The Carolina Hurricanes’ playoff hopes took a gigantic blow Thursday night as they fell, 4-2, to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Consol Energy Center.

Carolina jumped out to an early two-goal lead on Pittsburgh — a team it is fighting for a playoff spot — but allowed four unanswered goals and a season-high in shots against, to make its playoff hopes slim to none.

The Canes pounced on the Pens early as forward Phil Di Giuseppe beat Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray between the legs just 42 seconds into the game, after Carolina forward Jeff Skinner helped force a turnover in the Penguins zone.

Skinner continued his great play, setting up forward Riley Nash in the slot with a pass, to give the Hurricanes a two-goal lead, barely five minutes into the game.

After producing a dominating forecheck early on, an inexperienced Carolina team took its foot off the gas a bit. The Penguins turned things around and began to tilt the ice in the Carolina end.

Pittsburgh forward Sidney Crosby used a great individual effort to blow past the Canes’ defense and score a backhanded goal to cut the Carolina lead to one goal. The goal extended Crosby’s point streak to 10 games.

Despite a slow start, causing it to fall behind early, Pittsburgh managed a whopping 22 shots on Carolina netminder Eddie Lack in the first period. Lack was strong in net in the period, allowing the Canes to carry a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

The Penguins tied the game in the second period, as forward Phil Kessel — who had been in a scoring drought as of late — received a deflected puck and put it past Lack.

With about two minutes remaining in the middle frame, Crosby scored his second goal of the game by readjusting his stick position to redirect pass into the net.

The Canes came up with several quality chances of their own in the second period, but simply couldn’t find the back of the net.

Kessel added an assist in the third as he found forward Nick Bonino on the opposite side of Lack, with an open net, to make it four unanswered goals for the Pens.

Carolina gave up a season-high 48 shots against — 44 of which were stopped by Lack, who played well despite the end result — while mustering 33 shots of its own.

With only 11 games left in the season, and six points back of a playoff spot, the Canes will have to be near perfect down the stretch to find a way to sneak into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.