They Said It: Brind’Amour, Slavin, Raanta on OT loss to Detroit

The Carolina Hurricanes’ win streak came to an end Tuesday night in Detroit, as Carolina fell to Detroit 4-3 in overtime despite a wonderful effort in net from Antti Raanta.

Raanta was the Hurricanes’ best player in the loss, making big save after big save to give the Canes a chance at all. The overtime winner for the Red Wings, which came from Lucas Raymond with just eight seconds left, came after a flurry of initial saves from Raanta.

As for regulation, the Hurricanes got goals from Sebastian Aho, Jesper Fast and Jordan Staal in a game where Carolina just wasn’t quite sharp enough to put any breathing room between itself and Detroit.

Following the overtime loss, head coach Rod Brind’Amour,

Rod Brind’Amour

On Raanta: He was great. He was solid the whole night, especially in overtime. I don’t know how many opportunities we gave up there, but it was too bad with the bounce at the end there that ricocheted. We did a pretty nice job of killing it and Raanta was making big saves, but it just bounces weird. Tough ending for him, but he was great.

On the rest of the team: We had some guys play really hard and really well. I thought the Aho line was really good, they just didn’t get rewarded for what they put out there. I didn’t love our second period. We were just flat. That kind of sucked the life out of us. I thought the third period was really good. It was just a couple weird bounces, chips over [Brady Skjei]’s stick there. Some weird things were happening. But overall, we weren’t that great but still in a position to win the game.

On Detroit getting breakaways: I’ll have to look at all of them, but every one we were a step off. Kind of with their guy, kind of not. We gave them a little bit too much time. They made us pay for it. They were spirited. They played a hard game. Give them a lot of credit. I think we were pretty average tonight overall.

On why Detroit always seems to play the Canes hard: They come ready to go. They play hard. They know they have to play hard against us, and they’re ready. You can just feel it. I think we kind of tiptoe into the game sometimes a little bit. It’s a good team. A lot of good young players over there. I think they’re better than their record is, to be honest with you.

On the OT penalty being due to an inadvertent collision at center ice: Yup. There were weird things happening tonight that didn’t go our way. That was just a weird thing that happens. Whoever was going on sees him coming and expects to go and doesn’t expect the guy to fall. That’s what happens. It’s unfortunate.

Jaccob Slavin

On Raanta’s performance: [Raanta] played unbelievable. It’s a shame we didn’t play a full 60 for him out in front. He made huge saves throughout the game, huge saves in overtime. We’ve got to be better for him.

On Raanta and the PK being the things that got bit in the end after being the best part of the game: [Raanta] played unbelievable. Just countless times he bailed us out. I know he bailed me out once in the third period. Then the kill, we’ve got a really good penalty kill. But if you give skill players enough opportunities, especially with that much time and ice available on the 4-on-3 then they’re going to make plays. That’s what ended up happening.

On why Detroit always plays the Canes well: They’re a strong team. They’re young. They’re growing and continuing to get better and better. They’re fast, too, and we play a super fast-paced game. Their forwards do a pretty good job of cutting us off and not allowing us to get on our forecheck. We’ve just got to find a way to battle through that.

On the connection between Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen: It is special. They’re both so highly talented and smart out there. Obviously their skill with the puck is unbelievable, but it’s their smarts and chemistry that they have and have built over their careers together. It’s fun to watch. It’s fun to be on the ice with them. You just kind of give them the puck and let them do their thing. They’re two special, special players.

On his chemistry with Ethan Bear: He’s an easy guy to play with. He plays hard. He’s got good skill with the puck. Our chemistry is definitely building and going to continue to build when we do play together. It’s just figuring out communication out there. Communication is key in a lot of areas, but especially in the D zone. We’ve just got to continue to get better at that. It’s fun playing with him. Hopefully we continue to get better together.

Antti Raanta

On getting into the game and on his night: It was kind of easy to get into the game, honestly. They got the power play early on, and they throw a lot of pucks in. It’s just getting yourself in a rhythm, get inside the game. There was a lot of really good things and then obviously a couple goals where you could probably maybe do a little bit different things and make the saves. It’s one of those games where there were a lot of good things, but there’s always things when you let in four goals that you can always do a little bit better with some small details. Tough game. They played really well. I think the third period was really good hockey. Lots of chances on both ends, and both teams were playing good hockey.

On finding the positives in this game: Yeah, absolutely. A lot of different situations today. A lot of mini breakaways, kind of what we’ve been trying to work on in practice also. Maybe with the second one where it goes through the five hole, it’s a tough play even though it looks like a really easy goal. It feels like a really easy goal, but when you’re trying to get your speed matching the guy and he shoots straight away and you’re still backing up and can’t get yourself down early enough. Those things are always tough to take when it feels like it’s your day and you’re dialed in like that. But obviously there were a lot of things that felt really good, and I felt like I was on top of my game. I’ll have to look at the clips. And obviously we got the point, so it wasn’t that bad. But you’d rather have the two points and the W. Sometimes hockey is like that and the bounces don’t go your way. You still have to take the good things out of it and work for those small details.

On the connection between Aho and Teravainen: I think they think the game the same way. I think they’re reading the plays kind of similar. Usually it’s some pinpoint passes or something and looks like they just throw the puck there and it hits somebody’s stick and goes in. Maybe it’s a little bit out of this world the connection, but it’s fun to watch. And obviously [Andrei Svechnikov] is a really good third guy. There’s a lot of skill. When those guys are on the ice, usually good things happen. It’s fun to watch. I told [Teravainen] today after the game that it would have been in the Finnish newspaper on the front page if he were to score in overtime. It felt like I made a good save and then [Teravainen] hit the post. It’s the Finnish Mafia going on in Raleigh. Obviously it’s nice. Those two guys are something special. It’s nice to have them on your team.

On the tough way to end the game with the penalty in OT: We played the PK really well there. They got a couple good looks there, but then obviously at the end there they got the bounces their way and found the back of the net. And then you look up and you see that there’s only eight seconds left. So obviously it would have been nice to get it to the shootout and see what happens there. But you know, it’s hockey. Sometimes things happen that you don’t want to happen. But I think we’ll learn from it. Obviously too many men on the 3-on-3 is something you don’t really see that much. But obviously we haven’t played that much in overtime, either. Things happen when they happen, and you just have to learn from it and go for the next one.