A Game 1 loss. Backs already to the wall. Facing nearly a "must" win on the road in Game 2.

"We've been there, done that. Done it twice. It's kind of like a routine of ours," Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason said.

It's not a routine the Hurricanes are proud of. They much rather would have broken the pattern by winning the Eastern Conference final opener against the Penguins.

Instead, they lost, 3-2, Monday. That follows road losses to New Jersey in Game 1 of the first round and to Boston in Game 1 of the second round, both by 4-1 counts.

"It's obviously disappointing, but I think we played a better game [this time] than in the prior two Game 1s," Gleason said. "It's disappointing, but we have to look forward."

Against New Jersey and Boston, Carolina came back to win each series in seven games. Three years ago, the Hurricanes' previous trip to the postseason, they lost series openers to Montreal in the first round and to Buffalo in the conference final but came back to beat those teams and win the Stanley Cup.

"We're going to have to respond again," center Eric Staal said. "We have a lot of fight and lot of character in our dressing room. No matter what the score is, no matter where we are in a game, we're not going to quit.

"We had that last game, but not close enough."

Staal was referring to the game as a whole, but he could have been talking about his chance to tie the score with 25.7 seconds left in regulation. He had Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury beaten from just outside the left edge of the crease, but the puck glanced off his stick and into Fleury rather than over the goal line.

It's of some consolation, though not a whole lot, that the Hurricanes thought this was their best effort in a losing Game 1 this postseason.

"Well, yeah, but our other two Game 1s were terrible," center Matt Cullen said. "So I don't know if that's really saying a lot. It's the conference finals, and we need to have our Aâ€'effort every night. We're not happy with the way things went, but, hopefully, we can take care of business [today]."

Coach Paul Maurice doesn't care for the precedent angle.

"It's not like we've played 15 Game 1s, lost them all, and came back and won the next one," he said. "This is a small sample that we're talking about. I think that what we have done well over our first two series is we've learned as we went. We took from the first game and learned from it and made enough ... I wouldn't even say adjustments, but just found smarter and better ways to play the game based on what we had learned in Game 1."

Several statistics from Game 1 point to a closely played, one-goal game: Carolina was outshot, 31-25, and was just behind in blocked shots, 20-18, but it matched the Penguins in hits with 28 and won 50 percent of the faceoffs. Each team had a power-play goal.

If he had to pick one area of improvement his team needs tonight, Maurice said it would be "puck control ... just a little different management of the puck."

Cullen figures it comes down to something broader.

"We just have to win," he said. "That's the approach that we're taking. We just have to play our best. And maybe play a little more desperate."

Staal looks at the improvement from each series opener to the next -- including one he's projecting in the future if the Hurricanes repeat history by coming back to beat the Penguins to advance to the Stanley Cup final.

"We played better in this Game 1 than the last two," Staal said. "Hopefully, by the next series we can win Game 1."

Carolina was down 0-1 in its first two series. How it fared in Game 2 each time.

vs. Devils: Won, 2-1, in OT on defenseman Tim Gleason's first NHL playoff goal. Cam Ward made 33 saves.

vs. Bruins: Won, 3-0, as Ward stopped 36 shots while recording his second shutout of the playoffs.