In their first game back from a three-game road swing, the Carolina Hurricanes put in a lackluster performance in a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at PNC Arena Tuesday night.
The Canes (13-12-4) lost for the fourth time in five games. Forward Justin Williams scored Carolina’s lone goal, and goalie Petr Mrazek stopped 25 of 29 Leafs (21-9-1) shots.
“I think we said it before the game, we were playing one of the best offensive teams out there,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We needed everyone on board. They didn’t have to play great, but everyone needed to have a good game. I don’t think we got that.”
The Canes could have made things interesting with a better game from their power play, but went 1 for 5 with the man advantage, including two down by a goal early in the third period.
“Right now, we’re not committed enough to doing it every single time we’re out there,” Williams said. “That was a frustrating one because we were right there and just giving them not quite enough.”
After the Canes went scoreless on those two man advantages early in the third, Leafs forwards Patrick Marleau and John Tavares scored 3:20 apart on defensive breakdowns to essentially put the game away.
“The third one just broke our backs, it felt like,” Brind’Amour said. “You could feel the bench. We have trouble scoring right now so I think they just felt like that was it and obviously it was.”
Mrazek kept things scoreless early in the first, exploding across for a pad save on a point-blank chance for Leafs forward Andreas Johnsson. The Czech netminder made several sharp stops in the game, and was repeatedly hung out to dry by his teammates.
“He was really good early on to keep us in the game,” Brind’Amour said, “First period, I don’t know exactly what the chances were but they definitely had a bunch. And he was solid. He was good all night. Can’t blame him on any of the goals, that’s for sure”
The Leafs did take a 1-0 lead shortly after; following a failed clearing attempt by the Canes, Toronto forward Tyler Ennis picked up the rebound of a point shot and finished top shelf.
Late in the first, Carolina defenseman Calvin de Haan took a stick up high from Leafs forward William Nylander and left the ice trailing blood. Nylander was assessed a double minor for high-sticking, but the Canes mustered just two shots on goal during the resulting four-minute power play. De Haan returned to the ice in the second period.
“We actually didn’t do what we wanted to do, which was get more pucks toward the net,” Brind’Amour said. “I thought we were trying to get too cute. There were four or five chances first period where we were right in the slot and actually passed it away. Even on the power play, we were right there and decided to make that extra pass. That’s not our team. We’re not built that way. We weren’t playing our game early.”
Forward and leading goal scorer Micheal Ferland, in his first game back from a concussion, left the game with an upper-body injury in the first period. Brind’Amour said after the game Ferland “just didn’t feel right” and didn’t have any further update.
Following a successful penalty kill for the Canes in the second period, the team evened things up with a power play of its own. Williams steamed his way to the right circle, took a pass from forward Sebastian Aho and snapped a shot over Andersen’s shoulder to make it 1-1.
The tie was short-lived, as defenseman Morgan Rielly gave the Leafs a 2-1 lead and the game-winning goal on a delayed penalty sequence 1:07 after Williams’ tally.
“That really just, I think, deflated us,” Brind’Amour said. “We just tied it up. You need to have good shifts after scoring.”
The Canes will be back in action in Montreal against the Canadiens Thursday night. After that, Carolina will play five straight at home as the team looks to push up the standings.
“There’s huge urgency,” Williams said. “We’re middling, which is what we’ve done the past few years, and it’s not good enough. We need to get a string together. I keep saying that, it seems like, every week. We need to get a string together. This was a good game to make a statement and follow it up, push to the next level. We didn’t get that.”
