The Carolina Hurricanes dropped a third straight game as the Colorado Avalanche took a 3-1 victory at PNC Arena on Oct. 20,2018.
Is is time to worry yet?
Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour is trying not to — or at least not let others outside the team know it.
But the Canes’ power play isn’t working. The penalty kill is leaky. Now, the Canes have lost another game in regulation, falling 3-1 to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
This was the game the Canes scheduled at home during the N. C. State Fair, biting the bullet on potential traffic snarks and low attendance.
A crowd of 11,753 came to PNC Arena. There wasn’t a lot for the home fans to cheer until a couple of big hits and flying fists from Micheal Ferland in the third, then a goal by Ferland late in regulation off a Sebastian Aho pass — Aho extending his point streak to eight games.
The Canes entered the game 2-for-25 on the power play this season and ended it 2-for-29. They were last in the NHL in penalty killing and allowed a second-period power-play score to Avs forward Gabriel Landeskog, his second goal of the game and fifth in the past two games after a hat trick earlier in the week against the New Jersey Devils.
Nathan MacKinnon scored the Avs’ third goal for a 3-0 lead and has goals in each of the past seven games for the Avs. With goalie Philipp Grubauer making 42 saves, the Avs improved to 5-1-2.
The Canes (4-3-1) had a couple of practices this week to try and sharpen up their special teams.
Brind’Amour addressed the need for better execution after the workouts and again a couple of hours before Saturday’s game.
“If it keeps costing us games it becomes a sore point,” Brind’Amour said. “I don’t want it to bleed into our five-on-five game, which I haven’t really seen. The guys we’re counting on the power play are playing well five-on-five. Once it starts to go the other way then you’ve got to make some major adjustments.
“To me you get to play on the power play based on how you play five-on-five. All those guys, for me, have done a good job on that side.”
On the Canes’ first power play Saturday, Teuvo Teravainen made a weak, no-look pass that became a turnover and another power-play opportunity went by the boards. That set the tone for the day for the power play — more passes that didn’t connect, shots that were easily blocked, easy attempts for Grubauer to track.
Not that all of Grubauer’s best work came with the Avs shorthanded. Six minutes into the second period, a stretch pass from Teravainen gave Ferland a breakaway. But Grubauer didn’t bite on Ferland’s forehand feint and turned away his backhander.
Grubauer has a comfort zone at PNC Arena. While with the Washington Capitals he beat the Canes four times in the arena.
Soon after the stop on Ferland, the Avs took a 2-0 lead after the Canes’ Andrei Svechnikov was called for slashing.
Landeskog, who scored in the first period on a quick shot that beat goalie Curtis McElhinney to the short side, attempted to pass through the slot but the puck hit the skate of the Canes’ Jordan Martinook. With McElhinney shifting away from the post, the puck bounced back to Landeskog for an easy shot and score.
A lucky break, yes. Also the kind of greasy goal that Canes defenseman Justin Faulk said Carolina needed to get the power play moving.
Ferland, Carolina’s best play Saturday, did his part physically for the Canes in the third. He put a brutal hit on defensman Samuel Girard, then another center Tyson Jost. Defenseman Erik Johnson took issue and gloves were dropped, but Ferland landed all the heavy blows.
The Canes finally had a spark, but another power play came up empty after Warren Foegele was crosschecked. Ferland did score his fifth
A third straight regulation loss could not be avoided. There would be no postgame celebration, no flying leaps into the glass.
