has missed seven games with a lower-body injury, while Olli Maatta sat out his second straight game with an illness. Brian Dumoulin will miss four-to-six weeks after undergoing surgery for a broken jaw. Dumoulin played 22 minutes during Pittsburgh's 5-2 win against New Jersey on Tuesday before he was hit in the face with an errant shot during the third period.
Trevor Daley was a surprise addition to the lineup on Wednesday after missing the previous five games with an upper-body injury. He practiced in a noncontact jersey during Pittsburgh's morning skate on Tuesday.
NOTES: Hagelin accidentally kicked Hurricanes F - and former Penguin - Jordan Staal in the face with his skate late in the first period. Staal got stiches during the intermission and returned for the start of the second. ... Schultz is the first Penguins' defenseman to record 17 points in a month since Sergei Zubov in March 1996. ... The Penguins recalled D David Warsofsky from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but he was scratched. Tom Kuhnhackl missed his sixth game with a lower-body injury. ... Carolina scratched D Klas Dahlbeck and C Andrej Nestrasil.
UP NEXT
Hurricanes: Host Chicago on Friday night.
Penguins: Continue a three-game homestand Saturday night against Montreal.
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