Kochetkov makes 35 saves, Hurricanes top Penguins for 8th straight win

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Pyotr Kochetkov made 35 saves, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins for their eighth straight win, 5-1 at Lenovo Center on Thursday.

Jack Roslovic had two goals and an assist, and Jalen Chatfield had three assists for the Hurricanes (10-2-0), who hold the longest active winning streak in the NHL. Sebastian Aho had two assists.

“We scored some nice goals off the rush, things that don’t generally happen during a game to that degree,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We got ahead, (but) we really didn’t get our game going. But our goalie was really good, solid. He was all over it, so we’ll take the win.”

Blake Lizotte scored for the Penguins (5-8-2), who were 2-0-1 in the previous three games. Alex Nedeljkovic made 13 saves.

“I thought we had a lot of guys who played really hard and didn’t get rewarded for their effort,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think there were a few guys who didn’t live up to the expectation. And it’s hard because we need everybody to bring it every night to give ourselves the best chance to win.”

Carolina capitalized on a Pittsburgh turnover to take a 1-0 lead at 52 seconds of the first period when Martinook drove the slot to chip in a pass from Jordan Staal.

“Confidence is a big thing. When you see the puck go in, it helps,” Martinook said. “I feel like the last couple games, (our line) has been around it a lot more and we’ve had a lot more chances.”

The Penguins had several quality chances on a power-play opportunity early in the second, but Kochetkov came up big. He made a right-pad save on a deflection by Evgeni Malkin before stopping Sidney Crosby on a back-door stuff chance at the right post.

“Those were a lot of tough ones that maybe you didn’t notice,” Brind’Amour said. “But they were real tricky. He was the player of the game for me.”

Roslovic put Carolina up 2-0 at 8:47. Roslovic pushed the puck ahead to Aho before taking a return pass and scoring from the slot.

“You give up (a goal on) that first shot of the game, and it’s never a good feeling,” Nedeljkovic said. “We only gave them (four) shots in the first period, and two of them wind up in the net. It’s a crappy feeling. That was the difference in the game. Their guy was that much better than I was.”

Roslovic pushed the lead to 3-0 at 9:27 of the second period, settling a cross-ice pass from Andrei Svechnikov and scoring on a hard wrist shot past the glove. With his ninth goal, Roslovic tied his total from last season, when he played 59 games between the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers.

“It’s just going in, finding the right places on the ice and making it easy on my linemates,” Roslovic said. “These guys make it really easy to be around. It’s a fun group, cheer for everybody. It’s just good energy.”

Jaccob Slavin made it 4-0 at 13:52 with a one-timer at the left point off a pass from Aho.

Carolina scored off the rush when Eric Robinson redirected a pass from Martin Necas at the top of the crease to make it 5-0 at 2:07 of the third period.

Lizotte made it 5-1 at 5:08. He scored from the slot after holding in a Carolina clearing attempt with Kochetkov out of position.

The Penguins had eight minutes of power-play time, including a double minor in the first period, but they couldn’t convert on 10 shots.

“I think we created enough chances to score some goals, and we didn’t," Pittsburgh defenseman Erik Karlsson said. "Even though it might not have looked as poised and controlled as you would have liked. But I think overall we generated more than enough chances to put one or two in.”

NOTES: Crosby’s four-game point streak ended. … Necas has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in a career-high eight-game point and assist streak. … Svechnikov has nine points (four goals, five points) in a seven-game point streak. … Chatfield’s three-point game is the first of his NHL career.