Injury-plagued Hurricanes lose in shootout as late comeback falls short
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes entered the preseason with a new head coach and a sense of optimism about the future. Maybe they wouldn't make the playoffs this season, but they could sure challenge for it.
One month and a few key injuries later, the feeling around the organization couldn't be more different.
With the Hurricanes about to embark on a five-game road trip spanning nearly two weeks as the state fair comes to Raleigh, the team had a tiny spark of hope -- Buffalo, a team that was struggling nearly as much as the Hurricanes, was coming to town.
The Sabres came into the game 0-3-0, having been outscored 14-4 while being out-shot by a bigger margin (74) than the Sabres had total shot attempts on the season (57).
But the Sabres left PNC Arena with a 1-3-0 record and the Hurricanes finished the night 0-2-1, still winless but at least having picked up the first point of the year with a 4-3 shootout loss.
As with most things surrounding this team right now, there were positives and negatives to take away from it. The Hurricanes came into the game down both Staal brothers (Eric and Jordan), with Jeff Skinner not quite back from a concussion.
To make things worse, defenseman Andrej Sekera went out after the Sabres scored their first goal as he went flying into the boards trying to stop the 2-on-1 break. Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters said the x-rays were negative, but that was all he knew.
"Hopefully, we catch a break there," Peters said. "We're due for one in the health department."
The injuries have been crippling. Still, Buffalo seemed like at least an even matchup with the Hurricanes, and while that ended up being the case based on the final score and the eight-round shootout, the Hurricanes found themselves down 3-1 with around 17 minutes to go in the game.
But they fought back, with former Charlotte Checkers Chris Terry and Zach Boychuk scoring a goal each (and assisting each other's goals) with 6:49 to go and then with 1:48 to go.
The end result of the eight-round shootout wasn't what the Hurricanes wanted, but Peters was proud of the team's fight.
"I think the guys stayed with it. They believed, kept pushing, and got rewarded. ... Obviously, I didn't like the third goal against, the execution on that on our behalf as a group of five on the ice," Peters said. "The guys could've mailed it in there, but there's still lots of time. I think there's still 17 minutes left at that stage of the game. So there's still lots of time if you believe and have some mental toughness."
Guys like Terry and Boychuk, more offensive-minded, didn't get as much ice time entering this game, but down 3-1 and needing a spark, Peters turned to them, and they didn't let him down.
"You need those guys to contribute. Secondary scoring maybe is primary scoring with the lineup that we have right now," Peters said. "They were good. I didn't play them as much as I probably should've early, but when we got down, they're offensive guys ... so we played them more and they sent a pretty strong statement to the coach that they want some more ice time."
He didn't play either one in Carolina's scoreless overtime, though, because he said that they had to earn that trust. Obviously, 4-on-4 is a bit of a different animal than 5-on-5, and Peters said he didn't think either had even practiced 4-on-4 other than one time in training camp.
It's more than likely plenty of young Hurricanes will be thrust into new and different experiences. With the younger Staal -- Carolina's center -- out for awhile with a broken leg, 21-year-old Victor Rask, playing his first-ever NHL games, had 28 shifts (second only behind Jiri Tlusty's 29) and won 76 percent of his face-offs.
The young guys might not be ready for this level of hockey yet. But the Hurricanes really don't have much of a choice.
"There's pressure on a lot of guys that are in roles that they're not normally familiar with," Boychuk said. "You've got a guy like Victor Rask who's playing his first few games and he's a first-line center. It's tough for young guys, but it's nice to have a couple guys step up."
"It's the nature of the game. This will be a test of our mettle as a team," veteran Jay Harrison said. "It'll put those young guys into roles that they may have had on other teams, but certainly not on this level. It's time to rise and shine."
Five straight road games might not be the best place to test the mettle of young players. Maybe they'll lose confidence if things don't go well. But maybe, just maybe, they'll start to feel some of the pressure lifted off of them after they at least picked up a point in this game and will gain something from the experience.
"The road can be your friend sometimes. We're certainly hoping for that," Harrison said. "We have a tight-knit group. We expect only to get closer and simplify our game, which I think is going to be a key to our success.
"Sometimes, a road trip is the best way to simplify a game. So we're going to look to do that moving forward."
