Jan 23, 2011 3 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Dustin Jeffrey, Mark Letestu and Pascal Dupuis scored and the Pittsburgh Penguins held off the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Saturday night for their first win without injured stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Playing a second straight game with their dynamic scoring duo, the Penguins limited Carolina’s chances until Sergei Samsonov and Eric Staal scored over the final 4:25 to make things interesting.

Crosby missed his eighth consecutive game due to a concussion, and Malkin has sat out two because of a sore left knee and a sinus infection.

The Penguins’ 2-0 loss at New Jersey on Thursday was the first game they played without Crosby and Malkin since Malkin entered the NHL in 2006.

Pittsburgh has won four of five and is 4-3-1 without Crosby. The Hurricanes have lost three of four and four of six.

Samsonov ended Marc-Andre Fleury’s bid for his second shutout of the season with 4:25 to play. It was his first goal in 10 games and ninth of the season.

Staal then made the Penguins’ 191st consecutive sellout crowd nervous when he cut Carolina’s deficit to 3-2 with 58 seconds left. Staal scored a power-play goal, putting in the rebound of Joe Corvo’s shot.

Six of the Hurricanes’ 26 shots were recorded over the final five minutes against the Penguins, who have already blown a pair of two-goal leads in the third period at home this season.

After 37:14 of scoreless hockey to open the game, Jeffrey scored with a hard low wrist shot from high above the right circle.

It was his second goal in six games this season and third in 20 career contests.

The goal was scored 72 seconds after Erik Cole thought he gave Carolina a 1-0 lead. Officials initially ruled his shot from the right circle was a goal, but a video review quickly confirmed that the puck hit the crossbar after deflecting off the end of Fleury’s stick.

Letestu scored his 10th goal 2:22 into the second period on a shot while he was wide open in the slot. Letestu took a pretty feed from Chris Kunitz to finish the play.

It was the Penguins’ first power-play goal in four games, since they scored four in a 5-2 win at Montreal on Jan. 12. Pittsburgh had only one power-play chance in each of the previous three games.

Dupuis made it 3-0 with 12:32 left, scoring his 10th of the season and second while the Penguins were short-handed. Dupuis flipped a backhander past Ward off a nice pass from Jordan Staal seconds after Fleury twice denied Staal’s brother, Eric, who was alone in the slot.

NOTES: Many fans brought Terrible Towels to the game on the eve of the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the New York Jets in the AFC championship game. … The Penguins improved to 11-2 against Southeast Division teams. … Fleury is 21-5-2 in his past 28 starts. … The Carolina franchise has 999 wins.