Apr 13, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs center John Tavares (91) scores a goal past Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) and center Mark Jankowski (77) during the third period at Lenovo Center. (James Guillory-Imagn Images)The Carolina Hurricanes lost 4-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs Sunday night in the final regular season home game of the year at Lenovo Center.
The Canes had a strong start to the game, but a last-minute goal took the wind out of their sails and they just weren't able to recapture that intensity.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Jordan Staal and Taylor Hall spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On ending the first period down: Yeah, probably. It was one of our better starts, I thought. I liked how we played the whole period until the last 20 seconds. We had a two other mishaps that led to 2-on-1s that period, so it wasn't perfect, but yeah, I think that took a little bit out of the boys when they had played pretty solid. Then the second wasn't good. Wasn't terrible, but we never really generated anything and we were down again. Tough to comeback.
On the plan moving forward for resting players: TBD. We'll see. We've technically been doing it for the last seven games. You kind of see guys sitting out. We'll definitely look at that and decide in the last couple of games.
On Tyson Jost: He's playing his heart out. He got a puck in the face and had a big knot. Sitting there looking like Rocky. He's like, 'I think I've got something here,' [motioned to cheek area] and it's like all puffed up here [motioning to side of his forehead]. But that's what he has to do. Had a couple bad bounces when he was out there that ended up in the back of the net, but he's playing hard for us.
On how he handles the results of these games with guys resting and nothing at stake: You play to win and I didn't love our second period. I think we were just okay with being okay and that's not good enough. But, I also understand the bigger picture and that the guys have played pretty hard here all year. I thought we played hard in the first, but once you got behind... and you have to tip your hat too. They did a real nice job. Toronto made it hard for us to generate stuff. Especially when they got ahead. They didn't need to really do much. Tip your hat.
On if the team plans to recall any players from the Chicago Wolves: It just depends. We have some nicked up guys, to be quite honest. So we'll see how many make it through here and then we'll make that determination and we'll figure it all out. But that's where we'll get them from if we get them.
Jordan Staal
On the first period: Obviously it was a great start to the first and we were playing the way we want to play, but I think after that, we just expected that to keep going and we kind of got a little complacent and they obviously started playing a little better in the second and made their push. Two quick ones and then we were down and chasing the game. My line gave up a bad one in the third to get any momentum and down three in the third is tough.
On the difficulty of maintaining intensity in the final few regular season games: It's challenging. Obviously everyone's a pro here and like I said, everyone wants to be feeling good about their game going into the real deal. We'll learn from this and we'll make sure we're sharper next time and that when it matters, everyone will be ready to go.
On the success at home over the course of the season: It's been a lot of fun. Our fans are a huge part of that and it's always a pleasure to play in front of this group of fans who are just so passionate and so loud. Momentum shifts are huge at home and we ride those as hard as we can. Playing in this building has been a joy this year.
On playing alongside Will Carrier again: It's been great to see him out there again. He's such a hard player. Everything he does is hard. He's physical and he's got a great presence to him. He's got great positivity and is just accountable and always ready to go. If we're going to have success in playoffs, he's going to be a huge part of that.
Taylor Hall
On having the day off yesterday: It's kind of where we are in the standings. It's fortunate for some of the guys to get some rest. I haven't missed many games this year so it's been a long year and with the trade and all that and getting settled, it was nice to get some rest, do a little workout that I wouldn't normally be able to do and other guys will get the same thing.
On the difficulty of playing essentially meaningless games: A little bit, but they were kind of in a similar boat. They beat us and they don't have a ton to play for in the standings either. In saying that, we know what the goal is and we just need to be able to turn it on Game 1 against Jersey.
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