Recap: Canes Flattened In Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH - The Carolina Hurricanes fell behind early and could not recover on Tuesday, losing 5-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

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A turnover by the Canes behind their own net inside the first four minutes allowed Sidney Crosby to open the scoring. That turned out to be a harbinger of things to come, with another pair of markers just 65 seconds apart from Justin Brazeau and Anthony Mantha putting the Hurricanes in a three-goal hole at the end of the opening frame.

The scoring stopped for the majority of the second period until two more tallies - one from Tommy Novak and another from Mantha - made it a five-goal gap between the two teams. But just 17 seconds after Mantha's second, Mark Jankowski called his own number on a 2-on-1, wiring a wrist shot past Stuart Skinner's glove to foil his shutout bid and get the Canes on the board.

Jankowski's goal, unfortunately, did not spark an unlikely comeback after the break, as Pittsburgh locked things down in a relatively low-event third period.

Making 22 saves, Frederik Andersen's winless streak moved to eight games, now 0-6-2 dating back to Nov 15.

Stats & Standouts

• Forward Mark Jankowski scored his second goal of the season, ending a run of 17 games without a goal.
• Defenseman Joel Nystrom registered his third assist in his last five games, and seventh overall this season.
• Defenseman Mike Reilly notched his first point since Nov. 4, ending a 16-game run without finding the scoresheet.
• Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere missed a second consecutive game with a lower-body injury. He is considered day-to-day.

They Said It...

Rod Brind'Amour giving his assessment of the contest...

"It's the type of game where you know we're dragging. We needed to get off to a good start, and then when we didn't, we were behind the eight ball and never got rolling. It was tough sledding. It was not a good effort, that's clear. You can't play and win in the NHL like that. We needed to get off to a better start; I think that might have given us some life. We were flat again tonight."

Mark Jankowski after the loss...

"It wasn't good enough all around. Right from the start, obviously, the first period, we let them kind of control the play. They got a power play goal there, and we didn't come ready to play. That's on all of us in the locker room. We've got to do a better job."

Rod Brind'Amour describing the play in front of Frederik Andersen...

"Lackluster. It's not the way we've got to play. We had a couple of guys, especially early, who were just not engaged. We gave them some easy looks and they ended up in the back of our net. Pittsburgh played a good game, give them credit, but it was a pretty easy game for them."

Mark Jankowski continuing on the team needing to play a hard game...

"We demand a lot of ourselves. Every single guy in this room can look in the mirror tonight and say that they could have done a better job. It's all 20 of us..."

Rod Brind'Amour on the team needing to come ready to play with the right frame of mind..

"It is a mindset. You've got to get ready to play. It's a hard game you have to play to be successful, certainly our team. It's not like we're going to go up and down and score 10 goals. You have to do it the right way and I thought we were looking for the easy way tonight. That's not going to happen."

Mark Jankowski on not using the schedule as an excuse...

"We've just got to be ready for the games. Every single team in this league is going through the same thing as us. It's not just us. You can say the schedule is hard, there's travel, this and that, but every single team is doing the same thing. We've just got to make sure we're ready to go for every game."

What's Next After This Game?

• The Canes will fly home post-game. They'll return to game action at Lenovo Center on Thursday against Montreal.
• Next Home Game: Thursday, Jan. 1 vs. Montreal | 7:00 p.m. ET | FDSNSO | Tickets | Parking