Brind'Amour, Aho, and Staal dissect the Hurricanes' season sweep loss, pinpointing missed chances and a stellar opposing goalie.
The Carolina Hurricanes fell 3-1 to the Montreal Canadiens Sunday evening at Lenovo Center.
The loss completed the season sweep of the Hurricanes at the hands of the Habs, as Carolina lost all three games this season.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Sebastian Aho and Jordan Staal spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: It was pretty much identical as the game up there. Played both well. Definitely created enough opportunities, we just didn't score. You tip your hat to that goalie. He played great, again.
On Sean Walker's status: Not sure. I don't have any update there.
On Montreal's shot blocking: They had a lot of blocks, but I think we still had 30-plus shots. They blocked a ton at the end obviously. It's a tough game. I mean, their top guys cashed in. We definitely had enough looks, we just didn't cash in. That's all you can say about it. Don't want to take a couple of o-zone penalties, those kill you, but they executed better than we did at the end of the day, even though I thought we had a lot more of the play. I liked most of the game, almost all of it.
On the late second period penalty that led to a goal against: That's a tough one. Like I said, they executed. At the end of the day, that's the difference.
On the top line's 5v5 scoring struggles: They have to be on the sheet. They play all the minutes and get all the opportunities. And they did have them. In the third period, Fishy goes right off the bar from 10-feet out. It was just countless chances, but you still have to cash in. You just have to tip your cap sometimes. They played well, but their goalie was the difference.
On net getting more key saves from Frederik Andersen: It's tough. You can't blame him on them, but at the end of the day, that's the difference in the game. I mean, clearly.
Sebastian Aho
On the game: Good start, good first period. Up at that point. I mean, the second period we definitely had chances to extend the lead, but they got a couple of goals there. Pushed in the third, but didn't get there.
On the defensive struggles against Montreal this year: They're a skilled group. Plays fast like we do and I think they were just kind of making it count when they had their chances. Yeah, I don't know. I think we should have used our momentum a little bit better today. Not open up by any means, but kind of keep the pressure on and get that 2-0, maybe 3-0 goal there.
On not capitalizing on chances: On a night like this, you need to find a way to score and obviously we weren't able to do that. I had some looks too. You can't get too frustrated because you have to keep on going and trust that it will come eventually, but tonight, it didn't. That's on us.
On his lines struggle to score at 5v5: Like I said, you can't get too frustrated about anything. There's a lot of games and you have to be able to flush it whether it's a bad shift or a game. Just have to keep on working and trust that it will eventually go in and build on that.
On facing teams that are desperate for points: It really shouldn't change how you approach the game. You try to play your best game every night, but yeah, maybe there is a little... I don't know what it is, but maybe that extra gear on the teams that are definitely in the fight. But no easy games.
Jordan Staal
On the game: Obviously their goalie played well, but it's still kind of what you give up too. A couple of mishaps in the second and being down against a goalie that's playing well is never easy. I think there are a few things we can learn from, but all in all, guys were working hard and I thought we had an opportunity to win that game.
On the defensive struggles against Montreal: I don't know. I thought we had enough chances to win the game, like I said, throughout a lot of the games. Goalie played well. We can do a better job of capitalizing on our chances and making them pay for their mistakes, but all in all, they played a solid defensive game. Leaving it to the one shot and not giving too many rebounds and stuff around the net. They did a good job of boxing out and keeping it to the single shot.
On the late second period penalty that led to a goal against: I mean, I have to win that draw and just get to the third period there. That wasn't ideal. Those are tough. They kind of sting a little more and obviously being down two in the third, we would have been much better just being down the one.
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