The Carolina Hurricanes just couldn't find enough finish as they fell 5-2 to the Minnesota Wild, despite outshooting them 42-19, Sunday evening at PNC Arena.
Martin Necas scored for the second straight game to open the scoring and Michael Bunting picked up the other to pull it into a tie late, but that was all Carolina would get.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On giving up an immediate goal after grabbing the equalizer: That's the NHL. Can't do it.
On the game: The first period, we needed more. Pretty much did everything you were supposed to, the way we wanted to do it, got our opportunities and then we come out of there tied. That was probably deflating a little bit. We weren't great in the third either and then we tied it up. Then had a couple mental errors and they made us pay. They did what they needed to do and we didn't execute.
On not staying patient: I don't know if we didn't stick with it. You knew they were going to have a little push at some point and they made us pay on our mistakes is really what happened it felt like tonight. It's a frustrating game because you lose like that. The first period was as good as you can do it and we needed to get more out of it. A couple of weird bounces, the second one goes off a shinpad and of course it's in the net. We had the opportunity to get the puck out a couple of times... They did too. We kept a bunch in too, it's just how it goes sometimes. We just needed to execute a little better.
On the power play: It's going to show up as an 0-for night, but we were in their zone the whole of the power play and had some great looks. We had Jarvis down low a couple of times right in front whacking at it and Burns missed the net on a couple there. We switched it over to the other side and had two one-timers from 20-feet out and just happened to miss the net. It was just a tough night that way, but I didn't mind it. I thought we were pretty good on that, but we obviously need to score.
On the line changes: It was just trying to get something going with the other lines a little bit. Just give a little more juice. We were playing fine, but we needed to get that equalizer. We did, but then unfortunately, the next shift, they got us. That's the game.
On the goaltending: It was more about the other goalie than ours. He played really well. Gotta give him credit. He made some real good saves, but we could have gotten to the net more. Their first goal was a good tip. We weren't able to do that. The first shift of the third, we were there and we hit the crossbar. Just some things that... like I said, it was a tough night for us to get a bounce. It just didn't happen.
Jordan Staal
On it being a frustrating game: It's up there. Obviously we had a good start and wanted more out of it. Part of it's my fault too. I was probably getting too frustrated. We have to stay with our game and I feel like frustration started creeping in and in the third period, we were just kind of frustrated and angry and flat. We were just okay at the end. Still had a chance, but we found a way to beat ourselves.
On the difficulty with staying patient tonight: I don't know. It's a good question. Part of being a good team is sticking to our identity and I thought we came out strong, but then we changed. We were just getting angry and frustrated and I was one of them. Started affecting the juice and flow of our game and then obviously a few mistakes. We didn't get the points.
On not getting many second chances: There was some good looks. Enough to win the game, for sure. There was plenty of chances.
On the team lacking intensity: We were just kind of playing that 50/50 game and hoping for a little chip or a bounce instead of just driving it into them . Usually, if we play our game like we did in the first and continue with that, teams just kind of give in. We didn't really stay on the hammer and continue to drive it down their throat and then it kind of became a 50/50 third period and they ended up getting the right bounce with their goal.
Sebastian Aho
On it being a frustrating game: It definitely was a frustrating one. The first period, I thought we were flying. We had a lot of good looks, just couldn't score, but it was just one of those ones. Probably should have done a little bit of a better job to not get frustrated and just trusting that it will come. We definitely had some looks in the first and at the end too to tie the game and win the game. They were selling out, blocking shots and the goalie played an unreal game. The third period just wasn't good enough, but other than that, I thought the way we played was really good. We just couldn't finish.
On the power play: I thought we had a lot of grade-As. I felt especially the first two power plays we had a lot of them. You score one of those and it's a whole 'nother story. I felt, even the last one, we had grade-As. Some of the other nights, we had some of those same looks. You just can't get too frustrated and just try to keep working on it. That's exactly what we're going to do.
On not letting frustration carry over: It's just business as usual. Bad game, good game, we always take a look at the video at what went good and what went bad and all that stuff. It doesn't really change the mindset. Just take it a day at a time. It's just business as usual.
On response goals: Ideally you try to build that momentum off of a goal, but it happens, you know? It's hockey. They're trying to do the exact same thing too. I think this is a good learning [moment] for us. As long as we get better and learn from this, it will be good.