Ducks 5, Hurricanes 3

The Carolina Hurricanes continued their losing ways as they dropped a game to the Anaheim Ducks, 5-3 on Sunday night at the Honda Center.

The loss is the fifth straight for the team and the seventh in their last nine games.

The Canes fell behind early as the Ducks scored three goals in the first period to take control of the game.  They scored two more goals to make it 5-0, before the second period was half over.

Carolina turned it on in the third period and put 26 shots on goal in that period alone, while scoring twice to make the score respectable at the end, but for all intents and purposes, the game was over in the second.

The Hurricanes powerplay continues to struggle and officially went 0-6 for the game, while allowing another shorthanded goal.  The team allowed two shorties in Dallas.

With the score 5-0, Andrej Sekera made a very nice play on his own as he fought through the Anaheim defense, skated around the zone, and battled his was to the front of the net to beat Frederik Andersen in close for Carolina's first goal.

In the third period, Patrick Dwyer and Alexander Semin scored the goals for the visitors.  Semin's goal was on a breakaway with just 65 seconds left.

Andersen, a former draft pick of the Hurricanes who could not get signed and re-entered the draft, made 49 saves on a total of 52 shots.  His counter-part, Cam Ward, made 29 saves on 34 shots.

The Canes will take tomorrow off and will finish this disaster of a road trip in San Jose on Tuesday night.

Game Notes:

• The Canes outshot the Ducks 52-34, but the Ducks had the better chances in the first two periods.  Andersen played very well.  Jeff Skinner, Eric Staal, and Nathan Gerbe led the way with seven shots each.
• The Canes had another slow start in the first period and how many times have we seen that this season?  The team is 29th in the league with just 30 goals scored in the first period this season.
• The team's powerplay is rated 29th in the league.
• Justin Faulk left the game early in the first period after being boarded.  There was no update except that he left with an upper body injury.
• With five defensemen sharing extra time, Ron Hainsey led the way with 25:18 of ice time.  Sekera played 24:53.
• Post game interviews here: Canes PR.com