The Carolina Hurricanes allowed countless odd man rushes and scoring chances as they dropped a disappointing game to the Florida Panthers on Friday night, 7-4. The home team out-shot and out-chanced the Hurricanes in each and every period as the Canes allowed a total of 50 shots on goal in the losing effort.
Carolina kept things close in the first period as Erik Cole, Tim Gleason, and Tuomo Ruutu each scored and the period ended in a 3-3 tie. But after a scoreless second period, the Panthers dominated the Canes in the third to skate away with the win.
The Hurricanes powerplay looked absolutely abysmal as they went without getting a decent scoring chance during a full two minutes of a 5-on-3 opportunity. They ended up going 0-7 with the advantage.
Coach Paul Maurice pretty much summed up Carolina's performance with this post game quote: "We're dragging our asses all over the ice, that's the bottom line. We did not deserve to win."
Quick Stats and Thoughts:
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Eric Staal pulled a disappearing act in this game as he only had one official shot on goal and finished at (-3). Needless to say, the team needs more out their elite player.
- Maurice switched up the lines again in the third period as he moved Skinner to Ruutu and Cole's line and slipped Samsonov up with Staal and LaRose. Samsonov actually injected some life into the line as he scored a goal in the third period and created a couple of other chances, but it wasn't enough.
- It was the second straight game the Panthers had 50 or more shots on goal. They had 55 shots against Atlanta in their previous game. They dominated this game during large portions of it, holding the puck in the Carolina zone almost at will. Will they have 50+ again Saturday night?
- The Canes did well for a little bit in the faceoff circle, but ended up at 41%. Staal finished at 57% while everyone else was at 33% or lower.
Paul Maurice has to be very disappointed in his team's effort. He gave them the last two non-game days off when they could have been practicing. Obviously, they needed the practice. They get another chance against the same team at the RBC tomorrow night.
Post game quotes follow: