RALEIGH, N.C.— The Carolina Hurricanes were missing three key defensemen against a Pittsburgh offense that ranks among the NHL's best. Then they discovered an effective way to slow the Penguins' goal-scorers: Turn up the pressure at the other end of the ice.

Ray Whitney had a goal and two assists and quick-shooting Carolina scored three power-play goals in its 4-2 win against Pittsburgh on Thursday night, vaulting the Hurricanes back into first place in the Southeast Division.

Erik Cole and Eric Staal snapped long scoring droughts with goals and Ryan Bayda added his first goal for the depleted Hurricanes, who also lost captain and leading scorer Rod Brind'Amour in the game's opening moments with a torn ligament in his left knee.

"We can't afford to sit back and say, 'Oh well, close was good enough tonight, with the personnel we had,"' Whitney said. "We had to go out and try to get a win."

Whitney, who entered with no goals in his previous 10 games, broke a 2-all tie with 16:15 left when he took a feed from Staal while slipping into the slot and beat Dany Sabourin with a low wrist shot to his glove side.

"They kept it simple with traffic in front," Sabourin said. "I had a tough time against them."

Cam Ward stopped 20 shots for Carolina, which held an overwhelming 46-22 shots advantage in winning its second straight and moving back into the division lead ahead of idle Atlanta and Washington.

Evgeni Malkin scored for the fifth straight game, defenseman Brooks Orpik added his first goal of the season and Sabourin made 42 saves for Atlantic Division-leading Pittsburgh, which dropped its second in a row and fell to 6-4-2 in their 12 games since star center Sidney Crosby sprained his ankle.

"We're missing a lot of players and you know on the road it is eventually going to catch up with you," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "I think the last two games have been tough. We just have to regroup."

Malkin continued his torrid play in Crosby's absence — he has 10 goals and 13 assists since replacing Crosby on Pittsburgh's No. 1 line. His unassisted power-play goal in the second — which clipped off the stick of Carolina's Frantisek Kaberle — put the Penguins up 2-1 and moved him into second in the league with 76 points, two behind Washington's Alexander Ovechkin.

The combination of Malkin's recent scoring punch and the holes in Carolina's defense seemed too much to overcome for a Hurricanes team that entered having allowed 186 goals — the second-worst total in the league. Three defensemen were scratched — Tim Gleason and newly acquired Joe Corvo because of the flu and Bret Hedican with a lower-body injury — and three young players were rushed up from Albany of the AHL to replace them.

Then, coach Peter Laviolette had to fill another hole in his lineup when Brind'Amour tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He collided with Pittsburgh's Nathan Smith and Georges Laraque near the boards at the center line just 1Z\x minutes into the game and did not return.