Things were quite different for the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2018.

Mike Sullivan was the coach. Jim Rutherford was the general manager. Matt Murray was the goaltender. Ben Kindel was 11 years old.

And they knew what it was like to win a game in the Tarheel State.

On Tuesday, a trend of futility continued as the Penguins lost a ninth consecutive road game against the Carolina Hurricanes, falling, 5-4, in a shootout at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C.

Shootout goals by forwards Andrei Svechnikov and Jackson Blake were the difference.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped a season-high 39 of 43 shots in regulation and overtime, then allowed two goals on three attempts in the shootout as his record slipped to 19-13-8.

“(Skinner) was huge,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said to reporters in Raleigh via audio provided by the team’s media relations department. “There’s so many big saves that he made.”

Kindel, now an 18-year-old forward, scored the only goal on three shootout attempts for the Penguins.

Tuesday’s loss came despite a stirring comeback attempt, which saw the Penguins score two goals late in regulation with Skinner pulled to force overtime.

The Penguins’ last triumph in the Piedmont was a 3-0 win at the venue formerly known as PNC Arena on Dec. 18, 2018. Since then, they have a 0-4-5 record as visitors against the Hurricanes.

Hurricanes forward Logan Stankoven opened the scoring Tuesday 7:46 into regulation with his 12th goal of the season.

From the left half-wall of the offensive zone, Hurricanes defenseman Mike Reilly lobbed a wrister on net, which Skinner rejected with his right leg. Reilly outraced Kindel to the ensuing rebound and mashed a backhander on net, only to be turned away by Skinner again. Another rebound trickled loose to the slot where Stankoven claimed it and lifted an off-balance fadeaway wrister past Skinner’s glove. Reilly and Blake had assists.

The Penguins tied it late in the first period at the last minute – literally – when forward Anthony Mantha scored his 24th goal at the 19:04 mark.

After corralling a puck at the left point of the offensive zone and keeping it onside, Penguins rookie forward Ville Koivunen offloaded it to the high slot for Mantha. Curling around to his left and turning his attention to the net, Mantha utilized Hurricanes defenseman K’Andre Miller as a screen and lasered a wrister past goaltender Frederik Andersen’s blocker. Koivunen, a former Hurricanes prospect, collected the lone assist.

Penguins forward Bryan Rust — a participant in that 2018 victory — supplied his team with its first lead of Tuesday’s contest by scoring his 22nd goal at 11:44 of the second period during a power-play sequence.

With Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook trying to defend the defensive zone without a stick, Penguins forward Egor Chinakhov took advantage of that impairment by zipping a pass from above the left circle, past a flummoxed Martinook to the lower right circle. Rust accepted the offering and ramped a wrister over Andersen’s glove on the near side. Chinakhov and defenseman Erik Karlsson claimed assists.

The Hurricanes regained a lead with a hiccup-up quick outburst of two goals to open the third period.

Former Penguins forward Mark Jankowski tied the game 2:49 into the third period via his sixth goal.

After Penguins defenseman Kris Letang failed to collect a puck dumped into the Penguins’ left corner, Hurricanes forward William Carrier swooped in to claim it, then snapped a pass to the upper left hashmark for Jankowski, who fired a wrister that struck off of Skinner’s mask. The rebound fluttered to the slot and struck off the right skate of Penguins forward Connor Dewar. Sitting free above the crease, Jankowski jabbed in a backhander into a mostly vacant cage past the left leg of a scrambling Skinner. Carrier and rookie defenseman Alexander Nikishin negotiated assists.

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Only 59 seconds later, forward Seth Jarvis scored his 28th goal.

From Carolina’s end boards, Koivunen fed a pass attempt to the near half-wall. Defenseman Connor Clifton pinched in to get to the puck, but Svechnikov chopped it out of the defensive zone, through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. Jarvis chased down the puck at Pittsburgh’s left circle and attacked the cage on a mini-breakaway. As Penguins defenseman Ilya Solovyov tried to race back to apply pressure, Jarvis cut across the front of the crease and fired a wrister past Skinner’s glove. Svechnikov secured the only assist.

That score prompted the Penguins to call timeout to regroup.

Nikishin appeared to secure a regulation victory at 11:21 of the third frame by scoring his ninth goal during a five-on-three power-play opportunity.

Off rotation around the perimeter of the offensive zone, Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho accepted a pass in the left circle, then made a no-look feed to the opposite circle, where Nikishin chopped a one-timer behind a sprawling Skinner. Aho and forward Nikolaj Ehlers had assists.

The Penguins persisted and forced a tie with two scores late in regulation after pulling Skinner for an extra attacker.

Forward Noel Acciari’s seventh goal came at 17:52 of the third frame.

Off a give-and-go sequence with Chinakhov in Carolina’s right corner, Rust fired a wrister toward the cage. Acciari, who won a draw in the right circle to establish possession in the offensive zone, was planted above the crease, establishing position against Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin, and had the puck strike off his left leg and deflect past Andersen’s blocker. Assists went to Rust and Chinakhov.

Rust struck again at the 19:24 mark.

Taking a pass from Chinakhov off Carolina’s right half-wall, Karlsson golfed a one-timer toward the net from the center point. Rakell, stationed in the slot, deflected the puck on net and was denied by Miller’s left skate. The rebound trickled to the left of the cage, where Rust immediately buried a wrister past Anderson’s blocker on the near side. Rakell and Karlsson had assists.

In the shootout, Jarvis, Chinakhov and Mantha failed to convert their attempts.

“That game was ours to take,” Rust said. “I just don’t think we took it.”

Notes:

• Penguins forward Justin Brazeau was scratched for the second consecutive game due to an undisclosed injury. On Tuesday, the team announced his status as “week to week.” Previously, he had been labeled as “day to day.”

• Penguins defenseman Sam Girard was also scratched due to an undisclosed injury and has been described as “day to day.”

• Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves (healthy) and forward Kevin Hayes (undisclosed injury) were also scratched.

• Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin served the third contest of a five-game suspension.

• Rakell recorded his 300th career assist.

• The Penguins have set a franchise record for losses beyond regulation this season with 15. Their previous high-water mark of 14 came during the 2005-06 campaign.

• Nikishin set a new Hurricanes/Whalers franchise record for goals by a rookie defenseman. Justin Faulk established the mark with eight during the 2011-12 season.

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