RALEIGH - Half of the defensemen were called up Thursday morning. Rod Brind'Amour got hurt on his first shift, and the Carolina Hurricanes were facing one of the hottest scorers in the game.

It could have been a disaster.

Instead, the dormant power play exploded for three goals -- another was disallowed -- to lead the Hurricanes to a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.

The Canes regained the Southeast Division lead with 62 points, jumping ahead of the Atlanta Thrashers and the Washington Capitals by two points.

But less than a hour after the game, the Canes announced that Brind'Amour will miss four to six months with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He will have reconstructive surgery.

Brind'Amour was hurt when he was sandwiched between the Penguins' Nathan Smith and Georges Laraque. Smith hit Brind'Amour first, then Laraque briefly pinned Brind'Amour between the two Pittsburgh players. Brind'Amour then fell to the ice, play was stopped and he went to the locker room.

The Canes went into Thursday's game down nine players -- including three defensemen. Emergency call-ups Casey Borer, Tim Conboy and Joey Mormina got into Raleigh less than two hours before the game.

"We were put through the test with everything that's going on with the illnesses and the injuries," said Cam Ward, who stopped 20 of 22 shots. "You can't say enough about the kids who came up today. They played like true pros -- they look like they've been playing for years."

With the defense holding strong, the Canes' power play finally clicked. Less than two minutes after Brind'Amour's injury, Erik Cole scored his 13th goal of the season after redirecting a Ray Whitney shot. It was the Canes' first power-play goal since Jan. 31, when Brind'Amour scored to give Carolina a 3-2 overtime victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Canes had gone 0-of-18 in their previous chances, but the power play was clicking Thursday.

Carolina had not scored three power-play goals since the Canes' 6-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 12.

Eric Staal got the Canes' second power-play goal -- his first since the All-Star break -- and Ryan Bayda got his first of the season in the third period after making several good runs at the net.

Although the Penguins have been without captain Sidney Crosby -- who made the trip but didn't play -- they've had terrific production from Evgeni Malkin, who has scored 17 points in his last seven games.

But the Canes were able to stay on top of him for the most part -- Borer came up with a timely block in the third -- although Malkin scored Pittsburgh's second goal.

Pittsburgh's first goal was scored by Carolina's least favorite Penguin -- Brooks Orpik, who buried the puck into the top right corner of the net after cheating in from the point. Orpik and Cole kept out of each other's way, although Canes fans loudly booed Orpik whenever he had possession.

The loud, pro-Carolina crowd is something the Canes are going to look forward to in their last 22 games of the season. Carolina knows it has to play the way it did Thursday in every game to keep its first-place spot in the division.

"The situation that we were in with our standings, we're all trying to pick it up regardless of who's in the lineup," said Ray Whitney, who scored the third-power play goal of the night.

"You're not going to replace Roddy, that's for sure, and you're not going to replace the guys that we've lost. But we can't feel sorry for ourselves -- maybe if it was October you could dismiss it a little bit, but the situation we're in right now, we couldn't afford to say, 'Oh well, close was good enough with the personnel we had tonight.' "