Blake nets two, Aho scores, but Carolina falls in a shootout. Hear from Brind'Amour and the players on the tough Minnesota loss.
The Carolina Hurricanes made a valiant comeback effort Wednesday night in Minnesota, but it ultimately came up short as the team lost 4-3 in a shootout.
Jackson Blake scored twice and Sebastian Aho grabbed the other goal to at least secure a point for the Canes.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Blake and Aho spoke with the media in Minnesota. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: I thought we played great. Obviously we gave them a couple of breakaways. Those are the ones you just can't do, but if you take those away... You have to give them credit thought because when they had their chances, they buried them and their goalie played great, but I loved the way we played. Especially getting down two right away. We just kept going. I give the guys full marks. Overtime, we had all of our chances and it's just one of those nights where we just didn't get rewarded for what we put out there.
On Jackson Blake: Great game. I thought he was going to put it away there in overtime. He was a real special player tonight. Probably the best player on the ice.
On if there was anything said in the locker room before the second period: I don't have to say much. Guys knew. They got one that was kind of a lucky bounce, but then we gave them the other one. Other than that, the period was pretty good. We just have to stick with the game. And that's what I liked about what we did. We didn't really change much, we just kept playing. We had a good game plan and the guys followed it. It didn't work out but you would take that game 100 times out of 100 with the way we played.
Jackson Blake
On his game: Obviously would have liked to have put that one away in overtime. That would have really capped it off, but I thought for the most part, as a group, we played well. To have two goals in front of my friends and family, that's something you dream of. But we got a point as a group and I liked the way we kind of finished there. I think we were hungry. It was a really fun game. It's always fun playing at home in front of my friends and family, but it would have been better if we got the win.
On the slow start: I don't know really what it was. I just don't think we were playing the way we're capable of playing. I think when we play that way, we're really hard to play against and really hard to beat. We just have to find a way to do it for the full 60 minutes. If we do that, we're going to be a tough team to beat down the stretch.
On his game-tying goal: I had no idea. Ehlers came and tried to high-five me and tag me and I thought it was one of their guys coming at me because I was jamming away a little bit. It was fortunate that that one went in, for sure. Both of them honestly. I think that was a little bit of God's luck right there, for sure.
On the way the team played: Obviously you're never really pumped about losing, right? But I think there is a lot of stuff we can build from from this game. I think we did a lot of good for the most part and I think one thing that this team does is that we compete. We compete really hard and we're always in it every single game. We just have to find a way to not give them those freebies.
Sebastian Aho
On forcing overtime: Obviously a tough bounce there early in the third, but you can either mail it in or keep fighting and obviously we kept fighting there. We were able to find a couple of goals and get a point. Would have liked to see two points there, but the boys battled hard.
On if there's any satisfaction in fighting back for at least a point: You lose a game, you can't be satisfied. But there's also a way to lose. You're not probably going to win every single game in the regular season, so at least the battle was there.
On if this is a game the team can build on or wants to just flush: Any game, how we go about our business is to take the good things, the bad things, watch some video and move on. That's the goal here, to get better. It's no different. After this one, we're probably just going to take a look at the video, then trash it and move on.
On his goal: A great rush play there. Jarvy and then Svechy, kudos to them. They were able to make nice plays there and then a good shot.
On Jackson Blake: He's been playing really good. Obviously has some poise with the puck. Just works hard. Obviously there line was good today. They were making plays when there was time to make plays and then obviously two big goals. He just keeps on continuing to get better,
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