Suffering their eighth-straight loss with goaltender Frederik Andersen in net, the Hurricanes fell 5-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings with 51 points, the Hurricanes (24-12-3) have maintained a solid position in the playoff race as they near the halfway mark of the 82-game season. However, Carolina did not bring that top-tier form to Pittsburgh for their New Year’s Eve eve matchup against the Penguins (17-12-9).

Getting on the board early, future Hall of Famer Sidney Crosby made the Canes pay for a costly mistake as Hurricanes defenseman K’Andre Miller turned the puck over behind the net, allowing a tic-tac-toe chance for Pittsburgh. Up against it, Andersen had almost no chance to keep the puck out of the net.

That’s goal no. 21 this season for Sid 💪 pic.twitter.com/nzp5iooMYK

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 31, 2025

“It’s a type of game where you know we’re dragging and we needed to get off to a good start,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “And then when we didn’t, it was kind of behind the eight ball and we never got rolling.”

Once the first domino dropped, it began to tumble down for Carolina. By the end of the first period, it had fallen to a 3-0 deficit. Andersen has been in a slump, having lost eight straight in net, and it showed on a few of the shots that found the back of the net in Pittsburgh. Most notably on the fourth goal, fired directly on goal from the blue line — seemingly a routine save that squeaked through.

But defensive play in general was sloppy for the Canes, recording 21 giveaways and generally looking sluggish, slower to pucks and unable to match the Penguins intensity.

The lone bright spot for the Hurricanes came with a little over 1:30 to play in the game, coming off the stick of left winger Mark Jankowski, who fired a shot from the right circle in a 2-on-1 rush past newly acquired Penguins netminder Stuart Skinner.

Narrowly avoiding the wrong side of a shutout, the Canes ended 2025 with a dud, losing the fourth game of their last six. Luckily, they head into 2026 still leading the Eastern Conference.

Next up, the Hurricanes will ring in the New Year by hosting the Montreal Canadians on Jan. 1. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.