Hurricanes put the clamps on Penguins -- again -- in lopsided loss

PITTSBURGH — Some things change. Others stay the same.

Such as Carolina frustrating Pittsburgh.

Both the Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes, their visitors at PPG Paints Arena on Friday night, experienced significant amounts of turnover this past season. But even as the secondary and tertiary figures in this Metropolitan Division rivalry get reshuffled every year, the Hurricanes continue to have the Penguins’ number.

Their 4-1 victory on Friday improved them to 9-3-0 in their last dozen meetings.

The Penguins scored early, but then the Hurricanes put the clamps on them. Rookie Joel Blomqvist kept them in it for a bit, but they didn’t generate rush chances nor much zone time against a stingy Carolina squad coached by Rod Brind’Amour.

Drew O’Connor continued his hot start to the season with the ice-breaking goal.

It looked like a nothing play when he skated in one versus two. But he created just enough space for himself to get off an incredible shot from the left faceoff dot. He stunned Frederik Andersen by firing it into the top-right corner, making it 1-0.

O’Connor has three goals in five games since Mike Sullivan dropped him down into the middle six. That helped to create needed offensive balance. The third-line trio of O’Connor, Lars Eller and Jesse Puljujarvi has scored in three straight games.

That would be the lone offensive highlight for the Penguins, who scored exactly six goals in three of the previous four games — which included back-to-back wins.

The Hurricanes responded quickly to that goal off the rush by O’Connor. With the fourth line for both teams on the ice, Jackson Blake tied it up 64 seconds later.

This was the third straight game the Penguins allowed a goal less than two minutes after scoring one themselves — a problem that plagued them last season, too.

The Hurricanes controlled play in that period, not allowing the Penguins to get off a single shot from the slot, per Sportlogiq. Then the visitors really started to push in the second. For much of the period, it was a shooting barrage on Blomqvist.

Eventually, the Hurricanes broke through Blomqvist for a pair of power-play goals. The first ricocheted in off of Kris Letang. Then late in the frame, with Michael Bunting in the penalty box for four minutes, Shayne Gostisbehere scored from the point.

By that point, the Hurricanes had sucked the life out of a packed PPG Paints Arena. The energy inside the arena was a stark difference from Wednesday, when Evgeni Malkin got his 500th goal in a wild comeback win against the Buffalo Sabres.

Jack Roslovic scored midway through the third period to make it a 4-1 deficit.

Blomqvist made 34 saves in his third start in the team’s last five games. He wasn’t bad, but he was also fortunate to escape the game with only four goals against. The Hurricanes drilled the post on four occasions — all on Blomqvist’s blocker side.

Ice chips

— Tristan Jarry backed up Blomqvist against Carolina. Meanwhile, Alex Nedeljkovic was with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning stint as he works his way back from injury. He’s expected to rejoin the NHL club sometime in the coming days.

— The Penguins opened the game with the same lineup they used in Wednesday’s win over Buffalo. The healthy scratches were Ryan Shea and Valtteri Puustinen.

— Malkin’s point streak was snapped at four games. He didn’t get a shot on goal.

— The penalty kill was 11 for 13 in the season’s first five games, but it gave up two against a Carolina team that had not scored a power-play goal prior to Friday.

— The Pittsburgh power play was scoreless on its five opportunities Friday night.

— Many fans arrived at the rink early to try to score a Mario Lemieux bobblehead.

Coming up

The Penguins are scheduled to practice Saturday in Cranberry before they head to Winnipeg, Manitoba, for the first game of their five-game Western Canada trip.