Rust and a lack of flow stifled Carolina’s offense in a stifling overtime shutout. Rod Brind’Amour and his veteran core break down the lessons from this physical opener.
The Carolina Hurricanes came up short in their season opener, losing 1-0 in overtime to the Florida Panthers Tuesday night at Lenovo Center.
The two teams slogged it out for nearly 65 straight minutes before Gustav Forsling finally broke the tie with the winning goal in the waning seconds of OT.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour, along with Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho and Brandon Bussi spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: There wasn't a lot of room obviously, so that had a lot to do with how the game looked. It wasn't a very good game to watch, but they made it hard on us. When we did have our opportunities, we beat it up and that's, I think, we were just not used to that kind of pressure. You just hadn't seen it in practice or even the games in the preseason are half the pace of that one. You could just see that our top guys were just fumbling it or passes weren't connecting. A lot of rust there for sure.
On Logan Stankoven on the penalty kill: We're missing a really good player and you don't replace that player. You have fill in and Jarvy is a big penalty killer. Looking for someone to step up in there and I thought Logan did a great job. Both teams penalty kills were good tonight. Didn't give up much.
On Brandon Bussi: He's going to want that one back, but he's the reason we got the point. I thought he made some real nice, big saves. Even though it wasn't a lot of action, he was good when we needed him to be. Tough one at the end.
On the sheer amount of penalties: There's just no flow. We didn't grow the game tonight, that's for sure, but I think it's a good game for us because the offensive guys realize that 'Woah, now we've got to getting going here.' With the way the game is played, there's not a lot of room. Little plays you normally make, we just weren't making them tonight or seeing them.
On correcting the sloppiness: It's gonna take time, a couple more games we'll see that, I'm sure. Again, we're playing a good team that puts the pressure on. But we had opportunities. We had a 4-on-1 and didn't get a shot on net. That's, to me, rust and not really being dialed in on the pace of what it is now.
On the banner raising before the game: It was great and that to me is more so for the fans. They didn't get to see us celebrate it on home ice, so it was nice to do a little victory lap. I thought that was cool. They need to enjoy that stuff. They're a big part of the success we've had over the years. I thought that was cool.
On Nicolas Deslauriers: He did his job. He was physical when he got out there. It was tough though with all the penalties that were called. Didn't love some of them. They weren't really penalties. It just took the flow out for both teams. We weren't able to get a good flow going, but I thought he did good when he was out there.
Jordan Staal
On the game: It was obviously a tight game. There wasn't much going on beyond the power plays and penalty kills. I thought the PK was good. The power play could have executed better. It was just kind of a muckfest a bit at 5-on-5. 3-on-3 is what it is. We had some chances and they found a way to get the last one.
On the lack of offensive flow: There were a lot of penalties. I felt like every time we started to get in that groove and start rolling lines, there was another power play and stuff. But there were some legit calls out there and stuff. And it was back and forth too. It was just tough to get a good flow. Like I said, if our power play executed a little better, I think we'd be a lot happier. But overall, I think we grinded and it was tight and it's a good team.
On it feeling like a playoff game: Kind of felt a little bit like that and we're not surprised. There's not a whole lot of room when you play against top caliber teams like that. They showed that tonight. I thought we did a good job of sticking with it and killing penalties. Just came up short at the end.
On Brandon Bussi: He played great. Gave us a chance. That's what you want. We're going to need him to be the Bussi he has been from the start.
On the banner ceremony: It was such a weird... I mean, it's hard. You have so much emotions getting into it and you're then trying to start a game, start a season. You really obviously want to still enjoy those moments. Pretty special. I wish we had more time to kind of give it to everyone and get the crowd going, but I thought we could have played a little better for the Caniacs tonight. But it was pretty special to have that Cup in the building on the ice with them and share that moment.
On getting back into it: You get into the first shift and it's here we go again and we're excited about it, excited about the new challenge and excited to get going.
Sebastian Aho
On the game: Two really good teams going at it. Obviously, kind of an emotional night, emotional start. But I think they were a little better in the first. But after that, I felt it was a hard-fought game and two teams that were really good at defending. Tight match. There was not much out there either way, I don't think. Obviously, the power play should have found a way there. But then again, our PK did the exact same thing to them than what they did to us. So like I said, tight game and just got a point and move on.
On if there was a lack of sharpness on the power play due to it being Game 1: A little bit, but I do think if you look at the past couple years, the PKs on these two teams have been top of the leaderboard and there's a reason for that. Obviously kind of a similar style the whole game. Their game plan is not too far from us and clearly it works. It's tough to find room out there, but when you do, you’ve got to execute and we didn't do that today.
On Logan Stankoven joining the penalty kill: He’s smart. He can adjust. So second game now we’ve played with the preseason. I have no worries about him at all. He's a good skater, long stick, and like I said, smart player. He can read the game and so I'm sure he'll be good on the PK as well.
Brandon Bussi
On his performance: I felt pretty good tonight. I don't know. It just stings right now a little bit. I think we deserved a little better there. Probably should have gone to a shootout, but it didn't. We’ll take the point and we'll move forward.
On the banner raising ceremony: Yeah, cool experience. I think I'll be able to appreciate it more than I do right now. But our fans deserve it. They deserve to have a moment like that. They probably deserved a better result tonight. But Game 1 of 84, you know, it's gonna happen.
On if it felt like a playoff game: Yeah, there was good jam. I think it was back and forth. Not a lot of ice out there, just like you said. We just came one goal short.
On if he felt like if he was in midseason form: I felt pretty good and then I gave up a pretty bad goal.
On using a game against Florida as a jumping off point: I think we're going to see every team's best this year, right? We earned that right, so we’ve got to get used to it and I’m confident in our group.
On why he said he gave up a bad goal: It might have hit our D-man or whatever. Took a weird bounce, but it was far enough out, I should have found it. For some reason, I didn't get a good visual on it, and it's 4 seconds left, trying to get to a shootout. So I think on my standards, it's a bad goal.
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