Canes blow past Pens

If the Pittsburgh Penguins are not careful, they are going to find themselves fighting for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

On Sunday, the Pens lost to the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, 6-2.

The Canes moved into a tie for the second wild card spot with the win.

Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves to get the win.

Justin Williams had two goals for the Hurricanes – file photo by Lewis Bleiman

“It was the complete game,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “The penalty kill was good. The power play was good too. … We were able to just get to our game. Nothing special, but it was a good effort.”

Morgan Geekie and Justin Williams each struck twice for the Canes.

“That third period was as quiet as I’ve ever heard this arena,” Williams said. “This arena gets really buzzing. So we definitely did something right. We have these guys three more times. We got one on them. The next three are going to be just as important.”

Patrick Marleau and Evgeni Malkin scored in the first period for the Pens when they held a 2-1 lead.

“The answers are inside our locker room,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We just have to make sure we bring the right attitude to the rink so that we can work ourselves out of this. We have to rely on one another. We have to trust one another. It comes down to a certain attitude, a level of enthusiasm.”

Carolina came out of the intermission and scored five straight goals to erase the deficit in style.

“It’s a game of mistakes,” Sidney Crosby said. “It’s always like that. This time of year, they’re magnified even more. We made a few more than they did. That was the difference in the game.”

Jaccob Slavin knotted the game at 2-2 in the middle frame and the rout was on.

Jake Gardiner also scored for Carolina.

Geekie  was on a call up from the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League.

“I called my parents and my girlfriend right away. Said, ‘Come on down. I got called up,'” Geekie said. “They kind of made it work. Fit it into their schedule. I’m glad they could be here tonight. … Just tried to go out there and keep things simple, adjust to the speed of the game and play hard out here.”

[WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Penguins highlights]

Tristan Jarry made 30 saves in the loss.

“It’s tough when you’re playing Washington and Carolina, they’re both in your division,” Jarry said. “Everyone needs points this time of year. You see how tough it is to win.”