The Carolina Hurricanes came up just a bit short Saturday night at PNC Arena, falling 2-1 in the shootout to the St. Louis Blues.
Teuvo Teravainen scored the lone goal for the Canes and Antti Raanta had a vintage performance as he stopped 21 of 22.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Raanta, Teravainen and Jack Drury spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: It was a good game. We played well and then we lost the skills competition at the end. But if you take that out of it, I was real happy with it. Just didn't work out in the end. I thought our third period was good. Had a couple of chances, just a couple almosts, I think we hit a crossbar there. Just bounces didn't go our way tonight, but overall I thought it was a solid game, especially coming off a tough game last night too. I liked it.
On Antti Raanta: He was great. Both goalies played really well. He's only had a couple starts since he's come back but that one was solid. Right from the start, we fell down at the start of the game and gave up a great chance. There were a couple of other ones there. He gave us a chance to stay in it and we weren't able to score so we needed him.
On the tightness of the game: Both teams weren't giving too much and it was obvious what was going on. Trying to stay above the puck and wait for your opportunities and we did. Had a couple of opportunities in the third and we just didn't capitalize. That's the way it goes.
On the shift following the penalty kill: [Jordan Staal] came out of the box and then had a chance and another rebound that was right there, like I said, their goalie played really well. Kept them in it too and like I said, we lost a skills competition. It's a tough way to lose it because you feel bad about that you lost the game, but it was a pretty good game really overall.
On the officials just letting the teams play: I liked that they let the guys play it out. There wasn't a ticky-tack foul at the end of the game to make a difference. I think they could have had one either way and probably could have called some more, but don't get involved. Let the boys play it out and that's what I thought happened tonight.
On being on a point streak: I don't think we even think about that. I think it's just, we had a back-to-back, needed a reset and we'll have a few days to kind of regroup. It's a long year so I don't think win or lose we'd even think about what's going on when we lace them up again. Gotta start over.
On Vasily Ponomarev: He looks really good. I didn't get him out there as much as I would have liked to just kind of the way the game went because every shift he was making things happen and certainly looks like he belongs.
On having patience in a tight game like tonight: It's the game you have to have patience with and we did. There were a few shifts where we knew where we had to attack and you have to come out and wait for that lane to open up and then you've got to take it. Sometimes we were overpassing early. You could see that we had a couple where it was there and then you don't get that again. So I thought we got better as the game went on. The third period, we had some good looks and one went off the bar. We go away feeling, 'Well we lost the game,' but I feel pretty good about the way we played through 60 minutes.
On if he comes into games having a shootout list: Yeah, kind of. We know who the guys are that score and there's one or two of those and then there's kind of a crapshoot the rest of the way. It's been a little bit of a sore spot for us, but again, I'd much rather worry about the other stuff.
Antti Raanta
On his game and the support of the fans: Since the Montreal game, the fans have been fantastic. You make a kind of normal, easy save and the whole crowd just keeps yelling your name and they get behind you. Big thanks to them. Obviously, a couple of tough outings at home so you want to build the trust again with the home fans and earn their support. Can't be more than happy to have their support there. One more save and we could have celebrated the win, but that's hockey sometimes. Shootout is one save or one goal and today it went the other way. Obviously tough for sure, but I think there was a lot of good things also.
On building back his confidence: You want to make those timely saves and to help them team win the games. Sometimes when you let goals in, what do you feel like? You know that you should make those saves. Obviously it's tough, but that's part of being a goalie. Sometimes you make mistakes and it shows on the scoreboard. You just have to forget that and just keep pushing for the next save. I think today was a good outing for that, but yeah, when you lose, you can't be too satisfied. But like I said, a lot of good things.
On the defensive effort in front of him: There was a few chances where they had open ice and a stick came out of nowhere and took the shot away. [Drury] had an unreal block there. Not the softest shot in the league and he just put his ankle there and blocked it. I think that's what we've been doing since Christmas break. I think everybody's dialed in, everybody's pulling together. You see it in the results also. I think this has been by far the best we've been playing this season.
On getting out of his funk: Sometimes you kind of forget [who you are]. You have a couple of bad games and kind of forget about what you've been doing for 15, 20 years. It's easy to forget that because you want to win and when things are not going your way, you take it by the heart. Sometimes you should just let it go and just look forward. But sometimes, as a goalie, that's your responsibility. To make those saves and when you can't make those saves, it's really tough. Playing a couple of games in Chicago, that was different, but you kind of felt again like, 'Hey, it's just hockey. You can't take it too seriously. Just go out there and enjoy it.' When I got back up here and played against Montreal, the home fans were... that was... you almost get a little emotional in moments where you made a save and they were just yelling your name and screaming. It was unbelievable. Obviously great to be back here and play today. One more save and we could have celebrated the win, but yeah, one step at a time and one game at a time. Just try to keep it simple and enjoy it.
Teuvo Teravainen
On tonight's game: We played a hard game yesterday, traveled here. Back-to-back. Got to play hard again. I think we did a pretty good job. We had good chances to get more than one goal, just didn't get in.
On the team's confidence building: We feel good. We feel good about ourselves and we're getting more confident in our game. There's more and more good things in our game so we're going in a good direction.
On what he says to Antti Raanta after a game like this: You don't really have to say anything. He knows that he played great. He gave us a chance to win the game and we didn't score enough goals, so that's on us.
On the recent power play success: I don't know. It's kind of tough to say. We don't really have one thing we're doing better, just kind of all over winning some battles, being ready mentally for the power play to be good.
Jack Drury
On the game: It was a good team effort tonight. Raanta played unbelievable. Tough to drop a point, but I think we liked the way we played tonight.
On the tightness of the game: I think the last couple of games, you're feeling that shift in the season where teams are getting a little more desperate. It's pretty grindy out there, but I think we just have to stick with our game and keep going that way.
On Antti Raanta: He was unbelievable. A couple of those saves were pretty incredible. So that's great to see. Huge for us getting a point tonight.
On the difficulty of returning home from a road trip on the end of back-to-back: For me it's pretty easy. I'm single and young, but for some of the guys with family and kids and stuff, it's probably a little tougher. But we've got great leadership here and a lot of guys that take it seriously and are good professionals so I think everyone was prepared.
On the direction of the team: We've know for a bit how we've had to play and it's obvious when we're doing it the right way. We've been doing it since Christmas and just have to keep it up and at 5-on-5 just keep playing our game.