CAROLINA HURRICANES SHUT OUT PENGUINS
Journeyman backup McElhinney shuts down Penguins offense in Carolina’s stunning win
No sequence better summed up the Penguins 4-0 loss Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes at PPG Paints Arena than when Penguins newcomer Jared McCann dangled the puck around Curtis McElhinney’s poke check, only to watch him starfish across the crease and stretch his right pad to boot out his point-blank try.
Well, except for maybe when Juuso Riikola charged in from the point and whipped a backhand shot through McElhinney’s legs, only to see the puck glance off the goalie and skitterd across the crease and out of harm’s way.
Or what about when McElhinney was literally sitting on the goal line and Sidney Crosby’s shot from 25 feet out nestled somewhere in his gear?
“Maybe if we put one in there,” defenseman Jack Johnson said of his team’s many first-period chances, “it changes the complexion of the game.”
The Penguins couldn’t put one in, though. Not in a first period they mostly dominated. Not during either of their two power plays. And certainly not when they went the first 11 minutes of the final period without a shot.
“You’re not going to win many games if you don’t score a goal,” Johnson, who played with McElhinney in Columbus, astutely noted.
McElhinney, a 35-year-old journeyman whose hairline has started to retreat into its crease, has strapped on the pads for seven NHL teams. He spent the preseason in Toronto, lost the backup battle and was waived.
After getting claimed by Carolina, McElhinney, one of four goalies who has started for the Hurricanes this season, has been a pleasant surprise.
His best performance of the
season likely came Tuesday, when he made 23 saves, several of them spectacular, for his ninth career shutout.
McElhinney had to be at his best in that opening period, when the Hurricanes kept coughing up the puck in their defensive zone. He stopped McCann. He stuffed Garrett Wilson. He got a little lucky with Riikola and Crosby.
“We didn’t capitalize,” Crosby said. “We had a couple go through the legs and out the other way, posts and things like that.
“It was a tight game, and you’ve got to capitalize when you get chances … and we didn’t.”
Then, suddenly, the Hurricanes stole a 1-0 lead when Jordan Martinook fooled Matt Murray with a fairly innocent shot from 39 feet out.
The Carolina center fired that shot from atop the left circle through the legs of Tanner Pearson. But Murray appeared to get a good look at it.
“We had good momentum,” Letang said. “It kind of deflated us.”
The Hurricanes swarmed at the start of the second, using swift puck pursuit to generate several good chances, but the Penguins pushed back.
McElhinney stuffed Wilson for a second time and then during a scoreless Penguins power play — they have gone 1 for 15 over their past six games — he snatched Patric Hornqvist’s chance from just outside the blue paint.
Then the Hurricanes hushed the crowd again when Brett Pesce flung a shot from the point that Murray said he didn’t see until it was about 10 feet out. It buzzed by his ear and under
the bar to make it 2-0.
Murray, who has started four of the past five games, made 28 saves in the loss.
Coach Mike Sullivan, looking for a spark, switched up his lines during the second, swapping the wingers for Crosby and McCann. Crosby reunited with Hornqvist and Dominik Simon while McCann skated with Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust. In the third, Crosby was back with Guentzel and Rust.
The Penguins didn’t record a shot during the first half of the final period. The Hurricanes were too fast for them, pestering the Penguins in the Pittsburgh end and chasing down loose pucks in their own to prevent chances.
“When we’re fighting for pucks, we’ve got to support one another by staying closer,” Sullivan said. “It’s hard to do it with just one stick or two sticks. You need three sticks in the area, and I thought our third stick was late.”
The Penguins came oh-so close to making it 2-1 when Rust slid a pass to Crosby, whose shanked shot slid through McElhinney’s legs but just outside the post. Later, McElhinney flashed the leather to stop Crosby again.
With Murray on the bench, Micheal Ferland retrieved a loose puck in the neutral zone and lofted it into the empty net. With Murray back in the crease, Andrei Svechnikov piled on with another goal with 42 seconds left.
After winning eight consecutive games, the Penguins since Jan. 6 have lost seven of their past 12, allowing three or more goals in nine of those games.
McElhinney’s heroics Tuesday pulled the Hurricanes, fifth in the Metropolitan Division and ninth in the east, within four points of the Penguins.
“We’ve got to continue to push to try to raise the bar,” Sullivan said.