Canes get embarrassed on home ice
The Carolina Hurricanes lost again to the Florida Panthers, this time by a score of 5-0, in a “must win” game two of their third round matchup.
The Canes entered this contest having lost 13 straight Eastern Conference Final games. They lost number 14 on Thursday night.
This game was never close. The Panthers dominated from puck drop to final whistle.
Just 1:17 into the game, the Panthers scored off a turnover and the rout was on.
Midway through the first, the visitors made it 2-0 and a couple of minutes later, it was 3-0.
In the meantime there was very little, if any, pushback from the home team.
The Canes, ordinarily a team that generates a plethora of shots, for good or bad, had a paltry 3 shots on goal in the first period and 4 shots on goal in the second.
The Panthers scored another in the second and closed out with yet another in the third.
Brind’Amour replaced Jesperi Kotkaniemi with Mark Jankowski, though it did not seem to make a difference.
He played Scott Morrow for the injured Jalen Chatfield. Morrow did not finish with a negative plus/minus stat in this game like he did on Tuesday, and did not take a penalty.
I was told that Nikishin was still getting used to the system, although by my eye, while he made mistakes, he showed some promise in the game he played against Washington.
Chatfield skated in warm ups, but could not go so is still day-to-day. Sean Walker and Seth Jarvis both had to leave the game early due to injuries, although Jarvis did return.
Carolina’s special teams, which they have relied on all season with decent success, continue to disappoint against Florida.
They allowed goals on both Panther powerplays and went 0-3 when they had the man advantage.
After the game, there were no words of wisdom.
Svechnikov, who was credited with a team high 3 giveaways and was -3 along with a penalty which resulted in a goal, admitted to his mistakes. He said he needs to remain positive.
Brind’Amour said postgame that Svechnikov was on his own page.
One cannot help but feel sorry for local fans who paid hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to watch those two hockey games. There will be no refunds.
The Canes will have a team meeting Friday before traveling to Florida to, most likely, continue being on the wrong end of a shellacking on Saturday night.
Game Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20242025/GS030312.HTM
Event Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20242025/ES030312.HTM
Post game interviews – https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/gq9s4gqsaf6fibn7u7zsr/AIS7DWj6bzIbzF-YZb0RVDM?rlkey=vfpdq8z0ndnrbo5ab8ssw4vl4&e=1&st=3dozubop&dl=0