Penguins 2, Hurricanes 1: Brandon Sutter burned his former team by scoring the go-ahead goal with 1:42 remaining in the third period as host Pittsburgh snapped its four-game skid (0-3-1).

Chris Kunitz collected a goal and an assist while Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 24 saves in his season-high eighth straight start for the Penguins, who remained in a first-place tie with the New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division. Beau Bennett set up both tallies in his return from a lower-body injury.

Captain Eric Staal scored for the second straight game for the Hurricanes, who have mustered just 16 goals while dropping 11 of their last 13 contests. Jiri Tlusty notched an assist and Cam Ward turned aside 37 shots - including all 17 in the second period - but fell to 13-7-3 lifetime versus Pittsburgh.

Fleury sprawled to deny Tlusty in the waning moments of the second period and made a glove save on Elias Lindholm early in the third to preserve a 1-1 tie. Selected with the 11th overall pick in the 2007 draft by Carolina, Sutter's wrist shot from the slot deflected off sliding Hurricanes defenseman Brett Bellemore and sailed inside the left post for his eighth goal of the season.

Staal's wrist shot from the slot beat Fleury inside the right post 9:12 into the first to open the scoring. Kunitz one-timed Bennett's centering feed over the glove of Ward with 22 seconds left in the period to forge a tie.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Kunitz, who has scored twice in his last four games, has collected two goals and two assists against Carolina this season. ... In addition to Bennett, Pittsburgh also welcomed back RW Craig Adams (undisclosed) and D Christian Ehrhoff (lower body) to the lineup. ... Pittsburgh RW Bryan Rust and Ehrhoff each recorded six shots on goal.