After things looked very promising for the Carolina Hurricanes just over a month ago, the 2016-17 season is rapidly slipping away. After a 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at PNC Arena Sunday, an eighth straight season without playoff hockey is starting to look like a foregone conclusion.
Toronto (27-20-11) backup goalie Curtis McElhinney stopped 37 of 37 shots for his first shutout of the season. The Canes (24-23-8), which now sit dead last in the Eastern Conference, pulled starter Cam Ward for backup Eddie Lack after the Leafs scored their fourth goal in the third period.
The Canes got a great chance to take an early lead, but McElhinney made a great stop on a one-timer from forward Elias Lindholm between the circles off a beautiful pass from forward Sebastian Aho. That chance was one of many golden opportunities the Canes simply could not find the back of the net on in this game.
“It’s frustrating,” left wing Jeff Skinner said. “It kind of sinks the game. Everyone knows where we are [in the standings], but we need to find a way to win games and get results. It’s not enough to just out-chance and out-shoot teams; you need to find ways to capitalize on your opportunities. Right now, we’re not doing a good enough job of that.”
Ward took his turn late in the period, as the veteran goalie turned the puck over to Leafs forward Josh Leivo but bailed himself out by making a sharp stop on Leivo’s shot from the dead slot.
Toronto grabbed the game’s first goal early in the second period; forward Connor Brown cruised through the slot and tipped a pass from forward James van Riemsdyk past Ward for a 1-0 lead.
The Leafs pushed their lead to two about halfway through the middle frame. Top rookie forward Auston Matthews showed why he was the first pick of the 2016 traffic, weaving his way to the net and slipping a backhander past Ward after being pulled down to the ice to make it 2-0.
“The second [goal], we were changing, we got skated,” head coach Bill Peters said. “A lot of the goals [against], if you look at it, there’s a common theme. I think we got skated a little bit and lost body position.”
A common theme in the Canes’ long stretch of poor play dating back to mid-January has been the struggles of the power play. The Canes finished 0 for 4 with the man advantage Sunday night, and although the power play did generate a few good chances, including a shot off the goal post from defenseman Justin Faulk in the second period, a lack of production up a man has been killing the Canes’ ability to generate offense in these games.
“It’s [the power play] been hurting us for a while,” Skinner said. “Tonight it would have been nice to get one. Some games we’re creating chances, and that’s good. You want to continue to do that, but you have to find ways to capitalize and execute. At this point of the season, it’s about getting wins, as it is throughout the whole season; we need to find ways to get results.”
The Canes entered the third still in the game despite missing on numerous grade-A scoring chances, but the Leafs drove the dagger in quickly in the final frame. Toronto grabbed goals from defenseman Jake Gardiner on a long point shot that beat Ward and Brown’s second of the game before the final frame was halfway over to end Ward’s night and effectively end the game.
“The thing you’ve got to do is stay with it,” Canes head coach Bill Peters said. “You’re doing something right if you’re generating quality chances. It’s 2-0 and I didn’t think it should have been 2-0. I think we should have been on the board. If you’re on the board, then you’re going into a [third] period of hockey with a one-goal game. I don’t like the way we responded to the third goal that they scored. I thought that we sagged, definitely.”
The loss drops the Canes to dead last in the Eastern Conference, fourth worst in the league and eight points out of a wild card spot. It would take a miracle run at this point over the last 27 games of the season to end a playoff drought that stretches back to 2009.
The Canes’ five-game homestand continues with a visit from a Metropolitan Division foe in the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.
