Hurricanes 4, Penguins 1: Jiri Tlusty scored twice and added an assist while Jeff Skinner had a goal in his return after missing five games with a concussion as host Carolina dominated Pittsburgh.

Eric Staal recorded his team-leading 10th goal and also notched two assists for the Hurricanes, who scored in the final 25 seconds of each of the first two periods - including Tlusty's second with 11 seconds to go in the middle session to make it 4-1. Cam Ward stopped 26 shots for Carolina.

Chris Kunitz scored and Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves for Pittsburgh. The Penguins fell to 1-2-0 without reigning Hart Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin, who missed his third straight game with a concussion.

Pittsburgh scored first as Kunitz took a cross-ice feed from captain Sidney Crosby in the left faceoff circle and beat Ward just under the crossbar at 13:14. The Hurricanes got the equalizer when Staal tipped in Alexander Semin's spin-around shot toward the net with 25 seconds left in the first period.

Carolina took a 2-1 lead at 4:03 of the second as Tlusty knocked home a cross-crease pass from Staal after the captain's wrap-around bid was denied. Skinner made it 3-1 less than two minutes later when he accepted a pass in the deep slot from Patrick Dwyer and beat Fleury with a wrist shot.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Carolina, which snapped a three-game losing streak to Pittsburgh, also was bolstered by the return of Ds Tim Gleason (lower body) and Jamie McBain (upper body). ... The Penguins, who entered Thursday third in the NHL on the power play at 27.3 percent, went 0-for-5 with the man advantage and didn't get a shot on goal during their first three chances. ... Semin recorded two assists, giving him four in his last three games.