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Penguins beat Hurricanes 3-2 in shootout

By AARON BEARD, AP Sports Writer Oct 14, 10:48 pm EDT

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)—Right now, the Pittsburgh Penguins almost seem more comfortable on the road than at home. That’s a scary thought for the rest of the NHL.

Chris Kunitz(notes) beat Cam Ward(notes) on the 12th shot of a shootout to help the defending Stanley Cup champions beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Wednesday night, setting a franchise record for most consecutive road wins to start a season.

Evgeni Malkin(notes) and Michael Rupp(notes) scored in regulation to help the Penguins improve to 5-0 on the road. Pittsburgh had won its first four twice before, the last time coming two seasons ago, but bested that with its fifth straight win against the Hurricanes.

The win ended a four-game, seven-day road trip for the Penguins, who had beaten Toronto and Ottawa by three goals in each of the past two games. This time, Pittsburgh blew a 2-0 lead entering the final period before holding on for the victory through the overtime and an extended shootout.

“We were 4-0 on this road trip,” Rupp said, “but the reality of it was we weren’t perfect by any stretch.”

It was the first meeting between the teams since last season’s Eastern Conference finals, which Pittsburgh swept by a combined score of 20-9 on the way to the Stanley Cup. Carolina shook up its blue line in the offseason to get bigger defensemen to match up with offensive-minded teams like Pittsburgh, only to see the Penguins again find a way to beat the Hurricanes—with the past three wins all coming in the RBC Center.

“It’s really important just to establish the way we want to play,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby(notes) said of the 5-0 road mark. “Early on in the season, you’re trying to work things out and adjust, and for the most part, everyone knows what they need to do here. It’s nice that we’re seeing some results here early.”

Ray Whitney(notes) scored twice for Carolina to erase Pittsburgh’s early lead, while Ward finished with 36 saves—including a key stop of Malkin from between the faceoff circles less than a minute into overtime.

But in the end, it wasn’t Malkin or Crosby who made the clinching play. Instead, it was Kunitz, who hadn’t found the back of the net in regulation this season before slipping the puck between Ward’s pads for the victory.

“When your number’s called,” Kunitz said, “you try to go up and make a good move and put the puck on the net.”

Pittsburgh seemed to have the game in control heading into the final period. Rupp had given the Penguins the early lead when he took a short pass from Malkin to set up a 2-on-1 rush, then skated in on Ward to flip the puck by him at the right post at 14:24.

Malkin followed with an impressive goal in the second, taking a give-and-go pass from Pascal Dupuis(notes) then squeezing the puck between Ward and the right post from a steep angle early in the period.

But Whitney answered with two quick third-period goals to erase the deficit. First, he slipped a shot underneath Marc-Andre Fleury(notes) at 4:25, then redirecting a shot from Tim Gleason(notes) to tie it midway through the period and re-energize the home crowd.

Carolina coach Paul Maurice said the performance was probably his team’s best of the season.

“Even if we lost the game tonight, you have some confidence going forward,” Maurice said.

“Tonight I think was really our first game where I thought we got back to looking like the team that plays the style of game we want to play.”

NOTES: The Penguins have scored first in five of seven games this season. … Fleury finished with 27 saves. … Whitney scored a point for the third straight game. … Kunitz also had an assist for the fourth straight game. He has one regulation goal in his last 36 games, which came in Game 2 of the Eastern finals against the Hurricanes. … Carolina RW Tuomo Ruutu(notes) assisted on both of Whitney’s goals.

Updated Oct 14, 10:48 pm EDT
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72 Comments

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  1. jetss
    71. Posted by jetss Sat Oct 17 4:37pm EDT

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    remember when Pittsburgh was going to move because they didn't have any fans, yet everyone now claims they have been fans forever
  2. observant
    70. Posted by observant Sat Oct 17 9:14am EDT

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    #64 - Room Temperature IQ - ALMOST 70 comments when there are 63 comments so far?? People with IQ above 100 would usually write "More than 60 comments".

    95% trashing Raleigh?? I guess math isn't a strong suit for you either. 95% of 63 is about 60. There are about 15 comments trashing Raleigh - if you subtract your crap, and the crap of your boyfriend Chris B and your other boyfriend Dangy, then that would leave pretty close to "0".

    You are a GREAT fan. Your team had a game last night and, as of this writing, you have not written about the game a single time. Truly pathetic that you have time to come over to talk about our team but none to talk about your own.
  3. observant
    69. Posted by observant Fri Oct 16 11:00pm EDT

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    #63 - Room Temperature IQ - thanks for the links, but reading comprehension is obviously not a strong point for you. One of the links that you were kind enough(???) to provide clearly talks about other teams in the playoffs not selling out either (or, if they did, it was because of rival team fans). How did the Wild do on THEIR playoff tickets for 2009??? Oh yeah, never mind - they would have to make the playoffs first.

    Your life must really suck to continue with this junk. Since you like links so much, here is one for you:

    http://top100.relocate-america.com/

    On this list, Raleigh is 5th, couldn't find St. Paul because the list only goes to 100.
  4. Dave
    68. Posted by Dave Fri Oct 16 7:30pm EDT

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    steelers stink and penguins blow
  5. Dave
    67. Posted by Dave Fri Oct 16 7:26pm EDT

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    crosby likes men
  6. Dave
    66. Posted by Dave Fri Oct 16 7:25pm EDT

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    crosby is a @#$%
  7. clawson
    65. Posted by clawson Fri Oct 16 4:39pm EDT

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    And the majority of those comments, if not all, are all posted by you! Get a life idiot.
  8. Cory Mohammed Lidle
    64. Posted by Cory Mohammed Lidle Fri Oct 16 3:54pm EDT

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    It's great how there's almost 70 comments for this game and 95% of it is people talking about how Raleigh is a sh!thole, racist, obese, and rundown town and how the Hurricanes have a pathetic fanbase. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  9. Cory Mohammed Lidle
    63. Posted by Cory Mohammed Lidle Fri Oct 16 3:39pm EDT

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    Here are some great articles on how pathetic the Hurricane fanbase is. The majority of NHL fans agree that moving teams to sh!thole, racist towns like Raleigh was a mistake. I'll try and post these on every game this year. That way everyone can get an idea of how bad the support is in Raleigh.


    This first article is based on opinion so it doesn't have as much credence as the other ones.
    http://mvn.com/thestateofhockeynews/2009/08/2009-10-nhl-fan-rankings-part-i-30th-to-21st.html

    This next one is about how terrible their attendance was the season following their run to the Cup in 2002.
    http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-8983381_ITM

    Here's a good one about how this pathetic franchise couldn't sell out games 3 and 4 against the Devils in the 09 playoffs. Hahahahahahahaha!

    http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Playoff-non-sellouts-Signs-of-larger-trouble-or?urn=nhl,158865

    Here's another pathetic article about the Canes. It describes their entire history. Scroll down to the miscellaneous section and you'll see that they failed to sell out their arena deep into the playoffs.
    http://icehockey.wikia.com/wiki/Carolina_Hurricanes
  10. observant
    62. Posted by observant Fri Oct 16 6:38am EDT

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    Hey room temperature (Cory for those just joining us) - I just noticed that the same night that the Hurricanes and Pens played, you were over here writing instead of writing in the comments about the Wild. Sorry, you did write in the Wild article twice but once it was about Crosby and Malkin. What kind of pathetic fan are you?? Always looking at the other teams wishing yours was as good as theirs??

    Your insults toward Raleigh and the fanbase are childish. You and your alter-ego Dan G. need to finish elementary school and continue on as far as you can go. Seriously, the world needs people that say "Do you want fries with that?"
  11. observant
    61. Posted by observant Fri Oct 16 6:23am EDT

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    #56 BigDuke2010 - nobody else saw Ray offside because he wasn't. I am a season ticket holder for the Hurricanes but I DVR the ones that are on TV so it was EASY to go back and check. As Ruutu brought in the puck, Whitney was skating parallel to the blue line, watching #15. When Ruutu crossed the blue line, Whitney was still about 1 foot from crossing the line - with NEITHER foot across the line, not even close. So you are either a homer, a liar, or just ignorant of what Offside means.
  12. Jeffrey A. B
    60. Posted by Jeffrey A. B Fri Oct 16 4:15am EDT

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    Dan - I'll take that as a yes.
  13. Jeremy G
    59. Posted by Jeremy G Thu Oct 15 6:41pm EDT

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    cory - u must have one boring life to be on here all day throwing off on raleigh, i bet u have never been to raleigh except on the internet, and u probably one of those people from a real small town where there are no wal-marts hahahahaha
  14. Jeremy G
    58. Posted by Jeremy G Thu Oct 15 6:37pm EDT

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    Rob - i am pens fan too...but complaining about how another team is doing is just ignorant...i mean really, do you have anything to do better with your time instead of throw off on another team...probably not?
  15. Cory Mohammed Lidle
    57. Posted by Cory Mohammed Lidle Thu Oct 15 5:59pm EDT

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    If terrorists nuked Raleigh, would the incident make it on the front page of the paper? Probably not. Has anyone here had the dishonor to have set foot in Raleigh. All you'll notice is fat, disgusting woman, racist rednecks, and rundown slums.
  16. Angelica
    56. Posted by Angelica Thu Oct 15 5:42pm EDT

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    Steelers=Best team in NFL history. Go Pens and Steelers!
  17. <i>bigduke2010</i>
    55. Posted by bigduke2010 Thu Oct 15 4:28pm EDT

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    we won last night but did anyone else see whitney WAYYYYYYY offside on their first goal? its a conspiracy against pittsburgh teams because they are the best (except the butt Pirates)
  18. Dan G
    54. Posted by Dan G Thu Oct 15 4:22pm EDT

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    Jeff A

    6-1. Defending Champs. Learn to love it.
  19. Chris H
    53. Posted by Chris H Thu Oct 15 4:10pm EDT

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    WANTED: Expert sport psychologist who specializes in curing sports teams of throwing games away in the final quarter/period. Large city in Western PA has football and hockey teams with tendency to commit aforementioned error. Problem needs solved A.S.A.P. but definitely before playoff season. Please forward resume and requisite experience.
  20. cindyh
    52. Posted by cindyh Thu Oct 15 3:25pm EDT

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    Not to be off track of every one else, but isn't this web site suppose to be about the hockey game last night?, not about who fills up their arena's, or who is, or should be moving!!....being a Pens fan i liked the outcome of the game, now that being said, they still have trouble closing out games... 2 to 0, and then wind-up winning the game with a shoot out...there goaltending has defenitly kept them in some games... without a doubt, there is defenitly room for some improvement....the seasons young, mistakes will be corrected....it was a good game, the Canes are a good team, afterall, they did make it to finals last year......
  21. Cory Mohammed Lidle
    51. Posted by Cory Mohammed Lidle Thu Oct 15 3:20pm EDT

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    I maybe need to stop ripping on the seven Carolina fans that there are. It's not their fault that the team can't get anyone to show up to the games. It's the NHL's fault for moving this team to sh!thole Raleigh. I don't want them to go back to Hartford, but move them to a city that actually has fans.
  22. Rob
    50. Posted by Rob Thu Oct 15 3:08pm EDT

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    Hey Jeremy G - I have season tickets to every Pens game and the waiting list is 2000 deep....so are we better fans...yes.
  23. Sean l
    49. Posted by Sean l Thu Oct 15 2:57pm EDT

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    "bandwagon" or not, we still have more penguin fans in your arena than your own fans, to the ppl that say they cant wait for the pens to get spanked in the playoffs, what gives it away? going to the finals the last 2 years, winning the cup, starting off 6-1 or being #1 in the league? yeah makes a lot of sense
  24. Cory Mohammed Lidle
    48. Posted by Cory Mohammed Lidle Thu Oct 15 2:56pm EDT

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    WOW. Carolina can't even sell out their building when they are in the Cup. So funny. I feel sorry for the players. They work hard and are a good team but have to put up with the worst fanbase in sports history.
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