The Carolina Hurricanes had a terrible showing on special teams putting up a combined 0% on both sides.
Despite that, the Canes still managed to make it close before ultimately falling 4-3 at MSG Sunday evening.
Jaccob Slavin, Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis all scored for Carolina while Frederik Andersen stopped 19 shots.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho and Tony DeAngelo spoke with the media in New York. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On his assessment of his team's game outside of special teams: I thought we played a pretty good game. A couple of kills we didn't quite execute right on and they did. They made their three quick passes and hit it and we were just a step off. That was the difference. It's tough because we played pretty hard and I thought overall, as the game went on, we got a little better. But that was the difference.
On if he got an explanation on the Tony DeAngelo penalty: Nah. Not one that made sense to me.
On dialing in the discipline: Like I said, other than that, really, 20 seconds of specialty time where we just didn't execute and they did, we played a pretty good game.
On Vincent Trocheck: I talked about it before the series. We had him for a long time. A great player and I think he does everything. Very, very valuable.
On the team struggling to get shots: I don't know how many shot attempts we had and how many blocks they had. Sometimes you have to look at that more than the shots on net. We put a lot of pucks there and they did a good job of getting in front of them and we missed the net on some, but of course you want to get more quality chances. I thought we had a few and we hit three goal posts too. There's different ways to look at this game. For me, it was obvious that we have to get better on the special teams area because if we go minus two every game in that area, that's not going to work.
On if he's seen Artemi Panarin evolve as a player: He was still good then. He's still a real good player. I don't know if he's evolved. He's always been good.
On how the team can slow down the Rangers' top guys: Well you can't give them... like the first one, we just blow a coverage and that's not normally what we do and then the other ones, like I said, the power play goals. Really, the last one, we had it out in the neutral zone, it bounced over our stick and unfortunately it went to the wrong player for us and a great player for them. You take that away, I don't know what more we could do. We did a pretty good job on them.
On if there's a message to the team on undisciplined penalties: I don't know. On Svech's penalty, I don't know what else you want him to do there. He's fighting for a puck. That's certainly not a discipline penalty. Kuznetsov's, you'd like to have that one back, but the guy did it to him. It's one of those, 'you always catch the second guy.' He knows better. And then Tony's, I don't know. If the guy doesn't fall, it's probably not a call. So that's not a discipline penalty for me. The puck was there. But we don't want to take any penalties.
Jordan Staal
On special teams: It's clear that our start and our special teams were the difference tonight and we've always talked about that all year long. Special teams, if you win that battle, you have a really good chance of winning and we didn't tonight. Both of them weren't good enough obviously. The PK's got to be better and the power play has to be better.
On the penalty to Tony DeAngelo: Not necessarily. I didn't understand. The original call was a trip and then they decided that they were going to look at the hit. Didn't really get much on that one. Ended up with the two and assuming there was a penalty on that play. Unfortunate, but we obviously have to kill it.
On the team's pushback: You can't spot them a couple of goals like that, especially against that team. I thought we battled hard, got to our game. Whether they were sitting back or we were getting to our game, it was a little bit of both and we had a chance to get it. But we're going to learn from this one. We did some really good things, 5v5 was there especially. Special teams have to be better.
On what went so well on New York's power plays: Obviously they have some great players. I think our kill is predicated on pressure and they have to make three or four good passes to get a grade-A and they did. It was pretty evident that they made some good plays. We'll adjust and find ways to pressure more at the right times and right opportunities and make sure we do a better job.
On undisciplined penalties: We've talked about it before and after all year long. Especially in an emotional building like this, it always seems to get everyone riled up. We were at fault again to start and I thought we were better as the game went on. We settled down a little bit and obviously the crowd can get the refs going as they did here tonight and we got fired up. We talked after the first period that we needed to settle down a little bit and we did and we played some good hockey after that.
Sebastian Aho
On special teams being the difference in the game: Pretty much. That sums it up. The power play... I feel like every power play we had, we had at least one grade-A. Did some good things out there, but we have to be a little sharper than that on the last pass or last shot to be able to score there.
On the pushback: We did a lot of good things in that game and especially at the end. We got good pressure on them and obviously we got one goal back and the second one wasn't too far either. Just have to build on that.
On the start of the game: A lot of things happened there, but it's the first game in a new round. Obviously the crowd's into it and all that. I think it's pretty normal. I think we can have an even better start next game and that's the focus right now.
On New York's power play: Trust me, we all do our homework. We pre-scout and try to learn as much as possible, but a lot of the time it comes down to some simple plays. Winning a 50/50 puck or when they made some nice plays. Got two big goals, but we can be a little sharper.
Tony DeAngelo
On his penalty: They probably just reviewed it to check. I guess that's the new rule. I guess you have to review it and then you can change it. It is what it is, but I didn't get an explanation. I'm not even going to get into it. It's tough. We had five PPs too, so they covered it both ways. It's a tough job for those guys and they make the calls so it is what it is.
On the special teams struggles: It's one game. They did a nice job, executed on two nice plays. I thought we did a pretty good job on our power plays, it just didn't go in tonight. That's why you play seven games.
On the negative ovations he received: I couldn't give two "you-know-whats."
On the pushback: I thought we played good. Even in the first, I thought we played all right. The shots were 4-4 at one point and it was 2-1. You guys are going to hear the same thing from all of us. It's a seven game series so we have to get to our game. We spotted them one, great plays by their guys but we give them one quick there and they get the crowd into it, we respond and then the penalty calls and boom, boom. Sometimes just the way it goes in the playoffs. They have a good team but we know what we have in here and there's still six more games.
On the opportunity to play in Brett Pesce's absence: You just try to come in and do whatever you can to help. So whatever that is, 25 minutes, 10 minutes, 12, whatever situation I'm in, I think that's part of being a pro. I've been ready and I'm confident I can go in and help. So far, so good, but still another level to get to. Maybe finish one of those chances that I've had. Maybe that's the next step.
On if the energy in MSG affected their game: It's the playoffs. Our rink is louder than all of them. So we could say the same thing about ours, but you guys know how great New York is. It's a sports town. They do a great job cheering them on, but we don't care.