Game 31 Recap: Jets 4, Hurricanes 1

The Carolina Hurricanes scored another own goal and lost to the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 in front of 16,225 at the PNC arena on Tuesday night. It was the team's sixth straight game without a win, (0-5-1), and gives them a 7-9 record on home ice. The loss also drops the team to 10th place in the conference and six points behind the Jets in the division.

The team had spurts where they played well and jumped out to a 1-0 lead six minutes into the game when Riley Nash found Jiri Tlusty alone in front of the net right after a powerplay had expired. Tlusty actually had an earlier chance as well, but Ondrej Pavelec made the save the first time around.

There were other parts of the game though where the Canes were out-worked by their opponent and Kirk Muller once again was disappointed in his team.

"We can be better and it comes down to one thing, work. I don't care about the x's and the o's, if you don't out-work your opponent, you won't win. We didn't work hard enough tonight and we didn't compete hard enough. We have to be more desperate than we were playing."

The coach went on more about his team's lack of effort, especially after coming off a break where some said they had an "empty tank".

"Quite honestly, I'm very disappointed. I thought with the rest and a couple of days off we would refocus and we would be ready to go tonight. You know what? No excuses. Not taking anything away from Winnipeg but that wasn't our best game and wasn't our best performance by some individuals and I am very surprised."

The Jets went on to tie the game up later in the first period when Olli Jokinen broke free on an odd man rush.

The Hurricanes started out well in the second, but Tobias Enstrom fired in a rocket from the point during a powerplay past a screened Justin Peters. Then a few minutes later, the visitors made it 3-1 on a flukey type of goal that bounced in the net off of an apparent high stick. Nik Antropov got credit for the goal, but some thought that Alexander Burmistrov gloved the puck in.

After a long review the goal stood and the Canes looked deflated for a bit after that.

In the third period the home team suffered another own goal when Jamie McBain whiffed on a clearing attempt, then knocked the puck past Peters on his backswing. Evander Kane got the credit with an unassisted score.

This was a disappointing game on many levels, but the team will have to recover if they want to get back into the playoff picture. The Canes will practice at 11 tomorrow before heading to Toronto for a game against the Maple Leafs on Thursday night.

Game Notes:

• The Canes did out-shoot the Jets 39-35. Jeff Skinner had a game high 10 shots and Tlusty was next with six.
  
• McBain had a rough night and finished at (-2) while Eric Staal and Alexander Semin each had (-3).
• Tim Gleason had a team high six hits.