Ward stops Pens for 100th win

Evgeni Malkin scored as Pittsburgh dropped into 10th place.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Cam Ward made 32 saves Tuesday at Mellon Arena, Ray Whitney and Eric Staal scored, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1.

Ward, making his 13th consecutive start for Carolina, earned his 100th career victory for the Hurricanes, who won on consecutive nights after snapping a five-game losing streak.

League scoring leader Evgeni Malkin had a goal for Pittsburgh, the reigning Eastern Conference champion which fell into 10th place in the conference heading into the All-Star break.

The Hurricanes killed off four minutes of power-play time over the final 4:15 of the game after Tim Gleason was given a double-minor for high-sticking Malkin.

Ward stopped Malkin from point-blank range with 24.1 seconds to play and allowed one goal over 120 minutes of game action during about a 27-hour period. He stopped all 35 shots Monday night in Toronto.

The only goal he allowed Tuesday came 2:33 into the game, Malkin’s 19th of the season. On a power play, Malkin corralled a rebound of Philippe Boucher’s shot while standing on the goal line to the right and behind Ward, flipping a shot and whacking at the rebound to stuff it past Ward.

Whitney tied it at 14:30 with a power play of his own, a slap shot from the point that encountered traffic in front of the net. The puck appeared to deflect off of Pittsburgh defenseman Rob Scuderi and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for Whitney’s 15th.

It was the first goal Pittsburgh had allowed in 99 minutes, 52 seconds.

Staal scored the winner while standing all alone just to the left of Fleury eight minutes into the second, taking a pass from Justin Williams and redirecting it in for his 20th.

Notes

Carolina RW Scott Walker left the game during the first period with an upper body injury, and Hurricanes D Niclas Wallin left during the second period due to a lower body injury. Neither player returned. ... Malkin has 99 career goals. ... The Hurricanes improved to 7-2 in the second of back-to-back games this season. ... Williams has 200 points with Carolina.