PITTSBURGH — Sunday's showdown between the top two teams in the Metropolitan Division was as advertised — with fast-paced play, breathtaking skill and tons of action.
Fans without a rooting interest would love seven games of that in the spring.
When the dust settled at PPG Paints Arena, the Carolina Hurricanes had outlasted the Penguins, 4-3, to seize sole possession of first place in the division.
The visitors controlled the third period from start to finish to earn the win.
Carolina regained the lead seconds into the period. Brian Dumoulin sent a pass into the neutral zone that was picked off. The Hurricanes stormed the other way and Dumoulin lost track of Jesper Fast, who went upstairs to make it 3-2.
It was the second time Sunday the Penguins gave up a goal nine seconds into a period, quieting the home crowd and briefly deflating the black and gold.
And that was the kind of sequence they had been warned about a day earlier.
Saturday, after the Penguins practiced in Cranberry, Mike Sullivan cautioned that the Hurricanes were capable of going coast to coast on the counterattack.
"They play an in-your-face game in all three zones," the coach said. "They're very aggressive and ... challenge their opponents to have to beat that aggression."
His Penguins were not up for that challenge in Sunday's first period. They coughed up the puck several times and had difficulty getting clean zone entries.
The Penguins gave breakaways to Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, the two most dangerous Hurricanes forwards. One of those came with the Penguins on the power play. Tristan Jarry turned aside both those prime opportunities.
Both teams got good looks as they traded chances throughout the period. But Antti Raanta stuffed Evgeni Malkin and Jeff Carter, among others, near his crease before the Hurricanes grabbed the first lead on a goal by Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
They outworked the Penguins below the dots then Jordan Martinook slipped a pass to Kotkaniemi, who whipped a shot from the slot over Jarry's glove.
Jarry gifted the Hurricanes a goal just nine seconds into the second period when he punched a rebound off of a harmless shot right into the slot. The puck pinballed off of former Penguin Jordan Staal then dribbled between Jarry's pads.
The goalie would redeem himself with big stops on Aho and Teuvo Teravainen. The latter came when he sprawled across to squeeze Teravainen's tricky shot. Those saves kept the Penguins within striking distance — and strike they did.
Bryan Rust whacked a rebound past Raanta to make it a 2-1. That goal came after a strong shift by the Malkin line — arguably the Penguins' best in the two games since Sullivan put Carter on the Russian's right wing. Kris Letang kept the puck in, the top line hopped over the boards and Rust scored several seconds later.
Sidney Crosby tied the score just over three minutes later on a slapper from the left circle. The Penguins on that play patiently picked apart the Hurricanes, using their aggression against them this time, to spring Crosby down the wing.
With that tic-tac-toe tally, the captain is now 99 shy of 600 for his career.
At one point in the second period, the Penguins were being outshot, 23-10. And now they were heading into the second intermission with the score at 2-2.
However, Fast scored on the first shift of the third period then Aho put the game away with a power-play goal with just under six minutes remaining.
Evan Rodrigues scored late to snap his 18-game scoring drought. But Crosby was unable to chip his point-blank shot past Raanta at the buzzer and the Penguins lost their second consecutive game after going 4-0 out of the All-Star break.
They will next be on the ice Thursday, when they host the New Jersey Devils.
