The Anatomy of a Moment: EBUG Comes to the Rescue as the Canes Embarrass Toronto
By Ben Huffman
The Aftermath
The media storm that surrounded David Ayres after the game was incredible. Ayres' face was all over the place, and for good reason. With his performance on that Saturday night, Ayres became the first EBUG in NHL history ever to record a victory, writing his name into the record books forever. He conducted several phone interviews and made appearances on The Today Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Good Morning America. Ayres was also at PNC Arena for their next game three days later to sound the siren before the game.
The game also had severe implications on the ice for the Hurricanes moving forward. On John Tavares' goal in the second period, Brett Pesce suffered a shoulder injury that knocked him out of the game and forced him to get shoulder surgery, putting him out for the remainder of the season. Just over a month earlier, Dougie Hamilton had broken his fibula, taking him out for an extended period.
As the injuries on the back end piled up, and with the trade deadline just days away, the Canes had to get aggressive. This led to the additions of Brady Skjei and Sami Vatanen less than 48 hours later on deadline day. While Vatanen's time didn't last long, Skjei became a major staple of the defense over the next few seasons.
While this was a big win for the Hurricanes, they'd go on to lose their next four games. After the four-game losing streak, the Canes would turn it around by winning their next three, but that's when the world shut down. The remainder of the 2019-20 regular season would be canceled because of the pandemic, with hockey returning in August for the playoffs.
The Hurricanes, who finished the season with the sixth-best points percentage in the Eastern Conference, would face the New York Rangers in a best-of-five Qualifying Round series, which they'd win in three games before losing in five games to the Boston Bruins in the first round. Toronto would experience another in a long line of frustrating winner-take-all losses, losing in the Qualifying Round to the Columbus Blue Jackets in five games.