Staal and Brind'Amour dissect defensive lapses and missed opportunities after a tough Montreal Canadiens comeback.
The Carolina Hurricanes squandered a hot start and an early lead, seeing five straight goals go past them in a 5-2 loss Tuesday night to the Montreal Canadiens.
Even despite scoring two early ones, the Hurricanes couldn't find a way to score again even with 40+ shots on goal.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Jordan Staal spoke with the media in Montreal. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: We played, really, an actually solid game, we just had a few mess ups where we're right beside a guy and not getting their sticks and they tap them in or tip them in. That was really the game. They had one breakaway where we kind of lost the puck there. Other than that, we were pretty solid. But we have to get more out of those periods where you're on it. Coming out of that first only up one, we probably have to get a little more separation there.
On taking breaths: We had a couple moments in the D-zone where we weren't tight. You have to have a little more juice in there and just not give them that little bit of space else it ends up in your net. Tough game because I thought we probably deserved a little better. It's a good lesson. You can't take breathers out there.
On the message to the group: It's pretty clear. We know what we need to do to win. You can't let off the gas for even a little bit. You have nine shifts that are really good and then that 10th one you decide, 'Oh, I don't need to do it,' and that's the guy that taps it in on that one. It's those kinds of things. It's hard. We were, for the most part, really good tonight. You look at the score and you're like, 'What just happened?' but it really wasn't that kind of game.
On the road trip as a whole: You always just kind of look at this game, but if you want to look at the big picture, we played really well for the most part. Again, have to learn from these little mess ups that we have and hopefully not repeat them.
Jordan Staal
On the game: We had a tough second there. They had their push and we didn't defend well enough to keep it out of our net. They really got three quick ones and playing behind in this league is tough. We had our chances to tie it up, lots of chances, but we have to find a way to keep the puck out of our net to win games against a team like that.
On taking breaths: They're a puck pressure team and if you make a quick turnover, they're going to make you pay and they did that tonight. It wasn't a terrible game, like I said, we had lots of looks, lots of chances to win the game, but just have to find ways to defend better and make sure we're keeping the puck out of our end and out of the net.
On the road trip as a whole: It was a good road trip, tough road trip. Some good teams and I thought we were in every game and playing hard. So we'll continue to build on that.
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