VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Getting behind early on, the Carolina Hurricanes were unable to catch up and had their three-game win streak come to an end with a 2-0 shutout loss to the Vancouver Canucks at the Rogers Arena on Monday.
The Hurricanes fell behind 1-0 just over three minutes into the game after goaltender Justin Peters was screened on a point shot through traffic.
Peters, who made 24 saves for the remainder of the game, kept Carolina in contention but didn’t get any offensive support.
After posting 14 goals during recent wins over San Jose, Nashville, and Washington, the Hurricanes scoring machine ran out of ammunition that could beat Vancouver goalie Eddie Lack who earned his first career shutout while making 31 saves on the night.
“We wanted to give him more traffic in front,” Carolina coach Kirk Muller said.
“You know, we got some pucks to the net, but he saw a lot of them. So we didn’t get quite the screens, the chip-type plays that we were hoping for.”
Returning to the city and arena where he played for three seasons with the Canucks, Carolina forward Manny Malholtra was reminiscent and appreciative of the time he spent in Vancouver and the reception he received from the fans during the game.
“It’s a very special place to play,” Malholtra said.
“These are incredibly passionate fans. It was a privilege to play in front of them for three years and I’m very grateful for that ovation I received. It was pretty special.”
As the Hurricanes pressed to even the score through the next two periods, Peters was pulled for the extra skater with over a minute remaining in game.
However, Vancouver’s Jannik Hansen intercepted a pass and snubbed that chance by scoring an empty-netter at 18:46 to finalize the score at 2-0.
It was the Hurricanes second straight loss to Vancouver this season, after suffering a 3-2 loss to the Canucks in Raleigh back on Dec. 1.
Carolina also fell behind early during that game, but managed to come back by scoring two goals in a span of 10 seconds.
In the two teams’ return engagement and final one of the season, the Canucks led by Lack, who made his first start at home, ensured that didn’t happen again.
The loss extended the Hurricanes inability to win in Vancouver to six games (0-4-2) dating back to Oct. 15, 1999.
“It’s obviously disappointing,” Malholtra continued.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted. We thought we carried the play for most of the game. We were effective getting pucks in deep; we sustained pressure on ‘em. Lack saw a lot of pucks tonight. We need to do a better job of getting in the goalie’s eyes and battling in front of their net. The positive is obviously we can turn up that tempo, but we have to start a little bit harder next game.”
The Hurricanes continue on to Edmonton to play the Oilers on Tuesday in the second game of their back-to-back set as part of their current four-game road trip that will then take them to Calgary before ending in Phoenix on Saturday.