Cam Ward had another tough night - and was pulled for the second time in the last three games - while the Carolina Hurricanes dropped yet another game to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night by a score of 4-2.
Ward started off by allowing a Dustin Byfuglien goal from behind the net just 34 seconds into the game, and things did not get much better from there. The shot hit Ward from behind and somehow bounced in the net.
Less than five minutes later, Evander Kane beat Ward and before you knew it, the score was 2-0.
The Jets scored twice more in the second period, to take a commanding 4-0 lead, before Ward was finally pulled, allowing rookie Mike Murphy to take his place. The frustrated goalie was shown on television throwing a bit of a tantrum on the bench after the fact.
He finished the night allowing four goals on 30 shots, as the Jets pretty much dominated the first two periods of play.
Carolina did score twice in the third though, as Justin Faulk scored his first career NHL goal on a bouncing shot from the point and Brandon Sutter added a powerplay tally just a bit later.
The Jets would hold on to close things out though and the Hurricanes now sit that much further away from making the postseason.
The Canes close out their road trip against Toronto on Tuesday night.
Game Notes:
- Murphy played 27:29 and allowed zero goals on seven shots. He will not pick up the loss for this game though like he did in Calgary when the empty netter ended up being the game winner for the Flames.
- Carolina went 1-3 on the powerplay, but ended up allowing two powerplay tallies on the other side. Both the team's powerplay and penalty kill units are near the bottom of the league, (25th and 26th).
- Previously healthy scratched Jamie McBain had a team high 25:29 of ice time. Justin Faulk was next with 24:38. Low man again was Anthony Stewart, but he got 9:50 of ice time last night.
- The team was outshot in the opening period 19-7. For the game it was 37-25, Winnipeg. Our intern had the chances at 20-14, Jets.
- The team played a man short as Jeff Skinner was held out, reportedly because of the flu. They suited up 11 forwards and 6 defensemen.
- Eric Staal had a team high five shots on goal. He also had an assist, a minus 1 for his trouble, and won only 38% of his draws. The team went 39% for the night.
- The Canes were credited with 29 hits led by Dwyer and Nodl with five each. Tim Gleason threw down with Chris Thorburn early in the game but probably lost this decision.
Our friends at Illegal Curve have posted some post game interviews. Sutter, Spacek, and Muller