RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes didn’t get the start they needed and lost 3-2 to the Vancouver Canucks at PNC Arena on Sunday.
Jordan Staal and Nathan Gerbe scored for the Hurricanes while Cam Ward came up with 27 saves in the losing effort.
Coming off a poor third period of play in a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Friday, the Hurricanes’ play right from the opening faceoff was in a word – frustrating.
“They pushed us out of the first period,” Carolina coach Kirk Muller said.
“They won all the battles. They were more competitive. They owned around our net. We had one shot from our forwards in the first period. All that stuff adds up. That’s not good enough.”
Barely two minutes into it, forward Drayson Bowman uncharacteristically buried Vancouver defensemen Kevin Bieksa with a shove into the corner boards deep in the Canucks end that resulted an early melee between the two teams.
Although Hurricanes tough guy Kevin Westgarth was on the ice, it was defenseman Jay Harrison who eventually squared off with Canucks winger Tom Sestito while everyone on the ice and in the stands looked on.
With the combatants cleared, Carolina played down a man as a result of Bowman’s penalty for boarding, the infraction that started it all.
Shortly after, Carolina defenseman Mike Komisarek put his team down another man as he was whistled for delay of game due to shooting the puck over the glass.
From there, it didn’t take Vancouver long – 11 seconds – to open the game’s scoring as Ryan Kesler stood all by himself to Ward’s right as he deposited the puck into the net over the keeper’s pads to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead at the 3:24 mark.
The Canucks added to their lead as defenseman Jason Garrison’s point shot banked off the left post and past Ward after he teed up a pass from former Hurricanes forward Zac Dalpe with 4:12 remaining in the period.
Outshooting the Hurricanes 9-4, Vancouver carried its 2-0 lead into the next period of play.
“We had a lot of guys that worked hard, but too many guys not willing to commit fully right now,” Muller continued.
“It pays at the end where too many guys are playing too many minutes to cover for it.”
As the puck dropped for the second period, Carolina forward Jordan Staal found the right spot between Vancouver goalie Eddie Lack’s pads, jamming in his own rebound to score his fifth goal of the season 39 seconds in and cut the Vancouver lead down to one goal.
Adding to that momentum just 10 seconds later, defenseman Justin Faulk fed a streaking Eric Staal on a breakaway at the Canucks blue line.
As Lack made the save on Staal’s low shot, Gerbe followed up on the rebound and found the short side to beat Lack and tie the game 2-2 at the 49-second mark.
As the 14,916 in attendance were still cheering while play continued, it was the Canucks who found the net again 27 seconds later.
As three Vancouver forwards, Kesler, Jannik Hansen and Chris Higgins, all hovered around the edges of Ward’s crease, it was Kesler who finally netted his second goal of the game to put the Canucks ahead again 3-2.
“It’s tough,” Gerbe said of giving up the third goal so quickly.
“You shouldn’t allow that. It kills the momentum.”
Finishing the game with 31 total shots, the Hurricanes struggled on the power play and finished 0-for-6 with the man-advantage.
“It’s two things – desperation and execution,” Muller said.
“We’ve been talkin’ about it for a long time. Until our guys understand that you have to play like the last shift there where we all of a sudden got desperate and also when we almost scored on the power play. That’s how you have to play it. When you get a chance, the guys that are out there have to execute. And if they can’t execute, then we gotta’ start lookin’ for other guys in our lineup and give them the opportunity.”
A Daniel Sedin double-minor penalty for high sticking Radek Dvorak gave the Hurricanes an ideal opportunity to tie the game in the second period.
It was even enhanced as Brad Richardson’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty put Carolina up two players for 27 seconds, but poor execution against the NHL’s best penalty-killing team didn’t work to their favor as they finished scoreless on the man-advantage for the rest of the game.
The Canucks held their 3-2 lead heading into the third period and killed off another two penalties during the final 20 minutes to earn the win.
At even-strength, the Hurricanes tried to pull Ward for the extra attacker, but the Canucks even made that difficult to do so for another 45 seconds.
After finally gaining the Vancouver zone, with six attackers to the Canucks five, the Hurricanes worked to get one lone shot on Lack.
As they had with all their other man-advantage opportunities, the Hurricanes couldn’t score, even with an extra player on the ice.
It was a point that had Muller couldn’t provide an answer for, and one that for the first time, really showed his frustration in trying to figure out.
“At the end of the day, that’s all it is,” Muller concluded.
“Everyone runs the same plays – no different one team than the other. It’s a matter of gettin’ the job done, do it at a higher tempo, outworkin’ the PK, and makin’ your plays. I don’t know, maybe some of our guys can’t make the plays.”
On that note, there were no further questions asked.