The Carolina Hurricanes came up short on the road in a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, March 17.
The Canes (41-14-5) laid siege to the Toronto (39-17-5) net all evening, outshooting the Maple Leafs in each period and 36-21 on the night, but a stout Maple Leafs defense and some clutch saves by Toronto netminder Erik Källgren kept Carolina behind the eight ball for most of the night.
“I thought our effort was there the whole game,” said center Vincent Trocheck. “We just got to bear down on our chances. I thought we got a lot of chances in the first and second that we just couldn’t capitalize on. It’s just a matter of bearing down on those. If we score those, it’s a different game.”
Carolina’s power play looked subpar at best, failing to score in three chances including two in the first period. Instead of converting on either of those early opportunities or on the third one midway through the third period, the Canes had to claw back into the game without the benefit of a power play goal.
“I’d like to see a little better execution with our plan,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “We got away from what we were trying to do. Give [Toronto] credit, they were aggressive. They did what we thought they would do. We just didn’t execute the right way.”
Despite the Hurricanes’ assault on the opening net, goaltender Frederik Andersen was the first to give up a goal when Ilya Mikheyev opened the scoring late in the first period. When Mitchell Marner doubled the Maple Leafs’ advantage early in the second period, Carolina had its work cut out for it for the latter 35 minutes.
The Canes finally broke the seal on Toronto’s net when defenseman Ethan Bear snuck one past Källgren with just under 16 minutes to go. The Maple Leafs reasserted their control over the game a few minutes later when Ondřej Kaše pulled his team ahead 3-1. Trocheck netted a consolation goal with four seconds left to finalize the one-goal loss.
Even without this recent rut into consideration, the Hurricanes will have to make some lineup changes going forward. Left wing Jordan Martinook left the game in the third period with an apparent injury. During the postgame press conference, Brind’Amour said it “didn’t look good.” Center Seth Jarvis is available to step into the lineup and produce, but Martinook’s leadership as an assistant captain will be more difficult to replace.
The defensive pairings are in a shuffling too. Defenseman Brendan Smith made his return to the lineup after suffering a skull fracture from a puck off the head on Feb. 20 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and defenseman Tony DeAngelo recently returned to practice after an extended absence due to an upper-body he experienced on Feb. 21 against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Canes fans won’t have to wait long to see how their team’s lines will change. Carolina will return to action on Friday, March 18 at home against the Washington Capitals. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
