'As A Top Line, We Have To Produce': Sebastian Aho, Taylor Hall, Rod Brind'Amour On Loss To Predators

The Carolina Hurricanes lost 3-1 to the Nashville Predators Tuesday night at Lenovo Center.

It was a classic "Experience Hurricanes Hockey" game as the Canes outshot Nashville 35-16.

After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Sebastian Aho and Taylor Hall spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:

Rod Brind'Amour

On the team not finishing its chances: Tip your hat to the goalie. I mean, let's give him some credit. That guy won them the game tonight. End of story.

On what's been going well for the power play as of late: I think just now they've had some time together. We went through two months of just new guys coming and going and some injuries and all of a sudden you're getting no cohesiveness. So maybe just a little more time together will help move it in the right direction, which it has.

On the line swapping with Mark Jankowski and Jesperi Kotkaniemi: I actually thought Janks was really effective in the five minutes he had and I needed to get him so more. That's what I was doing there.

On the first goal against: He's got to have that. He knows it. Everybody knows it. You don't have to be a hockey person to understand that you have to have it. It's going two feet wide and you have to cover it. He knows. Listen, he's been good for us all year and tonight was a tough one. 

On chasing the game: Yep. Chasing the game and then they make a nice play on the breakaway that we, you know, make a bad change on. But when you're down one, and they're going to make a play at some point and they do, now you're down two where if it's even, it's just down one. The game would have felt a little different. You tip your hat. They capitalized when they needed to and Saros was elite tonight.

On the difficulty of finding more minutes for certain guys: It's just part of it. You have to figure it out with the flow. The second period was tough because we had the power plays kind of stacked on top of each other. Like I said, I liked our game tonight. Can't complain. A couple things that we'd like to do different, but overall, I think we gave up 15 shots, which is a pretty good amount.

On Jackson Blake: He might have been the best player on the ice tonight. Like he was around it every shift. He set up Jarvy right there to start the third period just from a second effort type of thing. We just didn't capitalize at the end of the day. We score on a couple of those and the game looks a lot different.

On if he handles a rookie differently than veterans when it comes to scoring droughts: I think you treat everyone the same and different. I mean, you have to know. He's playing well. Everybody gets caught up in the points and all that, but just watch the game. Who's playing good every night? It's easy to see.

Sebastian Aho

On the team not being able to bury its chances: That's been the case for a while now for our line. Creating a bunch and good looks, but obviously it doesn't matter. Other guys have been bailing us out as of late and got some good wins, but as a top line, we have to produce.

On what needs to be different for them: Score goals. I don't know. We probably had five grade-As at least. Just at the end of the day, you have to be able to find those and put the puck in the net.

On if it's more frustrating to have those looks and not score rather than not getting chances in the first place: It's always good to get chances. You're probably doing something right, working hard which is never in question. It's not bad effort or anything like that. I'm not saying that. And as long as we win, I don't honestly care who scores the goals. But on a night like this, where we lose, we had, as a line, so many chances. Just sucks. Have to try and be better.

On the power play starting to find some traction: A big goal at the time, obviously got us back in the game. You need that out of the power play and we had a few good looks before that goal. Just going to try to keep working on it and get better.

On what Taylor Hall has brought to the power play: Speed. And sometimes you change a unit a little bit and you start looking at things a little differently maybe. He's been able to find those quiet spots and put the puck in.

On helping Jackson Blake through his scoring drought: Just try to work as a line. Keep creating chances. I mean, what else are you going to do? You can't feel sorry for yourself. These things happen in a long season. As I said, as long as we keep winning, we don't care who scores. Not going to lie, it's always nice to score points and goals, but winning is a lot more fun and being able to win and help the team other ways. But like I said, on a night like this, when you have a bunch of chances, you have to help the team by scoring goals.

Taylor Hall

On the game: It was a pretty good game. There's always things to correct. If you're on for a goal against, you always feel a little culpable. That there was something you could have done a bit better. But at the end of the day, considering three in four with some travel, we had some juice and we controlled play a lot of the night. They're a plucky team and they're not going to give in. That's a tough one to lose. You think you deserve a better result, but sometimes the score is what it is.

On what's been going well for the power play as of late: We're meeting a lot, talking a lot. We're getting a feel for each other in different spots. I think that takes time sometimes for a unit to be cohesive and be on the same page and play without having to think too much. It always helps seeing goals go in.

On if he feels he's able to play without thinking yet: Yeah, I'm getting there. It's nice to see goals go in. That always help kind of reinforce that you're doing some things well. I mean, on the ice for a goal against at the end of the game, would have kept the game closer, so there's always stuff to fix, but as far as creating chances and feeling like I have a have a good grasp on where the puck's going and things like that, I think it's coming along.

On his goal: I just think with that much speed, I'm trying to get it to the other side of the net and beat him there. When you're going that fast, you black out a little bit and like I said, I just tried to sell a fake and get it to the other side as quickly as possible.

Stay updated with the most interesting Carolina Hurricanes stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.