The Carolina Hurricanes opened their 2024-25 season by announcing the full opening roster. The Carolina Hurricanes saw their nine-game home winning streak snapped Friday afternoon as they fell 6-3 to the Florida Panthers. The Canes battled back from an early 3-1 deficit to tie the game 3-3, but suspect goaltending saw the Hurricanes once again fall behind and it was just too much for the team to overcome. After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with captain Jordan Staal and goaltender Spencer Martin spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rod Brind'Amour On it being a tough game for Spencer Martin: There were some tough goals that I'm sure he'd like to have back. You can't give that team goals... any team in this league, but not that one. On his visible frustration on the bench was a result of Martin's play: No, no, no. Listen, there was a reason they were getting the chances. We turned pucks over. It was either the first or second goal, we were in the neutral zone with nobody on us and we toss it to them and now they're getting on their forecheck doing what they do well. So it was just that puck management wasn't great. Tough night, I think, overall, but we dug in and got back into the game. Power play wasn't great. Obviously giving up a shorthanded goal is death. Wasn't great. On if Pyotr Kochetkov is an option tomorrow: I think he's right there, but I'm going to say doubtful for tomorrow. I think he needs to practice. We haven't really practiced so it doesn't make a lot of sense. We'd love to have him but it doesn't make sense. On if he'll go back to Martin tomorrow: We don't know for sure yet. We're going to have to get the final word [on Kochetkov] but if that's what we have to do, that's what we have to do. I don't blame Spencer for this game. We didn't come with what we needed to beat that team. Our top guys gotta be top when you're playing those guys and you can't manage the puck like we did early. That was rough. On the biggest issues on the 4-on-3/5-on-3 power play in the first period: We had a couple of good looks, Jarvy had a few right in front, but it was kind of abbreviated and didn't obviously generate enough. I'll have to go back and look at it, but at the time, I just know it was a little helter-skelter. Got our looks, but we have to finish. On if it was difficult going from 4-on-3 to 5-on-3 and having the right personnel: No, especially with who was in the box [Svechnikov]. We had the right guys and he just popped out there. They had been out there so long that they kind of got mismatched a little bit with the units, but it's not that hard. On if there was too much holding of the puck and not enough shooting on the power play: For sure. Too stagnant. We had a nice play in the first one. Listen, they're a good team. They make you earn everything, but we didn't execute well enough. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spencer Martin On moving on from a tough outing: It's just staying consistent in how I prepare for the next one and how it shows that I can bounce back. On if he's encouraged by the team's ability to fight back from tough starts: 100%. It's been some pretty incredible efforts this week coming from behind. We did it again tonight, it's just that I didn't finish it in the third. On dealing with in-zone turnovers: Good teams will create those. We're one of those teams. We get behind their D and create chances from in the zone as well. On potentially having a chance to get right back at it tomorrow: I prepare to be ready for every game. In this case, I wasn't as good as I wanted to be tonight so the best feeling is to get out there and play again whether I'm playing or not. I'm not sure, but I'll be ready to go. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jordan Staal On the team not being able to get over the hump: The hump was a poor start and giving them goals. We've come back in the last few games and everybody gets all excited about it, but it isn't a recipe for success. Against a much better team, they're going to lock it down. So yeah, we can't start like that or else it's going to look like that. On Spencer Martin having a tough game: Everyone has off nights and I think everyone in the room was pretty much off, so I don't blame him a whole lot. It didn't look like everyone had their legs going. It wasn't our best, so I'm sure he'll rebound just like everyone else in this room has to. On having the chance to get back at it tomorrow against the same team: We get to let go of this one pretty quick and focus on the same team. It's always a battle against that team. They're a good team. They play hard, they play smart and they don't give you anything. We have to work for our chances and we're going to have to come up with a big road win in Florida. On the team's own-zone turnovers: It's clearly just us not playing our game for whatever rhyme or reason. It might not look so bad or you might not think much of it against other teams, but against a team like that, they're going to make you pay. Tonight was glaring and pretty obvious. We looked at a lot of those plays and missed plays in our videos. They might not end up in the back of our net, but we try to limit those as much as we can and tonight they made us pay on pretty much every one of those. They were on our sticks and then they were in the back of our net. So it's not good enough.
