Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, left, had a four-point night in Game 2 versus Carolina. (Tom Mihalek/Associated Press)

In the latter stages of the series against Philadelphia and the early part of the Washington encounter, people began to wonder, "where is Evgeni Malkin?"

It's a safe bet that the Pittsburgh Penguins superstar was walking in a thunderstorm with an empty bottle in tow.

Malkin definitely snagged some lightning on his trip, because he's been electric in the past five playoff games.

The 22-year-old Russian forward has five goals and eight assists (13 points) in that span, with five straight multi-point games to his credit.

And he's only getting better, nabbing his first career playoff hat trick in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final versus Carolina on Thursday. He capped the night off with a "how'd-he-do-that?" move for his third goal, a blind backhand bullet from the bottom of the right circle that went over netminder Cam Ward's shoulder.

If the Hurricanes can't find a way to stop Malkin and captain Sidney Crosby at home on Saturday in Game 3 (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7:30 p.m. ET), they might not find their way back to Pittsburgh.

"You can't get too much further back [against the wall]," Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour said. "We're getting pretty close here, so we're going to have to fight back. We're going to have to put up our best effort and leave it out there."

The Penguins lead the best-of-seven 2-0, and are 11-2 overall when they have that advantage in a series.

All about results

"At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what's going on — it's all about results," Brind'Amour said. "We know that we didn't play our best games, and we're going to have to play our best games this time of year to win.

"They've got too much talent — you give them those opportunities, they're going to bury them. We're just going to have to be better."

Watching Malkin light it up is not a welcome sight for a 'Canes outfit that's already dealing with the likes of Crosby, who's garnering playoff MVP talk with his performance so far in the post-season.

Crosby has 24 points, one behind Malkin for the playoff lead, and has opened the scoring in six post-season games during the Pittsburgh run. That stat ties the mark established by Bobby Hull and Fernando Pisani, who did the feat in 1962 and 2006, respectively.

"I had no idea it was really kept track of," Crosby said. "But everyone's got crazy stats now. So I'll take it, for sure."

The Hurricanes are in trouble, that's for sure. But if anyone can claw their way back, it's the "Cardiac 'Canes."

Carolina was 80 seconds away from elimination at the hands of New Jersey in the first round, but scored two goals to turn the tables and eliminate the Devils in Game 7.

The Hurricanes duplicated the feat in the second round versus Boston. Everyone thought they were dead and buried after giving up a 3-1 series lead, but Scott Walker's OT goal in Game 7 sent the 'Canes into the conference final.

But this is definitely Carolina's toughest task to date. Neither the Bruins nor the Devils have the raw firepower of the Penguins, and the Hurricanes have not faced a two-game deficit in the playoffs until now.

"It's our opportunity now," Hurricanes defenceman Tim Gleason said. "We have home ice, and we have to win those games."

With files from The Associated Press