The Carolina Hurricanes have lost multiple games in a row for the first time this season, following up a 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars with a 6-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

While there are plenty of reasons to be proud of those performances, as the Canes have fought tooth and nail every night despite a plethora of key injuries, nobody is happy in that locker room right now.

Alternate captain Jordan Martinook put it best: There are no moral victories in hockey.

"Our job in here is to try and win hockey games," said Martinook, who scored his first goal of the season and made more than a few key defensive plays in the 6-3 loss. "We haven't done that the last couple of nights. We've got to get back to what makes us successful and we're kind of a ways away from that. I know we're missing some key pieces, but we can still bring some guys along that way."

The injury bug has bitten the Canes pretty hard to start the year, with six lineup regulars now sidelined.

The Hurricanes haven't had their full group at any point this season and every game, it feels like someone else is landing on the injury report.

First it was netminder Pyotr Kochetkov, then Jaccob Slavin, then Shayne Gostisbehere, K'Andre Miller, William Carrier, Eric Robinson and now after Gostisbehere returned to action for one game, he's out again.

The Hurricanes played Tuesday's game against the Golden Knights with only five defensemen after the opening 20 minutes, and at times they were all the way down to four (when Joel Nystrom took a puck to the face) and even three defensemen (when Sean Walker took a penalty with Gostisbehere and Nystrom already out).

"It's not ideal, but we've been saying this for a while," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "It's the NHL. It's a tough league when you have a full lineup, let alone one with guys that are battling. It is what it is, but we have to find a way when we're in those kinds of games, which we still have a chance to win. We have to make better decisions."

Carolina has relied heavily upon its three remaining regulars with Sean Walker, Jalen Chatfield and Alexander Nikishin all logging big minutes for Carolina, including Nikishin posting a career high 27:33 on Tuesday.

"He was noticeable in a real positive way, I thought," Brind'Amour said. "It was definitely, I thought, one of his better games."

There's plenty to be proud of in terms of how close the Hurricanes have played two Stanley Cup favorites in spite of those injuries, but you won't hear any of that out of the locker room.

"We're just not getting the job done," said defenseman Jalen Chatfield, who played a career high 25:45 Tuesday night. "Down a few guys, we know that, and we battled hard. We got a group in here, that when we face adversity, we get through it. But we have to dig into the details and play better and finish stronger."

The biggest frustrations for the Canes comes from the fact that the team has been in both of the past two losses even despite the key injuries, but self-inflicted mistakes have cost them valuable points.

On Saturday, the Hurricanes scored two own-goals to blow a 2-0 lead against the Stars and on Tuesday, a poorly timed pass at the blueline with just five minutes to go in a tied game put a dagger into the home team.

"We worked hard, made some good plays and battled back, but a tough ending," said captain Jordan Staal. "We have to find ways to win and be smarter.

Carolina is a proud team and they have high standards no matter who's wearing the jersey on any particular night. No matter how many players they're down, they expect to win every game and that's just the reason why I believe this team is going to be just fine.

'There's No Moral Victories In Hockey': Rod Brind'Amour, Jalen Chatfield, Jordan Staal, Jordan Martinook On Defensive Injuries, Late Collapse Hurricanes' late collapse cost them against Vegas. Poor decisions and defensive struggles led to a 6-3 defeat. Hear from Brind'Amour and players.

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