RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes (5-7-3) saw their points' streak of six games end with a 2-1 home loss to the Winnipeg Jets (9-6-2) on Thursday night. The loss itself wasn't that concerning, but some of the issues that crept up again were.
1. One of the demons from last season reared its ugly head again -- a slow start.
The Hurricanes allowed the first goal just 5:29 into the first period and attempted just six shots in the first, too. They just generally looked lethargic and it took them too long to get going.
That had been the case in the last few games, even when the Hurricanes were able to either rally to win or rally to get a point. But it wasn't a good trend, and head coach Bill Peters said as much.
"It's going to catch up to you for sure. This is a league that you want to get the lead in and you want to play from ahead. You don't want to play catch-up hockey," Peters said. "We were stubborn early. We wouldn't put pucks in behind them to make their d turn. We were trying to make plays when plays weren't there and then when there were opportunities to make plays, we didn't execute."
The Canes often answered questions about slow starts last season, and it was troubling to see it come up again, particularly since Peters has stressed it as much as he has.
"I'm not sure, because we make a point of it before the game. We even put up the latest games and the shots against and shots for," goalie Cam Ward said. "For some reason, we just haven't been able to get the puck to the net. In that first period, we're always getting better as the game goes along but to be successful in this league, you've got to play a full 60 minutes. "
2. The defense in front of Cam Ward wasn't even close to good enough.
Ward has been great during this stretch of good play. The players in front of him generally have been too, but not Thursday. Ward made some saves in spite of them and allowed two goals because of them, but they didn't help him enough.
"Yeah, there's not a question there," defenseman Tim Gleason said. "I think it's more or less the players in front of him tonight. We could all be better, myself included."
3. Faceoffs were an issue, at least early on, for the first time all season.
The Hurricanes have been surprisingly good in the faceoff circle most of the year, with reliable centers stepping up and their teammates making plays to help. But the Hurricanes finished the night at 45 percent on faceoffs, and it was worse than that at first.
"Especially early I think we were 33 percent early and some guys really struggled in the circle. Credit to them. (Adam) Lowry was dominant early and then the numbers kind of evened up a little bit on him, but he was dominant early. That just shows a lack of focus, too, to start the game, to get beat that badly in the circle. It's not just the centers, it's the secondary battle with the wingers, too.
Cam Ward: The suddenly resurgent goalie was spectacular yet again, saving nearly everything that came his way save two deflections right in front of him. He had some spectacular saves too, but those have been par for the course during this streak. "It felt good. I thought I was moving well in the net. The most important thing is to give your team an opportunity to win a game," Ward said, and he did just that.
Elias Lindholm: The team's point streak might have died, but Lindholm's didn't. Well, technically his streak ended on November 10 when he didn't get a point for the first time in five games, but he now has at least one point in six of the last seven games and at least a goal in five of the last seven. He scored the Hurricanes' only goal tonight.
Tim Gleason: It wasn't his best game by any stretch, but in a game where the Hurricanes needed to be more physical than they were, it's worth something that the veteran defenseman had a team-high five hits and added two blocked shots.
