Pittsburgh Penguins winger Jason Zucker reacts to the team's 3-2 overtime victory over the New York Rangers. PITTSBURGH - Fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins have been well aware of Jeff Carter’s poor performance through the 2022-23 season. Carter himself has been aware of it and through injuries and other lineup changes has taken over duties as the fourth line center. Not a bad spot for him considering his season, but things went from bad to worse against the Montreal Canadiens. Despite going up 2-0 early in the first, the Penguins allowed the Canadiens to answer with four goals; Carter finished the period as a minus-three. Jeff Petry and Brian Dumoulin were also minus-threes, but they played far more minutes. When the final horn rang, the Canadiens not only ended their seven-game losing streak, but Carter finished a minus-four in just over eight minutes of play. Carter was held to three shifts in the second period and two in the third; it was during one of those two shifts in the final frame that the Canadiens scored to push his +/- down a notch. Hitting a minus-four in under nine minutes of ice time has happened twice now this season, but only 15 times since 1998. More often than not, you can throw the +/- statistic in the trash, but when it’s egregious like this it’s noticeable. Carter isn’t the entire reason the Penguins lost to the Canadiens, but he certainly didn’t help; he may not have been on the ice for long, but his presence was noticed. Make sure you bookmark Inside the Penguins [http://insidethepenguins.com/]for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more! Penguins Let Early Lead Slip in Loss to Canadiens [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/news/pittsburgh-penguins-early-lead-slip-loss-montreal-canadiens] P.O. Joseph Ready for Return to Penguins' Lineup [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/news/po-joseph-ready-return-pittsburgh-penguins-lineup] Penguins Focused on Canadiens Before Battles With Rangers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/pens-talk/pittsburgh-penguins-focused-montreal-canadiens-battles-new-york-rangers] Shuffled Lines Paying Off for the Penguins [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/podcasts/shuffled-lines-paying-off-pittsburgh-penguins] Penguins' D Dmitry Kulikov Out Week-to-Week with Lower-Body Injury [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/news/pittsburgh-penguins-dmitry-kulikov-out-week-lower-body-injury] * undefined * undefined