PITTSBURGH — An effective power play has the Carolina Hurricanes heading in the right direction.

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play had a rare good night, too, and new coach Mike Sullivan saw some positives. Not enough, though.

Jordan Staal and John-Michael Liles scored first-period power-play goals to lead the Hurricanes over the struggling Penguins 2-1 on Saturday night.

Staal scored 4:57 in for his seventh goal of the season and first career goal against his former team. Liles got his first goal of the year and first in 47 games with 5:04 left in the first period.

“It’s always nice when the power play is clicking,” Staal said. “It gives us some extra motivation or extra confidence on the offensive side of the puck when it’s going in on the power play.”

The Penguins have lost five straight, including four since hiring Mike Sullivan as coach to replace the fired Mike Johnston.

“For me, there’s a lot of positive things to take out of this game and that’s what I told our players,” Sullivan said. “When you continue to try and improve your game and play the right way, it starts to turn.

“You may not get the result right away, but it does turn.”

Cam Ward made 37 saves in his second start in as many nights for Carolina. He started a 2-0 loss Friday night against Florida, allowing one goal on 17 shots.

Evgeni Malkin ended Pittsburgh’s 0-for-19 power-play drought with his 15th goal of the season in the second period.

“We scored a power-play goal, but it’s just one goal,” Malkin said. “We need to score maybe a couple of goals 5-on-5. We played better, but it’s a tough loss.”

Matt Murray stopped 24 shots in his first NHL start for Pittsburgh. Murray was the AHL’s top goaltender during the 2014-15 season and got the start after Jeff Zatkoff allowed eight goals on 62 shots in back-to-back losses against Boston, the first time he started consecutive games. Starter Marc-Andre Fleury remains out, missing his third game with a concussion.

The Penguins have lost 10 of their last 13.