Pesce, Hurricanes recover for OT win against Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Brett Pesce scored 2:20 into overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

Pesce scored on a 2-on-0, tapping in a pass from Andrei Svechnikov for his second goal of the season. His first goal was also the game-winner in a 3-2 victory against the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
"[Pesce] has been obviously solid all year. A little bit snakebitten," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Hadn't scored, but he had many, many chances. He's a great player for us. It's good to see him get that. Good play by 'Svech' on the wall to give it to him. Nice finish. Definitely take the win."

Svechnikov also scored, Sebastian Aho had two assists, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 30 saves for the Hurricanes (12-6-5), who have won two in a row after losing five straight (0-1-4).
Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby each had a goal and an assist for the Penguins (11-8-4), who have lost two straight after winning their previous five. Tristan Jarry made 36 saves.
Pittsburgh didn't record a shot on goal on two power plays and is 0-for-14 with the man-advantage in its past six games.
"Give Carolina credit, they put a lot of pressure on us," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of the power play. "That was the biggest challenge. … You have to gain possession first. We just didn't do a good enough job tonight."
Guentzel tied it 2-2 with 57.4 seconds left in the third period, deflecting a point shot from Jeff Petry with Jarry off for the extra attacker.
"It's good we were able to get one 6-on-5," Jarry said. "I think that's a positive thing. We've been working on that quite a bit. To get a point out of that, I think, is big."

Crosby scored on the Penguins' second shot of the game to give them a 1-0 lead at 4:34 of the first period. Guentzel received a stretch pass from Pierre-Olivier Joseph and threaded the puck past a diving Derek Stepan to Crosby, who chipped it in from the slot.
"They came out pretty hard, we expected it," Aho said. "They have a good team as well. After that goal, we kind of regrouped pretty well and took over the game for at least, I don't know, I felt the second period was ours. Got a couple goals there and obviously got the win."
Martin Necas tied it 1-1 at 5:45 of the second period, scoring near the left post after Pesce's shot from the point got through traffic.
"They're a good team. They play a tight man-on-man game," Jarry said. "So we were expecting it to be a hard-checking game. … We weren't able to get space. We weren't able to get opportunities."

Svechnikov gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead at 17:38 of the second on a wraparound after Jarry fumbled a shot from Aho.
"At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what happened in the past," Aho said. "It's just, we're on the road. … We have a chance to win the game. We've done a good job so far, so it's just, go out there and get the win."
NOTES: Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was a late scratch because of an undisclosed illness. … Pittsburgh defenseman Chad Ruhwedel had two shots on goal and three hits in 13:37 of ice time after being a healthy scratch the past six games. … Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook had five shots on goal in 18:32 of ice time in his 500th NHL game. … Pittsburgh forward Kasperi Kapanen had three shots on goal and three hits in 12:55 of ice time after being a healthy scratch the past seven games. … Crosby scored his 101st game-opening goal, passing Mario Lemieux (100) for the most in Penguins history. … Aho has 106 NHL multipoint games, tying Pat Verbeek for fourth in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history. ... Jarry is 4-0-2 in his past six starts.