‘Unacceptable’ effort dooms Canes in loss to Sharks

There was nothing “Super” about the Carolina Hurricanes’ performance Sunday afternoon. The team lost 3-1 to the San Jose Sharks at PNC Arena for its second straight defeat.

Forward Sebastian Aho scored the Canes’ (24-21-8) lone goal, and goalie Cam ward stopped 23 of 26 Sharks (28-16-8) shots.

The Canes played uninspired hockey in this one, as the Sharks were quicker to nearly every puck, won nearly every battle and certainly could have won by more than two goals. This is the second straight game Carolina has put up a poor effort with a chance to jump into playoff position.

“Whether we’re in the eighth spot, the ninth spot, the 10th spot or the first, that effort today is unacceptable, period,” head coach Bill Peters said. “The effort, the intensity that we played at was similar to probably something you’d see in a neutral-site game in September.”

San Jose wasted little time jumping out in front of this one, as forward Timo Meier was left alone between the circles and snapped one home to make it 1-0 not five minutes in.

The Sharks nearly doubled their lead a little over halfway through the first, but Cam Ward sprawled out to deny San Jose forward Joel Ward along the goal line with a perfectly-placed stick save.

“[The Sharks] were better than us,” Peters said. “They were better than us from the start of the game right to the end. They were good. They wore us out in our D zone and we spent a lot of time in there. … We didn’t start very well. Halfway through the period I think the shots were 7-2. Big save, Cam Ward on Joel Ward to keep it 1-0 halfway through the period. And then guys were skating right by guys. Really disappointing effort.”

The Canes tied it up with just over two minutes to play in the opening frame; forward Jordan Staal picked off an errant clearing pass and zipped a backhand feed to Aho, who made no mistake for his team-leading 19th goal of the season.

San Jose restored its lead with 35.8 seconds to go in period one, as the Canes turned the puck over and left forward Chris Tierney all alone in front of Ward, who pulled it to his backhand to make it 2-1.

“It hasn’t been pretty at the beginning of games for us,” defenseman Justin Faulk said. “I’m sure if we could put our finger on it it’d be a little bit easier to not have it happen. I think it’s just brutal, I guess, is the only way to say it. We’ve got to be better, and we’re coming to that time where we can’t be taking periods off.”

The Sharks went up by a pair barely two minutes into the second period, as defenseman Brent Burns blasted a shot through traffic from just inside the blue line to make it 3-1.

“We definitely know what’s at stake and it’s big points at stake every game,” Staal said. “I don’t know if it’s the pressure or not, but at some point something’s got to give here. We’ve got to stick with the positives and stick with the game that we know how to play.”

Looking to provide a spark, Canes forward Brock McGinn dropped the gloves with Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon after Dillon cross-checked him. The Canes could not capitalize on their power play from the additional minor to Dillon, and did not show much energy the rest of the period, heading back to the locker room down by a pair, and could not muster much in the third period either.

The Canes will continue this eight-game homestand with game five Tuesday, in a massive divisional matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers, who the team currently trails, along with the New York Islanders, by a single point for the Eastern Conference’s final wild card spot. After his team’s putrid effort against the Sharks, Peters promised lineup changes for that pivotal game.

“It’ll be different Tuesday,” Peters said. “There’s three healthy bodies; there’s at least three that can go in. If it’s not those three, there’s a group down in Charlotte too. You can’t put that group out again after that. It’s not acceptable. They let each other down too, in the room. That’s not right.”