The Carolina Hurricanes lost some ground in a tight Eastern Conference on Thursday, April 14, falling 3-0 to the Detroit Red Wings in PNC Arena.
Even though the Canes (48-19-8) outshot the Red Wings (29-35-10) 46-22 for the night, Detroit goalie and former Hurricane Alex Nedeljkovic simply refused to lose, stopping all of Carolina’s shots for the shutout.
“Obviously we’ve seen that he can steal games,” said left wing Jordan Martinook. “It felt like we had enough chances, definitely, to score a couple. So yeah, tip your cap. He was good. I thought we created a lot and just couldn’t get one by him.”
Carolina tested Nedeljkovic early and often, accumulating 11 shots in the first period alone, but the Detroit netminder was unbeatable all night. These weren’t pedestrian chances for the Canes either, as they notched seven high-danger scoring chances in the first compared to zero such chances for the Red Wings.
“We definitely created enough, so I’m not worried about that,” Martinook said. “If you get 40 shots but they’re all from the outside it’s a different story, but we were definitely in his eyes. He played well.”
That initial ferocity faded into frustration as the game went along as Carolina failed to find the net. Center Martin Nečas and Filip Hronek got into a heated exchange early in the second period, each earning themselves two minutes in the penalty box for roughing, but the first sting of the night came at the tail end of the period.
After the Hurricanes completed their only PK, the Red Wings did not wait for Carolina to reorganize and broke the deadlock. Dylan Larkin slipped through a pair of Hurricanes to tee up Moritz Seider for the opening goal.
The Canes’ power play, on the other hand, suffered through another rough outing, going zero for three against the league’s third-worst PK. Despite the stellar night Nedeljkovic had, Carolina’s lack of tenacity with a man advantage has been a cause for concern as the playoffs draw closer.
“Not good enough,” said center Sebastian Aho. “Today if the power play gets one then I’m pretty sure we win that game. The power play let us down today, especially our group. … We’ve got to score goals when it comes down the stretch. Just keep working on it and the bounces will come.”
With seven games left in the regular season, the Hurricanes will need to tighten up its play if it wants to continue to strive for the title of the best team in hockey.
“It’s tough, there’s no question,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “We’re still trying to do the same things: We want to finish first. That was what we set out to do for these 82 games, so we still want to accomplish that. We made it a little tougher tonight, obviously, but that’s still what we’re trying to do.”
The Canes’ next opportunity to return to form will come on the road in a cross-conference showdown with the Colorado Avalanche. Puck drops in Ball Arena on Saturday, April 16 at 9 p.m.
