The Penguins had to think that things couldn't possibly get worse after they failed to win any of their first nine games.

Turns out they could.

And they have.

The Penguins, in what was as close to a "must-win" situation as an NHL team can face in October, gave up four unanswered goals in the final eight minutes of regulation last night, allowing a 3-1 lead over Carolina to mutate into a 5-3 loss at Mellon Arena.

"Everything fell apart," goalie Sebastien Caron said. "Oh, my God. Disaster."

Whether the defeat will have any long-term repercussions for team personnel remains to be seen. That it will have some lingering psychological effects is pretty much a given.

The Penguins, after all, unraveled against a team that was playing for the third time in four nights. That had traveled here after playing a physically and emotionally draining game in Raleigh 24 hours earlier. That had shown a great ability to generate scoring chances, but no real knack for capitalizing on them.

Hold onto the lead they had built, and the Penguins (1-5-5) could have taken a two-game winning streak -- and their first real momentum of the season -- into the five-game trip that begins Tuesday in New Jersey.

"We had a great opportunity tonight to get something going," winger Mark Recchi said. "And we didn't."

Rod Brind'Amour revived Carolina with a power-play goal that made it 3-2 at 12:24 of the third -- shortly after the Penguins had survived a five-on-three disadvantage -- and Glen Wesley tied it 1¹/₂ minutes later when his shot from the top of the left circle hit the stick of Penguins forward Mario Lemieux and deflected past Caron.

The Penguins were staggered by those goals, and Ray Whitney scored the winner at 16:46, 32 seconds after Penguins rookie Sidney Crosby -- who was held without a point for just the second time this season -- was penalized for interfering with Wesley near the Hurricanes' goal line.

The puck appeared to be in Wesley's skates when Crosby checked him from behind, and Crosby -- to say nothing of several teammates and the crowd of 16,420 -- expressed surprise that he was sent off for the hit.

"It was a fight for the puck," Crosby said. "Basically, a race for the puck. We were pretty much even. I was just trying to take the body and hopefully get [the puck] loose. I knew [Recchi] was behind me.

"It's tough to get called on that, but the bottom line is that they tied it up at that point, and we can't let that happen, either."

Whitney flipped a rebound past Caron to put Carolina in front for good, and Justin Williams sealed the outcome by scoring into an empty net at 19:26.

The Penguins' performance in the final half of the third period qualifies as a complete meltdown, but their penchant for self-destruction -- pretty much a constant during the first three-plus weeks of the season -- had surfaced much earlier. They were assessed three minors in the opening 3:29 of play, setting up two extended five-on-three power plays for the Hurricanes.

Carolina converted on the first, as Cory Stillman, hovering near the right post, put in a cross-ice feed from Whitney at 3:19, while Brooks Orpik (hooking, 1:33) and Rico Fata (holding, 2:41) were in the box.

John LeClair pulled the Penguins even with his fourth goal of the season and third in the past two games at 14:06, shoveling in a backhander while perched at the left side of the crease.

The Penguins got a five-on-three goal -- although not quickly or easily -- at 2:06 of the second period, on a Sergei Gonchar shot from the right side.

Goalie Martin Gerber plucked the puck out of midair, but the Penguins began to protest immediately that his hand ended up inside the net and, after a lengthy review, video goal judge Jim Weaver concurred.

Ziggy Palffy expanded the Penguins' comfort zone a bit at 8:24, when his centering pass from the right side hit a skate and caromed past Gerber to make it 3-1.

Carolina did not record its first shot of the period until just 5¹/₂ minutes were left and Kevyn Adams put the puck on goal while the Hurricanes were killing a penalty. At that point, there was little reason to suspect the Hurricanes were capable of coming back.

"For two periods, we played really well," coach Ed Olczyk said.

That changed in the third, dramatically and emphatically. The Hurricanes' 19-4 edge in shots didn't begin to reflect the way they controlled the play.

"I kind of felt that for the first few shifts in the third period that we weren't doing the things that we were doing earlier in the game," Olczyk said. "I felt the tide was turning."

Within minutes, it was over his players' heads. And what was shaping up as an important victory deteriorated into what might become a more important defeat.

"We knew what was at stake," Olczyk said. "This was a tough loss."

One whose cost might not be measured solely in points.