The Carolina Hurricanes just couldn't find a bounce as they fell 1-0 to the New York Rangers Tuesday night at PNC Arena.
Igor Shesterkin (28 saves) and Pyotr Kochetkov (23 saves) went toe-to-toe with each making some spectacular saves.
The lone goal was a last second tally that deflected in off of Brady Skjei's skate boot.
After the game. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Jake Guentzel and Jordan Staal spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: The first period, we were not ready for what they threw at us. That's legit. There's a reason why they're a top team and they showed it. We were not ready. Then I thought the second was kind of flipped. It was almost the opposite, but we didn't get the one to even it up. In the third, we were pushing a little bit and gave up a few too many, but [Kochetkov] played really well. Their goalie made a couple of nice saves too to keep them in it, but we probably didn't generate enough to really put the heat on them.
On the Rangers cutting off the outlets to the defense: They played higher and cut the tops off. We knew that and in the second had three grade-As in the slot, so we were trying to look for that play. Just didn't hit. I think [Kuznetsov] had two right in the slot. That's the game. The little adjustments you make. But again, the first period... we were down one but it should have been maybe even more. The rest of the game you could probably say it was even, but we didn't push through to get that.
On the Jake Guentzel - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Martin Necas line: They probably had the best chances on the night for us. Again, it's going to take some time to get everyone up to speed with what we're doing. But overall, those guys might have been the best line for us. [Kotkaniemi's] line was good too. They generated quite a few chances. It was a tight game, but that first period was what did us in.
On Pyotr Kochetkov: He played great and the one was off of our D's skate. They had plenty of good looks and he was great.
On Kochetkov starting to rise more and more to the occasion: He's been good for quite a while. That's been the thing that changed our year. He's been solid and gave us a chance tonight. That's all you can ask.
On the team's struggles to score at 6v5: We're a little light there, that's for sure. We had the one good look right away off the faceoff and then they did a nice job of just keeping us to the outside and we never really got anything going after that.
On Jesper Fast: These kinds of games get a little gritty and he created a couple of chances. Had one in the slot himself that he threw over the net and drew the first penalty by just diving in and being hard to play against. He was good.
On Andrei Svechnikov's reactionary penalties: You can't do that. He's a competitor but he's gotta be able to control it. We know that, we've talked about it for quite a while. But he's gotta dial it in.
Jake Guentzel
On how he felt: I felt alright. Definitely think there's more, but obviously that was a good team over there and they played well. Have to give them credit, but hopefully we'll get more next time.
On the atmosphere: It's unbelievable here. This is one of the best places to play in the NHL. Great atmosphere out there, but we just came up short tonight.
On getting his legs back under him: Yeah, just felt alright. It's a fast game and this team plays fast. You have to make sure you're at your top speed at all times. So definitely think there's more.
On his line: Those two are high-end, skilled players. For me, I'm just trying to find the open ice and I know they'll find me. I'm sure with each game that goes, we'll find some more chemistry and hopefully we'll build off of that.
On feeling like a postseason game: For sure. That's one of the best teams in the league so you know what you're going to get and it was just a great hockey game in general.
Jordan Staal
On the game: Our start wasn't great. They played hard on a back-to-back and came out strong. One was all they needed and they had a good road win grinding the rest of the game out. But our start was a little slow and it wasn't really just one bounce. They took control of that first period and we gave up quite a bit. Obviously managed a bit of a greasy one. They had some good stress on us and we weren't good to start. Coming back in this league is never easy, especially against a team and a goaltender like that. If we had a better start, I think we would have had a better chance of winning that one.
On if Pyotr Kochetkov's strong performance puts more pressure on the team to score: Well you have to score to win. Getting zero is never going to get you a win. [Kochetkov] played great. But like I said, our start wasn't great and he made some big saves to keep it at one. Then I thought we played pretty good from then on out. We just couldn't find one. But yeah, [Kochetkov's] been good for us.
On Jake Guentzel: Quick little player. Obviously smart and tenacious which kind of fits our style. He's only going to get better. He's got that knack around the net too. He can tell where those loose pucks... where to find them. I think they're going to start going in for him pretty quickly.
On the team's struggles at scoring 6v5: We haven't snuck one in 6-on-5 yet, I really don't think. I think we can do a better job. Obviously a quick play off of faceoffs. We have to find a way to get it to the net. After that, it's just finding ways to get it on net and create chaos and out-man them around the net. I don't think we've done a good enough job as a group to score those big goals and tonight was no different.
On takeaways from a game like this: It just takes one slow period to lose a game. It's about being ready for the whole game. It could really just be one little play or one little bounce and that's the game. It's just about being sharp and being ready. Down the stretch, it's turning into playoff hockey more and more and especially in games like this and against teams like that, you've gotta be ready and like I said, I didn't think we were quite there from the start. Once we got going, it was too little too late.
On difficulty in cycling pucks to the point: I don't think we really played in their end at all. I thought we started grinding them down in the second period and caught them in a few changes and got ahead of them and caught their D out there a few times and had a few shifts, just couldn't put it into the back of the net. We had some good opportunities between the second and the third to wear them out and that looked more like us. We just didn't quite pull it off and find a goal.