Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Senators goalie Martin Gerber makes a save on the Penguins' Sidney Crosby in the second period. Click photo for larger image. Scouting Report Matchup: Penguins vs. Carolina Hurricanes, 7:08 p.m., RBC Center, Raleigh, N.C. TV, radio: WPCW, WXDX-FM (105.9). Probable goaltenders: Jocelyn Thibault for Penguins. Cam Ward for Hurricanes. Penguins: Fell to Carolina, 5-1, in first meeting of season and are 1-4-1 in past five meetings. ... Have the NHL's best power play on the road, 25.7 percent (6 of 35), but the second-worst road penalty killing, 73 percent (71.1). ... Had at least one point in seven of past eight games before last night. Hurricanes: Defending Stanley Cup champs are two games over .500 for the first time this season. ... Have played just six of first 17 games at home. ... Ward got his first regular-season shutout Thursday in 5-0 win against the Capitals. Hidden stat: The Hurricanes have killed 11 of their opponents' 12 two-man advantages. Related article Penguins Notebook: It's Cole against Orpik tonight

Coach Michel Therrien surprised the Penguins when he told them to take Thursday off.

And most of them surprised Therrien by taking last night off.

Oh, they showed up at Mellon Arena, just like the schedule said they were supposed to, but that was about the extent of it, as they pulled off an unnatural hat trick of bad hockey --soft goals, sloppy execution and poor decision-making -- in what became a 6-3 loss to Ottawa.

"That was a really bad game for us," center Maxime Talbot said. "We didn't have a lot of positives."

Or any, for that matter.

The defeat, which came before a standing-room crowd of 17,052, ran the Penguins' winless streak to 0-2-2 and dropped their record to 7-5-2.

The Senators finished with a 44-17 advantage in shots, as the Penguins rarely tested Senators goalie Martin Gerber. That was a significant failing, since Gerber's problems stopping a specific kind of shot -- the kind that is on goal -- had been well-documented.

"In the first [period], we saw it, but we didn't shoot on him enough," Talbot said. "We couldn't create anything."

Or disrupting much of anything the Senators, who had been 0-4-1 in their previous five games, generated.

"We gave up way too many shots, way too many scoring chances," Therrien said.

Penguins defenseman Eric Cairns, making his 2006-07 debut after sitting out the first 13 games after having knee surgery, wasted no time getting back into his enforcer role. He fought Ottawa tough guy Brian McGrattan on his first and only shift of the opening period, just 4:56 into the game.

"Nobody showed up except Eric Cairns," Therrien said.

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who played a prominent role many of the Penguins' victories during the first month of the season, had his fingerprint all over a couple of Ottawa goals during the first period.

Dany Heatley gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 3:42, when he threw in a shot from below the left hash.

The problem was not Heatley's shot, but the juicy rebound that made it possible, as Fleury failed to corral a soft, bad-angle backhander from the right side by Senators defenseman Wade Redden.

Fleury was victimized again at 9:50, when Jason Spezza beat him with a slap shot from near the bottom of the right circle.

"It seemed like nothing was working good," Fleury said. "For me, at least."

The Ottawa goals sandwiched one by Michel Ouellet of the Penguins, who converted an Evgeni Malkin pass during a power play at 7:11 for his sixth of the season.

That was one of just six shots the Penguins got during the opening period; Ottawa threw 19 at Fleury, who made several excellent stops to counter the suspect goals he allowed.

The Penguins didn't challenge Gerber much early in the second, either, but Malkin and Ouellet -- with a big assist from Sidney Crosby --teamed up for another power-play goal at 6:11.

Crosby carried the puck across the Ottawa blue line, then gave a between-the-legs drop pass to Ouellet. He, in turn, fed it to Malkin, who stuck a high shot behind Gerber from below the left dot for his eighth.

Ottawa took the lead for good at 11:48, when defenseman Andrej Meszaros lashed a slap shot from the left point through traffic and past Fleury.

The Senators grabbed a two-goal advantage -- something they had squandered in each of their previous two games -- when Redden scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle on a power play at 16:12.

His goal came a few seconds after penalty-killer Colby Armstrong failed to clear the puck into the Ottawa end once he had gotten it into the neutral zone.

Any chance of a Penguins comeback -- not that there was much of one -- disappeared at 4:55 of the third, when Ottawa's Mike Fisher swiped the puck from defenseman Rob Scuderi and fed it to Peter Schaefer, who whipped a shot behind Fleury to make it 5-2.

Talbot produced one of the Penguins' few inspired efforts while scoring a short-handed goal at 8:36, as he carried the puck down the right side, got around defenseman Tom Preissing and stuffed a shot past Gerber.

Heatley negated that, though, by knuckling a shot past Fleury from inside the right circle at 14:28 to close out the scoring and cement the Penguins' foul humor heading into their game at Carolina tonight.

"I don't think anyone was happy with tonight's effort," defenseman Ryan Whitney said.

"Obviously, we can do better than that."