Marc-Andre Fleury helps Penguins rally

PITTSBURGH-- Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 third-period saves to help the Pittsburgh Penguins come back and defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday.
Fleury replaced Matt Murray, who made 25 saves on 27 shots, to start the third period. Fleury won his third straight game one night after making 21 saves in a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils.

After being told he would enter the game, Fleury said he used the second intermission to warm up in the Penguins gym by taking shots from injured defenseman Kris Letang.
"It's a little different when you sit on the bench for a while and then you have to go in," Fleury said. "You definitely don't feel as sharp right away. … I tried to move around and get the body moving."
WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Penguins highlights
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Murray sustained a lower-body injury near the end of the second period but provided no additional details.
Chris Kunitz and Carl Hagelin scored for Pittsburgh, which trailed 2-1 in the third period.
Kunitz tied it 2-2 at 1:59. The goal was his first since Nov. 12, when he scored his second goal of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Hagelin scored his second goal in as many games to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead with 4:15 remaining.
The Penguins (24-8-5) have won three straight since losing 7-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Dec. 22.
"Whether we're down a goal or two, or if we're up, we continue to play the game hard," Sullivan said. "It was one of those nights where it was a bit of a struggle. We didn't seem to have a whole lot of juice as a team, and so it's trying to find ways to win. It's scratching, clawing, competing on pucks. It's getting in shot lanes.

"Good teams find ways. We know we don't have our A game here tonight. Over the course of a long season there are going to be those nights where we don't necessarily have our A game, but we better have our A commitment."
The Hurricanes (15-12-7) could not extend their winning streak to four games. Goalie Cam Ward's winning streak also ended at three games; he made 23 saves. Carolina outshot Pittsburgh 46-26.
"We were around the net a lot," Hurricanes forward Elias Lindholm said. "It was bouncing all over the place. It's just kind of unlucky. Sooner or later, we're going to get those bounces and probably get a few more goals."
Lindholm gave Carolina a 1-0 lead 8:10 into the first period.
Sidney Crosby extended his goal streak to five games to tie it 1-1 26 seconds into the second period. His NHL-leading 26th goal (in 31 games) tied him with Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid for the League lead with 42 points, one more than Penguins teammate Evgeni Malkin.
Lee Stempniak gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead 12:32 into the second period.

Goal of the game

Hagelin scored the game-winner after Patric Hornqvist drove through the offensive zone. Hornqvist passed to Hagelin in the right circle, where he one-timed a shot over Ward's glove.

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Save of the game

With the Penguins trailing 1-0, Murray stopped a shot from Ron Hainsey with his left pad before the puck slid through the crease. Sebastian Aho shot the rebound off Murray's right pad and the left post before it bounced behind Murray, who closed his left pad behind him to freeze the puck with 8:10 remaining in the first period.

Highlight of the game

Ward kept the Penguins from taking a 2-1 lead with a breakaway save. Scott Wilson went backhand-to-forehand but was denied by Ward's right pad at 3:24.

Unsung performance of the game

Without Letang (lower body), Olli Maatta (illness) and Brian Dumoulin (jaw), Penguins defenseman Ian Cole played 24:35 and blocked seven shots.

They said it

"It wasn't pretty. I mean, they came at us pretty hard and generated a lot. We did a good job of just sticking with it as best we could and got some big saves from [Murray and Fleury] throughout the game." -- Penguins forward Sidney Crosby
"They scored. We didn't." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters on the difference in the third period
"They're a good team, and I think we had the effort, but they played fast and we need to play faster. I thought we were OK, but we couldn't handle the lead, and I thought they played a really good third period. We need to be better." -- Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen

Need to know

Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk did not play and is week to week with a lower-body injury. He had scored four goals and seven points in his past five games. … Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley played 20:52 after missing five games with an upper-body injury.

What's next

Hurricanes: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-CR, WGN, NHL.TV)
Penguins: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVA Sports, ROOT, NHL.TV)