NHL to Return to Olympics Sometimes it seems like every shot goes your way. And sometimes it's like what happened to the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday night at PNC Arena. In a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks, the Canes couldn't buy a bounce. Not only did all three of the Canucks' goals come off of fortunate deflections— two net-front power play tips and then a lucky a bounce off the stanchion — when Carolina had their chances, it seemed like their sticks were made of rubber. Sebastian Aho, who scored an impressive power play snipe, could have had an additional pair of goals as he was found by teammates in tight twice, but each time the puck moved on him right at the worst times. You can't blame bounces for the entire performance though. The Hurricanes were severely lacking in the opening frame, being outshot 12-4 in the first period, and it was exactly what head coach Rod Brind'Amour feared coming off of a long break. "It was what I was afraid might happen," Brind'Amour said. "We were terrible to start and they were good. We got lucky to get out of the first period even. Then we got a little better. I could tell we were going to get to it, and we probably deserved better in the third. That was a pretty good third period, just didn't happen." In the end though, the game proved to be a tight contest overall with both teams generating a similar amount of chances. Special teams was a wash with two goals scored on both sides — the Canucks' new forward and old friend Elias Lindholm scored on two, power play, net-front deflections and Jordan Martinook scored shorthanded while Aho scored a power play snipe — and in the end it came down to single bad bounce. And it was a pretty bad bounce. Vancouver rimmed the puck around the glass on an offensive zone entry and it careened off the glass behind the net, into Pyotr Kochetkov's leg — who played in his first game since leaving with a head injury on Jan. 11 — and bounced to a Canucks player eventually ending in a tap-in for J.T. Miller. Regardless the game was a good wakeup call for the Canes especially after a long break. "It was two good teams," Aho said. "They try to make our night as hard as possible and it goes the other way too. There was not a lot out there. Just a tight-checking game. You get a lot out of playing these games. These are good teams that will most likely make the playoffs so if we want to get better, we have to get these tests in. We couldn't find the result today, but for sure we'll learn a lot from it." Carolina now will shift its focus to Thursday's contest with a red-hot Colorado Avalanche team. "You definitely judge the season in sections and we're in the home stretch," Martinook said. "I don't know how many games are left, 30-something games, but it feels like the home stretch and every game is going to be so crucial and you're playing good teams every night. This is obviously a big week for us. We wanted to get this one, but the Avalanche are coming in next. They're a good team and we have to be ready on Thursday."
