Penguins fall to Hurricanes in Metropolitan Division clash

The Carolina Hurricanes are fast.

They don’t really try to hide that attribute. If anything, being fast is as much a brand for the Hurricanes as their red and black logo of a tropical cyclone.

And that trait clearly was evident after they set a quirky NHL record by scoring goals exactly nine seconds into both the second and third periods of their 4-3 win over the Penguins on Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.

Heck, one of their goals was scored by a guy named Fast.

The Penguins were in no way, shape or form ignorant to how fast the Hurricanes were.

Yet, despite sufficient advanced warning of how fast their opponent is, the Penguins stumbled throughout much of their first meeting of the season with the Hurricanes — at least the first half of it — and lost a key matchup against a Metropolitan Division foe.

“There are some really good teams in this league,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust surmised. “Carolina is one of them.”

The result gave the Hurricanes sole possession of first place in the division with a 34-11-4 record and 70 points. The Penguins slipped to second place with a 31-13-8 mark and 70 points.

To be clear, the Penguins weren’t simply beaten by the Hurricanes’ sheer speed. After all, the Penguins have plenty of guys who are quicker than a hiccup on the ice.

It was more a matter of how quickly the visitors converted mistakes into goals.

“It was about attention to detail and execution,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “In some instances there, we self-inflict with some of the opportunities that we gave them. It’s hard to beat a team that’s as good as Carolina is if we do that. We’ve got to do a better job at being harder to play hard against.

“When we have the puck, it’s execution. When we don’t have the puck, it’s attention to detail. In a few instances, we lost some structure there on the (defensive) sides. On the offensive side, when we had the puck, we just didn’t execute in certain instances. As a result, we fed their transition game.”

The Penguins largely struggled in the first period. Despite having two power-play opportunities within the first 20 minutes, the Penguins were outshot 12-7. One of Carolina’s shots resulted in forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s 11th goal of the season the 15:18 mark.

Only nine seconds into the second period, former Penguins forward Jordan Staal scored his fourth goal off a rebound scramble on a sequence from the opening faceoff.

After the Penguins carved out a 2-2 tie in the second thanks to goals by Rust (his 18th at 14:43) and linemate Sidney Crosby (his 15th at 17:59), the Hurricanes reclaimed the lead very early in the third.

Once again, it came at the 9-second mark.

After Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin had a pass from his own zone intercepted in the neutral zone, aptly monikered Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast quickly converted that charity into his 10th goal.

That score allowed the Hurricanes to become the first team in NHL history to score goals within the first 10 seconds of consecutive periods.

“Just got to be more ready,” Rust said curtly when queried about becoming an unusual footnote in the league’s archives.

A power-play goal by Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho, his 22nd overall, at 14:18 of the third proved to be the winner after Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues scored his 16th goal at the 18:48 mark, on a six-on-four power-play opportunity after goaltender Tristan Jarry was pulled for an extra attacker.

Jarry made 26 saves on 30 shots as his record fell to 25-10-6.

The Penguins fell to an opponent that figures to be one of their main — if not primary — impediments within the division for the remainder of the regular season, if not beyond.

That became quickly evident Sunday.

“We know they’re a good team,” Dumoulin said. “Obviously, a measuring stick.

“Definitely have to learn from this one.”