{"id":517540,"date":"2026-03-23T00:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T00:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/517540\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T00:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T00:17:14","slug":"penguins-penalty-kill-implode-listless-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/517540\/","title":{"rendered":"Penguins, Penalty Kill Implode, Listless Effort"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 For the third time in 13 days, the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> (35-19-16) and Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> (45-19-6) clashed in a battle of the two top teams in the Metropolitan Division, but this one was all Carolina. The Penguins\u2019 top-ranked penalty kill failed them on Sunday afternoon, allowing three Hurricanes power play goals en route to a 5-1 loss.<\/p>\n

It was the Penguins\u2019 first regulation loss against a Metropolitan Division opponent since October 25 and broke an 18-game points streak against division foes. The Penguins\u2019 record against the Metropolitan Division now sits at a still-impressive 11-2-9. <\/p>\n

Just 25 seconds into the game, Pittsburgh defenseman Ryan Graves<\/a>, slotting in for the injured Ryan Shea, took a tripping penalty and the Hurricanes wasted no time converting. At the 47 second mark of the first, Sebastian Aho<\/a> (25) wristed a puck from just above the top of the left circle that deflected off Connor Dewar\u2019s stick, bounced between the legs of teammate Jordan Staal<\/a> in front, and past Penguins\u2019 netminder Stuart Skinner<\/a> to give Carolina the early 1-0 lead. While the Penguins were thoroughly outplayed in the first and outshot 9-5, they escaped only being down by one. They would not be so lucky in the second period.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes got their second chance on the power play at 5:24 of the second and, once again, made quick work of the league\u2019s top power play unit. After a flubbed attempt to dump the puck deep by Noel Acciari, the Hurricanes regrouped in the neutral zone and got their power play set up in the Penguins\u2019 zone. After some passing around the perimeter, the puck ended up on the stick of Nikolaj Ehlers<\/a> (21) who hammered a slap shot from the center point that blew by Skinner to put the Hurricanes up by a pair at 6:24 of the second.<\/p>\n

Just 2:51 later, it would be another point shot that would foil Skinner. This time it was Jalen Chatfield<\/a> (2) wristing a puck from the right point that eluded several players in the slot and in front of the net and found its way past the stick side of Skinner to put the Hurricanes up by a trio of goals.<\/p>\n

The Penguins got their first opportunity on the power play at 10:40 of the second, but it was the Hurricanes who nearly scored again. Carolina broke out of the Penguins\u2019 zone on a two-on-one with Seth Jarvis and Aho skating towards Kris Letang<\/a> as the only man back. Letang did his best to break up the pass from Jarvis to Aho, but the puck still ended up on the stick of Aho who got two cracks at a loose puck in front of Skinner, but he was somehow able to make two right toe saves to keep the score 3-0. It would have been the third-consecutive game of the Penguins allowing a short-handed goal. In fact, the Penguins have surrendered 11 short-handed goals this season, only Colorado has allowed more. <\/p>\n

The nightmarish day for the Penguins\u2019 penalty kill continued when Carolina went on the power play for a third time and got their third man-advantage goal in as many chances. With Evgeni Malkin<\/a> off for tripping, the Hurricanes set up in the Penguins\u2019 zone and got the puck down low. With Ehlers stationed along the goal line to Skinner\u2019s right, he patiently waited and found a passing lane through the legs of Parker Wotherspoon and right onto the stick of Seth Jarvis<\/a> (29), who quickly flicked the puck past Skinner to get the Hurricanes a third power play goal and a 4-0 lead. <\/p>\n

Egor Chinakhov (16) got the lone Penguins goal at 14:56 of the third. The tally continued his torrent scoring pace. He now has 13 goals as a Penguin in just 32 games with the team; he had just three goals in 29 games with Columbus. His 13 goals for the Penguins rank first since January 1 when he debuted with the Penguins. Bryan Rust assisted on the goal to establish a new career-high points streak of seven-consecutive games. However, this goal would not be enough and Carolina sealed the deal with an empty net goal by Jankowski (9). <\/p>\n

Things do not get any easier for the Penguins as they face the NHL\u2019s top team, the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena. Meanwhile, the New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets faceoff in a crucial game on Long Island tonight that will have ramifications on the Penguins\u2019 playoff status. Columbus is just one point behind the Penguins in the Metropolitan Division standings, while the Islanders, currently out of the playoff picture, sit just three points behind the Penguins.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

The Penguins\u2019 lines on Sunday afternoon were as follows:<\/p>\n

Forwards<\/p>\n

Rickard Rakell \u2013 Sidney Crosby \u2013 Bryan Rust<\/p>\n

Egor Chinakhov \u2013 Tommy Novak \u2013 Evgeni Malkin<\/p>\n

Anthony Mantha \u2013 Ben Kindel \u2013 Just Brazeau<\/p>\n

Elmer Soderblom \u2013 Connor Dewar \u2013 Noel Acciari<\/p>\n

Defensemen<\/p>\n

Parker Wotherspoon \u2013 Erik Karlsson<\/p>\n

Sam Girard \u2013 Kris Letang<\/p>\n

Ryan Graves \u2013 Connor Clifton<\/p>\n

Additional Notes<\/p>\n

Defenseman Kris Letang still sits one point shy of 800 for his career. Once he reaches the milestone he will become just the fourth active defenseman and fourth member of the 2005 draft class to reach 800 points.<\/p>\n

Rickard Rakell had his eight-game points streak broken. The eight-game streak for Rakell had been the longest of his career. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> Egor Chinakhov<\/a> Mark Jankowski<\/a> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> ryan graves<\/a> seth jarvis<\/a> stuart skinner<\/a> Vince Comunale<\/a> <\/p>\n

Categorized:Penguins Postgame<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 For the third time in 13 days, the Pittsburgh Penguins (35-19-16) and Carolina Hurricanes (45-19-6) clashed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5113],"tags":[29,52514,5,1649,4,118,1469,100,5216,3638,1177,157,55599],"class_list":["post-517540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-egor-chinakhov","tag-hockey","tag-mark-jankowski","tag-nhl","tag-penguins","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-pittsburghpenguins","tag-ryan-graves","tag-seth-jarvis","tag-stuart-skinner","tag-vince-comunale"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116275619069652516","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}