Hurricanes 1st Road Victory Comes Against Pens

The Carolina Hurricanes finally posted their first victory on the road this year, holding off the Pittsburgh Penguins on route to a 3-2 win. The Penguins lost for the 2nd straight game for the first time since mid-November. Even with the road win, Carolina remains firmly in the basement of the National Hockey League with 19 points, six points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Also, the road win gives them a 1-10-3 record away from Carolina.

Carolina took the lead with Andrew Alberts' 1st goal of the season. The defenseman has 3 career goals in 292 NHL games. Jussi Jokinen put the Hurricane up 2-0 on a power play goal with defenseman Jay McKee off for holding. Jokinen split the defense and snapped a shot over Marc-Andre Fleury into the Pittsburgh net.

Early in the 2nd, Ray Whitney got his 8th as he hovered on Fleury's right, moved around a collision between McKee and Tom Kostopoulos firing a shot past Fleury to give Carolina their biggest lead in the game, 3-0. Carolina center Eric Staal, who had a had trick in his last game, got his 2nd assist of the game on Whitney's goal.

Sidney Crosby and Mike Rupp scored about 49 seconds apart after Whitney had opened the 3-0 lead to get the Penguins to within one goal, but Pittsburgh couldn't get anything more behind Carolina netminder Manny Legace, who improved to 4-4-2 with the win. Both teams were scoreless in the 3rd.

Pittsburgh faces the Montreal Canadiens Thursday, and Carolina heads to Calgary for a game with the Flames that same night.