The Carolina Hurricanes took a tough 4-1 loss on the road against the Colorado Avalanche Saturday, Nov. 13.
The Canes (9-5-1) showed up with some good peripheral stats, but one lone goal wasn’t going to get the job done against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. Despite outpacing the Avalanche (8-4-1) in several offensive categories, Carolina failed to capitalize on its chances.
The Hurricanes hit the ice guns ablaze, pulling ahead 16-5 in Corsi, but the Avs squeezed two goals out of their minimal chances to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. A first-period brace by Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar had the Canes playing catch-up all night.
“I didn’t like our start,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Gave [Colorado] two goals in the first and you’re just chasing the game. They’re too good a team to give them two. … We need everyone really going, especially playing against this team, and we didn’t have that tonight.”
Carolina dug in during the second period, scoring its only goal of the evening off the stick of center Jordan Staal. The Hurricanes continued to press in the latter two-thirds of the game, but simply could not push any more pucks past Colorado netminder Pavel Francouz.
17 blocked shots combined with 24 saves by Francouz to keep the Canes off the board in the third period. Later, a demoralizing goal by Avs center Nathan MacKinnon and an empty-netter for Colorado right wing Mikko Rantanen iced the game. Carolina ended the night ahead 49-18 on Corsi, 20-8 on scoring chances and 10-6 on high-danger scoring chances but behind 4-1 on the scoreboard.
The Hurricanes power play mirrored the team’s overall performance, going 0-for-5 despite some good opportunities. The Canes sorely missed production from their special teams which could’ve at least made it a close game down the stretch.
“I thought the first couple were really good,” Brind’Amour said. “We had a couple almost-happens and we just didn’t connect. Then we didn’t execute on the ones in the third period. We got to be better. They got one and we didn’t. It’s been a common theme on the losses that we’ve had this year where special teams aren’t quite up to par.”
The Hurricanes’ taxing schedule — featuring nine out of 15 games on the road, including six against Western Conference opponents — made itself known on the ice. Carolina’s already suffered significant losses with goaltender Freddie Andersen and left wing Teuvo Teräväinen both landing on injury reserve in the preceding week, but the rest of the squad needs to keep getting results to put the team in a good position later in the season.
“It’s our job,” said left wing Jordan Martinook. “Doesn’t matter if you’re home, away, whatever — your job is to go out and do the best you can. Put 100% effort in every night, it doesn’t matter if you’re on the road or at home. We can’t make excuses, we just got to be better.”
The Hurricanes will get a chance to regroup in the Windy City Monday, Nov. 14 when they take on the Chicago Blackhawks. Puck drop is set for 8:30 p.m.
