Pens down Canes, 4-2

In Pittsburgh the Penguins doubled up the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon.

Tristan Jarry made 41 saves in the Penguins win.

“We had two really close games with them before, and I think we wanted to make this one count,” Jarry said. “It was kind of our last crack at them, and we didn’t want to lose a third one to them. It meant a lot, just because we might play them in the [Stanley Cup Playoffs].”

Sebastian Aho and Brett Pesce were the Canes goal scorers.

“Guys play hard. They never stop playing hard,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “That’s what I appreciate the most, really. We’re down in that game. On the next shift, guys just come out and try, play our game. I thought we stuck with it for the 60 minutes. It didn’t work out.”

Pittsburgh improved to 36-15-9.

“We have the ability to be opportunistic,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “We have some guys that compete hard and have the opportunity to finish. I don’t think we had a significant amount of opportunities (22 shots on goal), but we had enough to find the back of the net.”

The Canes dropped to 41-13-5.

Sidney Crosby added an empty-net goal to  give the Pens a 3-1 lead late.

Aho scored his goal to cut it to 3-2.

“It’s just the way the game played out,” Pesce said. “I honestly thought we played a good game. Obviously, we didn’t get the bounces. We had plenty of opportunities to win that game. Sometimes, it just is the way it is.”

The Pens’ Zach Aston-Reese  iced the win for with a second empty-net goal.

Brian Boyle also scored for Pittsburgh, his marker put Pittsburgh up, 1-0, in the first period.

Antti Raanta made 18 saves in the Hurricanes loss.

“We had a good effort, guys worked hard,” Aho said. “That’s the thing. What we build on, guys are working hard. Effort was there, but obviously, have to be a little bit sharper. We had scoring chances. … Just a little bit sharper in the details. Have that killer instinct when you have a scoring chance.”