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The Carolina Hurricanes picked up an important road win over the Pittsburgh Penguins today, coming away with a 4-3 victory.
The Hurricanes came out with a strong first period, outshooting Pittsburgh 12-7. Late in the period, Jesperi Kotkaniemi opened the scoring, getting to a loose puck and roofing it over Tristan Jarry to put Carolina ahead heading into the intermission.
The Hurricanes extended the lead just nine seconds into the second period, after Tristan Jarry couldn’t handle the rebound from Brett Pesce’s shot and Jordan Staal was able to direct it in. Despite the Hurricanes controlling the first half of the second period, the Penguins cut the lead in half later in the frame, as Bryan Rust knocked in a puck in front. Pittsburgh really started to gain momentum and later, Sidney Crosby took a pass and wired a slapshot past Antti Raanta from a good spot to tie the game through 40 minutes.
Once again though, the Hurricanes scored nine seconds into the period, as Nino Niederreiter got a great pass across to Jesper Fast, who beat Jarry to give Carolina the lead again. Despite Pittsburgh generating more opportunities in the frame, Carolina struck again later, as Teuvo Teravainen passed the puck out to Sebastian Aho who put a shot through Jarry. Evan Rodrigues pulled the game back to within one with a late power play goal but the Hurricanes held on after that, taking a 4-3 win.
While the Hurricanes did let up a bit in the back half of the game, it was a strong effort from the Hurricanes on the road against a good team. There’s also something to be said about the two goals to start the second and third periods respectively, as Carolina managed to catch the Penguins off guard and strike right after intermission twice, which made the difference.
Antti Raanta also picked up his 100th career win and played a key role in the victory.
With the win, the Hurricanes are just a point behind the Florida Panthers for top spot in the Eastern Conference, and also put two points between themselves and the Tampa Bay Lightning for the second spot, while also distancing themselves from the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers at the top of the Metropolitan Division.
Carolina’s next game comes tomorrow against the Philadelphia Flyers.
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PollMaker
OTHER ARTICLES FROM FEBRUARY
Hurricanes drop both games of back-to-back, fall to Leafs and Senators
Hurricanes beat Bruins 6-0 to sweep season series
Hurricanes wrap up road trip with loss to Wild
Hurricanes fall to Panthers in overtime, have lost 4 of 5 games since break
Hurricanes pick up 5-3 win over Predators 
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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