Hurricanes 4, Penguins 1: Rookie Elias Lindholm scored a pair of second-period goals as visiting Carolina avoid a season series sweep against Pittsburgh.

Defenseman Justin Faulk scored an unassisted goal and captain Eric Staal added an insurance tally in the third period as the Hurricanes halted a two-game skid (0-0-2) to moved within six points of Columbus for the second wild card. Anton Khudobin made 30 saves for Carolina, which got two assists apiece from Andrei Loktionov and Jeff Skinner.

Chris Kunitz scored the lone goal for the Penguins, who allowed four unanswered goals in falling for the fourth time in their last five home games. Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 24 shots as Pittsburgh dropped to 2-4-0 in its last six overall while failing to clinch the Metropolitan Division title.

Lindholm broke a 1-1 deadlock during a power play 9 1/2 minutes into the second period, when he buried a feed from Loktionov from the bottom of the right faceoff circle. The 19-year-old Lindholm struck again off a turnover 5 1/2 minutes later, connecting from the left faceoff dot to cap his first career multi-goal performance.

Kunitz opened the scoring nine minutes into the contest as his wrist shot from the left circle deflected off the stick of Hurricanes defenseman Ron Hainsey and past Khudobin. Faulk tied it 5 1/2 minutes later on a slap shot from the right point for Carolina, which got a tip-in from Staal with 8:13 left in the contest.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Pittsburgh C Brian Gibbons was denied by Khudobin on a penalty shot after being hooked on a breakaway by Hainsey 2:26 into the game. ... Penguins captain Sidney Crosby reached 100 points for the fifth time in his career - and first since the 2009-10 season - with his league-leading 64th assist on Kunitz's goal. ... Faulk ended a 30-game goalless drought with his first tally since Dec. 29, while Skinner extended his point streak to six games with an assist on Lindholm's second goal. ... Kunitz's career-best 35th tally extended his point streak to four contests and marked his NHL-high 14th game-opening goal this season.