A slow start led to a 5-1 loss for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday at Lenovo Center. The Hurricanes fell behind less than a minute into the game after Toronto’s Bobby McMann scored, and a misdirected puck off the end boards quickly gave the Leafs a 2-0 lead.
Carolina maintained puck possession for much of the first period and reduced the deficit when Seth Jarvis scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season off a pass from Shayne Gostisbehere. However, Toronto added two more goals in the second period, increasing their advantage to three goals by the end of 40 minutes.
Despite an injury to Toronto’s starting goaltender Joseph Woll, which brought Dennis Hildeby into net for the third period, Carolina was unable to score again. A late empty-net goal secured Toronto’s win and ended Carolina’s two-game winning streak.
Frederik Andersen made 19 saves on 23 shots and has now gone winless in his last six starts. Seth Jarvis is now tied for ninth-most goals in the league at this point in the season. Shayne Gostisbehere recorded his 16th assist, just behind Sebastian Aho among Hurricanes players, while also maintaining one of the highest points-per-game rates among NHL defensemen. Sebastian Aho contributed his sixth assist in five games, reaching a total of 25 points over 26 games this season. Nikolaj Ehlers played his 700th career game, becoming only the eighth player from his draft class to reach that milestone.
Following the game, captain Jordan Staal commented: “I don’t think we played bad, but I don’t think we played great. We made a couple of mistakes, and it was in the back of our net. The one off the stanchion hurt. A couple of other ones just really didn’t go our way. I think we had opportunities to get life – our power play could have gotten us going a little bit. I think there were a few other opportunities to get some momentum in this building, which we love to play in, but just really didn’t. There was no spark tonight.”
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour said about falling behind early: “When you start right away, and you’re down, it’s tough. You’re ready to go, and then the first one goes in, and then there’s a weird bounce. It was an uphill battle right from the start.”
Brind’Amour also addressed Andersen’s performance: “It’s tough because you don’t really fault him on the goals. There was only a handful of really good, quality chances; they were just able to capitalize. That’s what they do. That’s a great team offensively. The second one was just a tough one, and now we’re down two. They did a really nice job of just hunkering up, and they didn’t have to open it up. Then we kind of tried to (open it up), and they capitalized… I don’t blame Freddie for the goals. Their guy(s) had a good game… I think the game came down to (the fact that) we didn’t capitalize on our chances. That’s the difference, really.”
Goaltender Frederik Andersen reflected on his recent stretch: “The way I look at it, I’ve played better hockey, and I’ve had worse numbers. It doesn’t look good, obviously. We’re not getting the wins with me in the net lately, but I still feel like I’ve got my game. Maybe not perfectly where I want it, but like I’ve said, I’ve had worse stretches where things have looked better and I’ve gotten more wins. That’s how I look at it. I try to be positive and move on.”
The Hurricanes are set to practice Friday before playing back-to-back home games starting Saturday against Nashville.
