The Carolina Hurricanes are now 1-3-1 in their last five games thanks to a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, Nov. 30.
The Canes offense did not do the team any favors. Despite outshooting the Stars 40-17, Carolina simply failed to do much against Dallas goaltender Braden Holtby. The former Washington Capital stepped up when tested but generally had no trouble making mostly routine saves.
Holtby’s one blemish came in the third period when a mad scramble between several players in front of his net ended with center Jesperi Kotkaniemi finding himself with the puck and promptly depositing it into the net to rob Holtby of a shutout.
Carolina’s power play continued to flounder as well. After going 0 for 3 on the night, the Canes have failed to score on their last 18 power plays. Tonight’s showing was especially bad for Caroilna’s power play unit, allowing several short-handed chances and not generating much of anything on the offensive end.
The Canes relied on a next-man-up mentality on defense that turned out relatively well despite the result. Defensemen Tony DeAngelo and Brett Pesce joined defenseman Ethan Bear in COVID-19 protocol, prompting a pair of call-ups for defensemen Jalen Chatfield and Maxime LaJoie. Considering the short-notice nature of their entries into the Hurricanes lineup, Chatfield and LaJoie impressed during their time on the ice.
“They were great,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “I was actually overly pleased with how well they played. They seemed to grasp everything that we were doing. … Give them a lot of credit for jumping in like that. No practices, just in the heat of it. They did a really good job.”
Even with the defense stepping up, there was no stopping Stars left wing Roope Hintz from finding twine thrice. Hintz scored on goaltender Frederik Andersen twice before completing the hat trick on an empty net. Joe Pavelski also put his name on the score in the third period, finding twine on a puck that was simply determined to find its way to the net.
Even though it seemed like another case of “just not our night” for the Canes, the bleeding has to stop sometime if they want to remain one of the better teams in the NHL.
“The name of the game as a professional athlete is to win,” said defenseman Ian Cole. “That’s it. That should be our only focus. … We need to figure out ways to win and we need to figure them out quick. We can’t let this continue to slide; it’s only going to hurt us in the long run.”
Carolina will get its next shot at snapping this skid when it returns to Raleigh on Thursday, Dec. 2 to take on the Ottawa Senators. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
