Neal’s OT goal lifts Penguins

Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C.

No lead was safe for either Pittsburgh or Carolina until James Neal ended a back-and-forth game in overtime.

Neal scored at 1:03 of the extra session to lift the Penguins past the Hurricanes 4-3 on Friday night.

NHL scoring leader Sidney Crosby had a goal, and Chris Conner and Deryk Engelland each scored in the third period.

The Eastern Conference leaders rallied from one goal down in the third period and took a 3-2 lead — only to let it slip away late in regulation before Neal’s goal in OT gave them their 13th win in 15 games.

“That’s where our team has matured and changed, and I think we regrouped and didn’t let it bother us,” Neal said. “We come right back and get one.”

Neal, who also had two assists, ended it by beating Justin Peters with a wrist shot off a slick give-and-go from Jussi Jokinen — the former Carolina forward’s third assist.

“When we got our third one, I felt pretty good about it,” goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. “Disappointed to give up that third goal, but it was nice to see [Neal] finish it up for us.”

Fleury stopped 31 shots in his 500th career game.

“Marc was our best player tonight, for sure,” coach Dan Bylsma said.

Drayson Bowman scored with 2:29 left in regulation. Nathan Gerbe had a goal and an assist, Andrej Sekera scored and Peters finished with 22 saves for the Hurricanes.

They let a third-period lead slip away for the second straight game. Carolina also lost its seventh in eight games with four coming in overtime, and fell 20 points behind the Penguins.

“When you look back, you feel like you had a really good hockey game,” Carolina coach Kirk Muller said.

“It’s during those first 60 minutes, we had some opportunities to capitalize, and when you don’t, you’re going to be in tight games and you’ve got to know how to play with the lead then. It’s a very thin line of winning and losing. When you give up a couple of chances and they score, that’s the difference.”

Engelland put a hard shot past Peters with 6:45 left to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead. But Bowman forced overtime when he slipped his late wraparound past Fleury.