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The Carolina Hurricanes are headed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. These final few games of the regular season are about gaining a measure of momentum heading into the postseason. However, their search for momentum fell flat a bit on Sunday night. Rod Brind'Amour and his Hurricanes lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs on Sunday night. His 399th career goal helped Toronto secure a 4-1 win at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is Toronto's 50th win of the season. And it helped pull them to the brink of the Atlantic Division title.
After the game, Brind'Amour spoke with reporters. He expressed his thoughts on what his team did on Sunday night. To say he was less than impressed is certainly an understatement.
“You play to win, and I didn’t like our second period,” Brind’Amour said, via NHL.com's Kurt Dusterberg. “I think we were OK with just being OK, and that’s not good enough. But I also understand the bigger picture. Guys have played pretty hard here all year.”
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are approaching rather quickly. Teams like the Maple Leafs still have to fight for postseason seeding. However, this does not apply to Carolina. The Hurricanes are locked into the second seed of the Metropolitan Division. They will host the New Jersey Devils in the first round.
The Hurricanes could certainly use a bit of momentum before the postseason, though. Sunday's loss marks their fifth over their last six games. The only win in this stretch is a 7-3 defeat of the New York Rangers on Saturday.
We have nearly reached the end of the 2024-25 season. But Carolina's schedule remains pretty strong. The Hurricanes take on the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday before ending the regular season against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.
