PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins are heading to the playoffs for an eighth straight year. Colton Orr Maple Leafs Jersey . Barring an epic collapse, a Metropolitan Division title is all but clinched. What happens after that, however, is anybodys guess. Dominant in the beginning but dismal at the end, the Penguins let a chance to clinch their second straight division crown slip away in a 4-1 loss to Carolina on Tuesday night that left Pittsburgh just 8-8-2 since returning from the Olympic break. Not exactly the kind of momentum a Stanley Cup contender wants to bring into the final days of the regular season. "If youre not 100 per cent, they can expose you and make you look pretty silly," Penguins defenceman Brooks Orpik said. "Thats what happened here tonight." Carolina rookie Elias Lindholm scored twice for the first multi-goal game of his career, Eric Staal and Justin Faulk also scored while Jeff Skinner added two assists. Anton Khudobin stopped 30 shots as the Hurricanes avoided being swept in the season series by Pittsburgh for the first time in 18 years. "I thought we kept it simple and kind of slowly frustrated them as it went on and it was a win we needed," Staal said. Chris Kunitz scored his 35th goal to give Pittsburgh an early lead, but the Penguins crumbled over the final two periods. Sidney Crosby picked up an assist to push his NHL-leading point total to 100, but the Penguins appeared to lose interest after failing to bury the Hurricanes during a frenetic opening barrage in which they appeared ready to run Carolina out of the arena. "We all felt like the first 10 minutes we were carrying the play ... for whatever reason we got away from that," Crosby said. "Maybe we thought that came easy or we could get away with cheating. And it didnt work." No, it didnt. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves, but received little help playing behind a sloppy defence. The Penguins turned it over 13 times, including a series of miscues the Hurricanes were only too happy to turn into goals. "I think we started mismanaging the puck and started having turnovers in the neutral zone," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. The Penguins appeared to right the enigmatic final third of their season with a spirited 4-1 victory over Chicago on Sunday night. Two days later, the sense of urgency evaporated when the Hurricanes -- who are about to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year -- failed to roll over. Pittsburgh recorded 12 of the first 14 shots, including Kunitzs wrist shot from the left circle that Khudobin never saw. Crosby picked up the secondary assist to lift his point total to the century mark for the fifth time in his career, drawing a roar from the usual sellout crowd at Consol Energy Center. It had all the makings of a blowout. One developed, just not the one the Penguins were expecting. Carolina steadied itself late in the first, evening the game on a knuckling slap shot by Faulk that gave the Hurricanes the confidence boost they needed to get back in it. The Penguins malaise did the rest. "That goal from (Faulk) really evens it up and then we kind of just took a deep breath, got our legs going better and then I thought we just started moving better and playing a much smarter game," Carolina coach Kirk Muller said. Lindholm put Carolina in front to stay 9:24 into the second with a power-play goal that included a pretty feed from Skinner, who threaded a pass between Pittsburgh defenceman Olli Maattas legs right to Lindholms stick. Fleury never had a chance. The goaltender was equally helpless five minutes later when a turnover by teammate Deryk Engelland handed Skinner and Lindholm a breakaway that Lindholm converted into the first multi-goal game of his brief career. Any late push by the Penguins ended when Staals tip-in eluded Fleury with just over 8 minutes left. Instead of skating off the ice with their fourth division title since Crosbys arrival in 2005, Pittsburgh trudged to the locker room wondering when the consistency that propelled them to the top of the Eastern Conference before the Olympic break will return. "Theres not much good to take out of it," Crosby said. "So weve just got to make sure we respond the next game." NOTES: Carolina played without F Alexander Semin, who was scratched due to an illness. ... The Hurricanes return home to face Dallas on Thursday. ... The Penguins fell to 45-8-4 this season when Crosby scores a point. James Van Riemsdyk Jersey . Left guard Clint Boling tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a 17-10 victory in San Diego on Sunday. The Bengals put him on injured reserve Tuesday. Maple Leafs Jersey . Red Wings coach Ken Holland says hes excited to keep one of the young coaches in hockey. If Mike Bab**** does not keep coaching the Red Wings after his contract expires following next season, the Red Wings can potentially promote Blashill to lead their NHL franchise.TORONTO -- Bullying is often associated with children, but former Toronto Argonauts star Mike (Pinball) Clemons isnt surprised that a burly NFL player was antagonized to the point where he left his team midway through the season. Offensive tackle Jonathan Martin left the Miami Dolphins last week after reportedly receiving constant harassment from teammate Richie Incognito. Incognito, a starting guard, was suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team for his interaction with Martin, a 2012 second-round pick from Stanford. Dolphins coaches reportedly asked Incognito, a nine-year veteran who is white, to toughen up Martin, who is bi-racial, after he missed a voluntary workout last spring. Incognito is accused of using a racial slur to describe Martin and also sending him threatening text messages. "What it really shows is bullying is a microcosm of society, that its in our daily lives," Clemons, the former Argos star player and coach whos now the CFL teams vice-chair, said in a telephone interview. "Bullying is often associated with kids but its full grown, its everywhere. "Its in the office, its on the playground. Everywhere we work, live and play bullying is present and the more we see it and understand it, I think the more capable we are of dealing with it." Incognito has made headlines before. He was suspended during his college career with Nebraska after getting into an altercation with a teammate, and also had legal issues while with the Cornhuskers. Incognito has also earned a reputation of being one of the NFLs dirtiest players and in 09 was released by the St. Louis Rams for undisciplined play. But in Miami, Incognito was voted by teammates to serve on the clubs player council. Bullying is a subject near and dear to the hearts of Clemons and the Argos. The CFL club has been involved in the Huddle Up Bullying Prevention Program for over a decade. Argos players and officials annually visit area schools to educate students about bullying, encourage them to stop doing it to one another and how to help those they see being bullied. And Clemons said bullying can take place in even the most simplest forms. "We do little things on a daily basis that bully people," Clemons said. "We lay on the horn when somebody is in traffic. Tim Horton Jersey. "They cant control traffic, they cant do anything but were mad at the car in front of us. Or were in a hurry because we didnt leave ourselves enough time and so were mad at the car thats going the speed limit. We do this in our everyday lives but the key is most times we keep ourselves from going too far." The reality in sports -- especially the pro ranks -- is all players are subject to some form of rookie hazing or initiation. Football is no different, with first-year players often having to carry teammates helmets and shoulder pads after practice and being responsible for covering the cost of the veterans dinners. But the prospect of a six-foot-five, 312-pound All-American offensive lineman being bullied to the point of leaving his team to seek counselling is difficult to comprehend. "Once you break training camp, the guy is no longer a rookie, hes a part of your team," Clemons said. "There are places where it lasts lightly for that rookie year, they have to do little things like bring doughnuts when you have an early flight . . . but after that (rookie year) it stops." Despite his diminutive size, the five-foot-six, 170-pound Clemons said he was never the victim of bullying but was forced to deal with racism growing up. Clemons believes Martin took the right approach in handling his situation. "He took the absolute right route because he did what he thought was proper," Clemons said. "You can deal with the guy personally, and whos to say he didnt try? We dont know that. "You can take it to the organization or do what he did, which was walk out and when they followed up on it said "This was why I did what I did. In a school situation we always say you need to let someone in authority know." Clemons said while bullying is a very serious issue, hes hopeful lessons can be learned from this. "Many times we think of the kid being bullied is a kid that looks like me, tiny and diminutive," Clemons said. "This guy is a big dude . . . its not always the small guy. "Hopefully better things will be ahead because of this. Its hard to think of this process as being a good process but I believe it could have many good outcomes." cheap jerseyscheap jerseys from china ' ' '
