Penguins 2, Hurricanes 1 (shootout)

A quick look at the Penguins’ 2-1 shootout victory against Carolina Friday night at PNC Arena:

*** Defenseman Kris Letang threw a backhander under the crossbar in Round 3 of the shootout to give the Penguins their seventh victory in the past nine games. Teammates Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz had failed to score in the previous two rounds, while Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury denied Chris Terry, Phillip Di Giuseppe and Elias Lindholm.

*** The victory was the Penguins’ seventh in their past nine games and raised their record to 28-19-7. They remain in the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot because Tampa Bay, which is one point ahead of them, recorded a 4-3 overtime victory against Nashville.

*** Phil Kessel gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 15:43 of the second period, when he beat Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward on the short side from the bottom of the left circles. The goal was the 16th of the season for Kessel, who had not scored in the previous five and had just three in the previous 16, but finished with a team-high seven shots. “He worked,” Sullivan said. “He was in the battle areas. He was on the puck. When he had opportunities to shoot the puck, he would shoot the puck. He was moving his feet. For me, those are Phil’s strengths. When Phil skates and he works, he’s a dangerous guy.”

*** Fleury turned aside 29 of 30 shots during regulation and overtime before being perfect in the shootout. He was particularly effective during the third period, when Carolina got its only goal – Andrej Nestrasil scored from outside the right dot at 14:42 – but could have had several more. “They controlled a lot of the third period,” Penguins center Sidney Crosby said.

*** Despite a generally lackluster performance, the Penguins remain the only NHL team with an unblemished record [21-0] when leading after two periods. “That was not a good game for us,” Letang said. “As a team, I don’t think we played well, but we stuck with it and we found a way to win.”

*** The Penguins again played without injured centers Evgeni Malkin, Eric Fehr and Nick Bonino, but did have defenseman Trevor Daley. He left their 3-0 loss to the New York Rangers Wednesday after slamming back-first into a goalpost and did not get back on skates until the Penguins’ game-day workout Friday morning.

*** Fleury, on Letang’s shootout-deciding goal: “I’ve seen that in practice a lot. It was nice to see him score on somebody else.”

*** The Penguins are off until Monday, when they will play Florida at the BB&T Center at 7:38 p.m.