Eric Staal scores 2 against reeling Pens

Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C.

Cam Ward stood tall in his return from a bout with a virus, and his Carolina Hurricanes teammates gave the goalie plenty of offensive help.

Eric Staal had a goal and two assists Thursday night as the Hurricanes beat the stumbling Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Thursday night. The Penguins have lost six of their past seven games.

The victory not only gave Carolina a split of the four-game season series, but it ended a recent string of tough results at home.

Brandon Sutter and Ian Cole scored for the Penguins, who had won the previous four season series with Carolina before the teams won two games apiece this time.

“I liked our start,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston said. “And they capitalized on a turnover on their first goal. But I thought what happened was that we didn’t capitalize on our chances.

Ryan Murphy, Jay McClement, Alexander Semin and Andrej Nestrasil scored for Carolina, which had been 0-3-3 in its last six home games since a 7-4 win over Edmonton on March 8. Brad Malone had a pair of assists as Carolina won for the first time in its last five home games against the Penguins.

“It was a funny game,” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. “It didn’t seem like there was a lot of flow early. But Cam made some huge saves. I think we did the right thing by making sure he was 100 percent healthy and had his strength back before we played him.

“There was a lot of offense. They had a bunch of good looks and so did we. Eric had a bunch of good looks that he didn’t quite finish on but generated a lot of quality, Grade A chances.”

Ward, playing for the first time in five games, finished with 27 saves. Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury made 23.

“It was fun to get back into the net,” Ward said. “I had a rough go with the sickness, and I was just happy to be back feeling healthy. I was a little bit anxious to start the game, but after I made a couple of saves, the nerves calmed down.

“[Pittsburgh] is a strong hockey team and they’ve got some of the best players in the world. They’re known to be a high-scoring team. They’ve been hard-pressed to score goals lately. Tonight they shot a lot of pucks, but I was seeing it really well.”

Carolina led 2-1 after the first period despite being outshot 14-7.

The teams exchanged goals during an early 4-on-4 situation.

Sutter put the Penguins ahead at 3:54, beating Ward from the doorstep with Sidney Crosby on the assist.

Staal evened it 5:05, beating Fleury from the low slot with his younger brother, Jordan Staal, on the helper. And Murphy put Carolina up 2-1 at 8:27, beating Fleury glove side after a perfect cross-ice pass from Malone.

“They capitalized [on the first goal] when we turned the puck over,” said Eric Staal, Carolina’s captain. “But it was nice to get that one back quickly.”