Carolina Hurricanes Fall Short in Tough Loss to Pittsburgh

Carolina Hurricanes trying to fight way back into playoff picture

The final week of the regular season is here.  The Carolina Hurricanes with the loss Saturday night all but bid a farewell to any playoff hopes.  Adding salt to the wound is having to play a rested Pittsburgh Penguins team. Even with the odds against the Hurricanes, the Canes put forth a really good effort.  This game featured a lot of back and forth log jams in the neutral zones.  For the most part, the Hurricanes kept pace with one of the league’s best teams.

The Game:

The game started slowly with both teams really not getting things going.  It actually took the Pens more than five minutes to even register a shot.  Pittsburgh draws the first power play.  Normally this doesn’t mean much against the Hurricanes but Pittsburgh finds the net first with a PP goal by Jake Guentzel.

Good thing for Carolina is that they don’t dwell on the past for long.  Not even two minutes later, Jeff Skinner evens it up at 1-1. And yes, it should have been Elias Lindholm’s goal.

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Second Period

Hurricanes come out playing hard in the second and seem to take some momentum away for the Penguins but a critical mistake by Eddie Lack when he misjudges playing the puck leads to Pittsburgh’s second goal.

From that point on during the second, the Hurricanes didn’t seem to get much going. Both teams spent more time grinding play in the neutral zones with not many offensive opportunities.

Third Period

The third starts with the Pens really attempting to just beat the Hurricanes physically and wear them down.  Pittsburgh forth line spends more time on the ice with no such luck of breaking Carolina’s will.  At around the 5:00 mark of the period a bad (really bad) too many men call gives Pittsburgh a PP.   Canes do a good job at first of keeping the Pens at bay until Conor Sheary scores to make it 3-1.

Again, the Hurricanes don’t give up and make good strides of getting back into the game.  Finally unfortunate for Elias Lindholm (hard hit to the mouth), Carolina gets a 4:00 high sticking call.  Canes start the PP with some really nice effort that pays off with an unlucky bounce for Pens goalie Matt Murray.  Justin Faulk gets the PP goal to make it 3-2.

Carolina continues with getting pucks to the net and really out plays Pittsburgh for the rest of the third period but just can’t seem to find the net.  In the end, Hurricanes fall to Penguins 3-2.

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Closing notes:

No one can look back at this game and say that the Carolina Hurricanes didn’t play with a lot of heart.   There was no evidence of giving up even after the third goal.  From the young defense to Eddie Lack to all four lines of forwards this team kept trying all night.

I personally don’t know this but feel that the young Canes are running on fumes at this point.  But even if they are they are not giving up.  Although Carolina has two tough losses in two days, I don’t see this team letting up.  I don’t know about you but I am still proud of this team.