The Carolina Hurricanes allowed two powerplay goals to the New York Rangers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference second-round series on Sunday afternoon, and didn't score a goal on five chances of their own. And that was the difference in the 4-3 defeat at Madison Square Garden — at least according to head coach Rod Brind'Amour.
“There’s different ways of looking at this game,” the bench boss told reporters after the Game 1 loss, according to NHL.com's Shawn P. Roarke. “For me it was, obviously, we have to get better on the specialty-team area because if we go minus-2 in that area, it’s not going to work.”
The Canes allowed three goals to the Blueshirts — two of them on the powerplay — before the contest was 17 minutes old, and were never able to fully recover in the loss. Although Carolina would claw back from a pair of two-goal deficits, an Artemi Panarin goal halfway through the final frame ended up being the dagger.
“You can’t spot them a couple of goals like that, especially that team,” admitted captain Jordan Staal. “I thought we battled hard, got to our game, and whether they were sitting back or we were getting to our game, or a little bit of both, we had a chance to get it. We are going to learn from this.”
Although the first period didn't go as planned from Carolina's perspective, the rest of the game was a different story. The Canes drew five penalties and outshot their Metropolitan Division rivals 19-16 over the final two frames, including leading shot attempts 72-55 overall.
But it wasn't enough against Igor Shesterkin, who made 22 saves for the Blueshirts. Still, it's a long series, and the Hurricanes came close to tying things up late in regulation.
Hurricanes battled right until the end in Game 1
After Panarin made the game 4-2 at 8:21 of the third period, Seth Jarvis was able to get the Hurricanes back within striking distance with under two minutes left in regulation.
And although Carolina pressed but were unable to get the equalizer, Sebastian Aho is confident the team will be better in Game 2.
“First game in a new round and, obviously, the crowd is into it and all that,” Aho told reporters. “I think it’s pretty normal. Trust me, we all do our homework, we pre-scout, we try to learn as much as possible, but a lot of times it comes down to some simple plays, winning 50-50 pucks or they made some nice plays there and got two big goals. We can be a little sharper.”
The powerplay will certainly have to be better if the Canes hope to get back in the series on Tuesday night. The unit was 0-for-5, while the Rangers man advantage continued to click early in Round 2.
“I think our kill is predicated on pressure and you have to make three or four great passes, and they did,” Staal said of New York's prolific PP. “They made some good plays and we’ll adjust, we’ll find ways to pressure more at the right times and the right opportunities and make sure we can do a better job.”
The Hurricanes will look to steal back home-ice advantage on Tuesday night at MSG before the series shifts to PNC Arena in Raleigh next weekend.
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