They Said It: Rod Brind’Amour, Sebastian Aho, and Brady Skjei on Hurricanes’ Shutout Loss to Capitals

Things didn’t go well for the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night when they took on the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.

A barrage of penalties and a slow start doomed the Canes as they fell behind 3-0 by the end of the second period and went on to lose by a 4-0 final tally.

Rod Brind’Amour, Sebastian Aho, and Brady Skjei spoke to the media after the game and talked about what led to the disappointing result.

Rod Brind’Amour

His general thoughts on the game: Not great. I’ll leave it at that.

On if he’s worried about the number of penalties they are taking: Throughout the year, we haven’t had those kinds of penalties. It’s been very rare. Lots of penalties, which is a trend I don’t like. I haven’t liked it at all. Tonight, that’s the game. Right away, first period, you’re in the box for six minutes and a 5-on-3. You can’t even get going. I don’t like it. That’s for sure.

On his confidence in the team bouncing back tomorrow night: Well, we have quality people in that room. They didn’t play a great game. It’s tough to analyze that game too much because we were in the box too much and couldn’t get anything going. When we did, I thought we did some good things. We never quit and the guys played hard. We had a decent third period, but the game’s over because we didn’t come out right and we took all those penalties we just talked about. It’s just a tough game to figure out.

On if Jaccob Slavin is healthy after being held out late in the game: Yeah, he’s fine.

On the outdoor game scheduling announcement: Well, nothing ever gets set in stone in the world we’re living in. We’ve had that announced before. If it ever gets to happen, it’ll be great. It’s something that, I think, the area deserves and is kind of earned, certainly Hurricanes fans have. I think it’s a great venue.

Sebastian Aho

On what led to things falling apart: Too many penalties, especially against a power play like that. Our power play was bad. We didn’t create any momentum, whatsoever. Just too many penalties, especially early on. That’s one thing we have to better with.

On how Thursday’s game compared to the two teams’ other meeting back in November: Every game is different, so I wouldn’t compare these two games. Today, we had three minor [penalties] in the first period. Eventually, they’re going to score. It’s tough to kill that many penalties, especially early on. Some guys can’t get into a rhythm and some guys play too much. We have to be sharper on that.

On if the rampant penalties are becoming a concern: I mean, obviously, we can’t take that many penalties in order to win these games. Especially these tight games against a great team, like we played tonight. We have to be sharper. Early in the game, we have to be sharper, and that should take care of that.

On the outdoor game scheduling announcement: I’m sure it’s going to be awesome. I know fans will be excited, and players, too. It’ll be the first time in Carolina. It’s going to be awesome.

Brady Skjei

On what the team needs to do better tomorrow night: There are quite a bit of things. Probably, the biggest thing, is we have to stay out of the box. I think we had six minor penalties. Against a team like that and their power play, it’s pretty tough to win. I took two, myself, so I can do a better job at that. We have to move past this game quickly because we have a quick turnaround with Pittsburgh tomorrow night.

On if the rampant penalties are a concern: Yeah. In between penalties, it was mentioned a lot that we have to cut back on penalties. Overall, it kills the flow of a game. Some guys who aren’t killing don’t play much and it kills the flow of their game. We definitely have to do a better job of staying out of the box.

On the team’s confidence in bouncing back tomorrow: We have a ton of confidence. Tonight was not our best, but we’ve been good throughout this year. We know what kind of team we are and we know what game we need to play to be at our best. We have a ton of confidence in that room and we’ll bounce back from this.

On the outdoor game scheduling announcement: It’s a long way away, but we’re really looking forward to that outdoor game. It’s going to be a ton of fun. Playing against these guys [the Capitals], it’ll be a good game. We’re definitely excited, but it’s a long way away.