Two days ago, the Carolina Hurricanes put together one of their most impressive offensive performances on the ice this season, scoring five goals against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Yesterday, those same Hurricanes looked flat, mustering a lone goal from Jaccob Slavin late in the third period in a 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins (43-25-11, 97 points), a likely Eastern Conference playoff team.
Curtis McElhinney, coming off of a rough game against the Washington Capitals in which he gave up three goals, struggled out of the gate in this one, allowing two first-period goals: one to Garrett Wilson with 9:15 remaining, and one to former Hurricane Matt Cullen with 1:15 remaining. The Wilson goal was debated, as it looked though he pushed the puck in after McElhinney had covered it, but it was ruled a goal.
McElhinney settled down, allowing no goals in the second period. He would allow a third-period goal to Patric Hornqvist, 46 seconds into the period, but no more after that. McElhinney faced 28 shots, and saved 25 of those. His performance could be looked at as a bright spot in an otherwise unexciting performance by the Canes.
Jaccob Slavin scored his eighth goal of the season on a power play opportunity at the 7:48 mark in the third period. It was the second straight game in which the Canes scored on the power play, and the second straight game in which Slavin scored a goal.
Outside of McElhinney, though, the Canes did not give fans much to cheer about. Each time they got close to the offensive zone, they would dump it in and try to go chase the puck. While there were great flurries of offensive opportunities, the Canes could only muster one goal, after hitting the post in the second period and recording a couple of outstanding shots on Matt Murray.
The defense struggled a bit, too, as they were lacking the aggressiveness that has been a big reason the Canes are currently in a playoff spot. There were not a lot of bone-crushing checks in this game, although the Canes registered 37 hits. Pittsburgh registered 44 hits. Pittsburgh was able to take advantage of these defensive lapses to the tune of three goals.
As a result of the loss, Columbus, who beat the Buffalo Sabres yesterday, jumped us for the first wild-card spot. We are now only one point ahead of the Montreal Canadiens (42-29-8, 92 points), who take on the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
Heading into Toronto (45-26-7, 97 points) on Tuesday night, we try to find the consistency that we had in January and February. We will need contributions from guys like Jaccob Slavin. We will need to start stronger in the first period. We will need to continue to score on the power play. Mrazek and McElhinney will need to continue playing their best hockey of the season.
I know what the Canes are capable of. They are too close to the playoffs to stop playing good hockey. Will they be able to deliver Caniac Country a long-awaited playoff berth?
