Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) stops a shot during his team's 5-0 win over Carolina Sunday afternoon. The shutout was the 41st of Fleury's career.

PITTSBURGH — Coach Mike Sullivan knows the Penguins have had mieresults have been mixed for Pittsburgh since he took over a month ago. Still, he likes his players’ effort.

The Penguins were able to put it all together for a lopsided win on Sunday.

Sidney Crosby scored two goals and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 shots for his third shutout of the season and 41st of his career as the Penguins beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-0.

“I think we have played pretty consistent hockey,” said Sullivan, whose team is 6-6-4 since he took over Dec. 13 for Mike Johnston. “We’ve said that if we continue to believe and play the right way, the results will go our way. Fortunately, we got the result we were looking for.”

Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley scored his third of the season in his 800th NHL game. Olli Maatta scored his fifth and Conor Sheary his second for the Penguins, who are one of several teams in the hunt for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh won for just the second time in six games, but the Penguins picked up points for the 10th time in 12 games.

The Penguins also ended a three-game winless stretch against Carolina, which defeated them twice in the last month, including an overtime loss on Tuesday.

“It’s going to be a grind until the end of the season,” Fleury said. “There are so many teams that are so close in the standings. Every time you play an Eastern Conference team, it’s always a big night.”

Carolina lost its second straight after a recent four-game winning streak. The Hurricanes, following an overtime loss against Vancouver on Friday, had at least a point in their last five games.

The Hurricanes allowed three or more goals in 15 of the last 26 games against Pittsburgh, going 1-11-3 in those outings.

Eddie Lack, playing in his 100th NHL game, stopped 27 shots for Carolina.

“I just didn’t think we were very good overall,” Hurricanes captain Eric Staal said. “We were on our heels a little bit and we didn’t execute like we normally do.”

Crosby gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead, scoring a power-play goal with 36.3 seconds left in the second period. The puck went off Crosby’s skate and into the goal at the right post after a sharp Phil Kessel feed from the left point. A review of the goal was upheld and Carolina’s challenge of offsides on the play also proved inconclusive. Pittsburgh entered the third period with a three-goal lead.