Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Carolina goalie Cam Ward stops Sidney Crosby on a rush in the first period last night at Mellon Arena. The defending Stanley Cup champions defeated the Penguins, 5-1. Click photo for larger image. Related articles Penguins' buyer very much a man in motion Penguins Notebook: Thibault still awaits first start of season

Michel Therrien knew all about how Carolina struggled through the early days of this season.

He realized the Hurricanes were the last Eastern Conference team to record a victory, and that they rarely had played to their potential before visiting Mellon Arena last night.

He also understood that none of that really mattered, and said so hours before Carolina's 5-1 victory against the Penguins.

"They're champions and they're winners," Therrien said, "and they've proven it."

The Hurricanes did that again last night, albeit with a significant assist from the Penguins.

Carolina, despite playing its third game in four nights, was efficient and opportunistic; the Penguins (2-2) were, to put it charitably, lifeless.

"We were horrible from the get-go," defenseman Mark Eaton said. "There's no excuse for that, especially this early in the season.

"They beat us to every puck. They outskated us, outworked us. That's not acceptable."

Therrien tried to jump-start his team by reconfiguring his forward lines in a variety of combinations -- Ryan Malone dropped down to the No. 4 unit, for example, while Jordan Staal was bumped up to the second line -- but nothing worked.

"We're not playing with that much energy," right winger Mark Recchi said. "It's a little disappointing. For whatever reason, we're not creating enough and we're not working hard enough."

Hurricanes right winger Trevor Letowski left the game at 8:40 of the opening period after absorbing a blind-side hit from Colby Armstrong of the Penguins.

Letowski, who had passed the puck to linemate Eric Belanger a second or so before Armstrong arrived, appeared to be struck square on the chin by Armstrong's shoulder, and seemed to be unconscious even before he hit the ice.

"He cut to the middle and had his head down," Armstrong. "He was looking at his pass, and I just hit him, like I always do.

"I obviously felt bad when I saw him [injured]. I didn't want that to happen. What can I say?"

Letowski bled heavily from the face and was taken to the hospital, but preliminary reports were that he was coherent and was expected to rejoin the team at some point in the evening. It was not known if he had medical clearance to accompany the Hurricanes on their post-game flight to Tampa, Fla.

There was no immediate word on the precise nature of his injuries.

Seeing Letowski go down had to inspire some unpleasant memories for the Hurricanes, because Carolina winger Erik Cole got a broken neck in their previous game here, March 4. Cole was injured when he was knocked into the boards from behind by Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik.

One major difference between that incident and the play on which Letowski was injured: Orpik was assessed a boarding major and game misconduct for the hit on Cole, while Armstrong was not penalized.

The Hurricanes went in front to stay 2¹/₂ minutes into the game, when Eric Staal beat goalie Marc-Andre Fleury from the slot, and Scott Walker put Carolina up by two when he hammered in a short-side shot at 9:34.

"I don't think I played my best game," Fleury said.

The Penguins nearly got a major emotional lift as the middle of the second period approached, as they not only prevented the Hurricanes from scoring when they had a two-man advantage for 117 seconds, but limited them to one shot.

Trouble is, one second after the Penguins got back to even-strength, Walker directed a Ray Whitney pass behind Fleury from the front lip of the crease to make it 3-0.

Fleury left the game for medical attention at 10:20 after he lost his mask and was nicked above the left eye by a skate in a scramble near the crease. The blade opened a five-stitch wound and Fleury was replaced by Jocelyn Thibault, who made his first appearance of the season.

Kristopher Letang finally got the Penguins on the board with a power-play goal at 12:43, when his shot from near the top of the left circle was inadvertently steered past Ward by Carolina defenseman Anton Babchuk.

The Penguins subsequently squandered a five-on-three power play that lasted 70 seconds, and Carolina then put the game out of reach on third-period goals by defensemen Andrew Hutchinson and Mike Commodore.

The outcome, though, had been apparent long before those final two pucks eluded Thibault.

"They're the defending champs, so they know how to capitalize on opportunities and take what other teams give them," Eaton said. "And we gave them way too much."