Blame this defeat on one of those laws of averages.

No, not the one that said Carolina had to win a road game at some point, even though the Hurricanes hadn't managed it in 13 previous tries. The only question about that streak had been not whether it would end, but when.

Rather, the one that dictated the outcome, if not the details, of the Penguins' 3-2 loss to the Hurricanes at Mellon Arena last night was the one that spells out how difficult it is for any team to overcome a three-goal deficit, no matter how competitively challenged its opponent might be.

So the Penguins didn't lose this game when their power play failed to capitalize on two chances in the final 25 minutes of regulation or when a surge as time was winding down in the third period failed to yield a goal that would have put the game into overtime.

Rather, they all but officially surrendered a couple of points to the Hurricanes when they allowed three unanswered goals in the first 23 minutes. They spent a lot of that time watching the Hurricanes, and presumably were impressed by what they saw.

"We weren't prepared to deal with their game, and got behind the eight-ball," Bylsma said. "Three-nothing is a long way to come back."

The Penguins got into that predicament because they seemed to take Carolina's 0-10-3 road record for the first 20-plus minutes. There was a lot of talk about respecting the Hurricanes' personnel and potential, but none of that translated into performance early in the game.

"We just had a tough time getting our feet moving and getting our heads into it," Penguins center Jordan Staal said. "We weren't playing the right way."

And it didn't take long for them to pay for it as Carolina defenseman Andrew Alberts, who did not have a goal in his previous 68 games and had just two in 291 NHL games, put the Hurricanes in front to stay at 4:45 of the opening period.

He took a feed from teammate Ray Whitney just above the left circle and carried the puck toward the net and, after Hurricanes winger Erik Cole knocked Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik out of the play in front of the net, threw a backhander past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

Cole didn't get an assist on the play, but probably deserved to get onto the scoresheet for an interference minor.

"I thought so, yeah," Orpik said. "[Cole] was driving to the net, and just kind of pushed me back into the net so I couldn't get over to [Albert]."

Carolina struck again on a power play at 11:36, as Jussi Jokinen took a lead pass from Joni Pitkanen and split between defensemen Mark Eaton and Jay McKee before throwing a shot by Fleury.

A fight between Penguins right winger Bill Guerin and Hurricanes defenseman Tim Gleason at 15:33 seemed to sharpen the Penguins' focus, but they had a relapse early in the second, when Ray Whitney made it 3-0 by beating Fleury from below the left dot.

Sidney Crosby, who returned after sitting out a game because of a sore groin, restored the Penguins' equilibrium six minutes into the period by fending off Carolina's Brandon Sutter and swatting a Guerin pass behind Carolina goalie Manny Legace for his 20th.

Forty-nine seconds later, Mike Rupp pulled the Penguins within one by putting a shot between Legace's legs from the left dot for his ninth, and they went on to run up a 15-4 advantage in shots before the intermission arrived.

"The second period was a little bit of a problem for us," Whitney said.

Yeah, just a bit.

Even so, Rupp's goal was the last one the Penguins would get. Guerin nearly scored on a power play late in the second, but Gleason was able to deflect his shot toward an open net, and some solid defensive play by the Hurricanes thwarted them throughout the final period.

"Even if we had gotten that third goal, it wouldn't change the fact that we didn't play well in the first period and probably didn't deserve to win," Penguins forward Craig Adams said.

No, probably not. And the Hurricanes certainly earned a victory that had been a long time coming.

"We've had some good first periods, especially lately," Carolina center Eric Staal said. "But it was nice -- especially on the road -- to finish the job."

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.