After getting the better end of the front part of a wild second period, the Hurricanes found themselves up 4-2 with less than half of the game to go. Then in a matter of minutes, the Canes seemed to implode giving up three quick goals to exit the second period down 5-4 and probably wondering how it happened.
There must be 150 angles that one could come at Saturday’s game. Below is my attempt to boil it down to the most significant things.
Failure to finish
The how’s and why’s are many, but in simplest terms the Hurricanes failed to close out a game in hand. In game 3, the Hurricanes similarly surrendered a two-goal lead very quickly, but it was mostly swept away when the Hurricanes pulled out a win in overtime. On Saturday, once the Canes started slipping they never really recovered. Up 4-2, the Canes needed to do some combination of smelling blood and just continuing to attack to minimize the need to play defense and maybe even extend the lead, and/or being sound with puck management and defensive play such that it would be really difficult for Tampa Bay to generate much offensively. Instead, the Hurricanes started by being a bit loose and lackadaisical defensively and compounded the problem by taking a couple bad penalties. The result was a couple power play goals against and another at even strength. That lapse has a very good chance to put an end to the team’s 2020-21 season.
Special teams
The Hurricanes yielded a whopping three power play goals against. Disappointing is the Hurricanes inability to make adjustments. Tampa Bay’s power play is designed to very simply get the puck to Nikita Kucherov close enough to the net on the flank that the goalie has to respect the possibility he shoots with time and space. From there, he is a wizard at finding/creating passing lanes to Stamkos from his office on the other side or Point or Killorn at the front of the net or between the face-off circles. Step 1 in slowing the Lightning power play must be attacking Kucherov when he has the puck. Every half second he has the puck unpressured is another step closer to something bad happening. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have yet to solve the Lightning alternating stacking four at the blue line or otherwise trying to keep play to one side when they are on the power play.
Blue line woes
A strength of the Hurricanes the past two years has been both the top end and the depth of the blue line. Two years ago, the Hurricanes had Calvin de Haan and Trevor van Riemsdyk pushed to the bottom pairing such that there were reinforcements when Dougie Hamilton faltered a bit. Fast forward to Saturday, and Brind’Amour was trying to make the current group work with smoke and mirrors. In trying to balance the pairings on the road, Brind’Amour separated Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei. The result was mostly two sub-par pairings. Skjei/Hakanpaa had a tough game mostly throughout, and Jake Bean also struggled. The Canes had similar problems against Nashville, especially for the games that Slavin was out of the lineup, but the difference is in the caliber of offense by the two opponents.
Petr Mrazek
He had a tough game. The biggest error was the rebound he spit out right at the top of the crease for a quick goal against, but he also was beaten cleanly from a ways out by Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov. It was not so much that any particular goal was horrible as he just did not seem to have an answer for much of anything.
Per what I said on Twitter shortly after the game ended, the chances to win the series plummeted significantly with this loss, but the team will not quit on this season, and I do not think the fans should either.
Go Canes!
You are certainly correct about the lack of depth on the Canes blueline. They have 4 good or better NHL defensemen. One of them struggles a great bit actually playing defense. The Canes third pairing is weaker than it has been. Bean plays like a rookie. He’s shown nerves as well as lack of experience back there. I’m not down on him as he has shown the ability to learn and adapt as a pro. He should improve. Hakanpaa is limited in mobility and it shows when he makes a bad decision. He can’t recover. The Canes will need to sign at least one good veteran defenseman in the offseason, maybe two depending upon how the expansion draft goes.
I think we have seen the last of Petr Mrazek in goal for the Hurricanes. He’s had his shot and it just isn’t good enough.
Surprised you didn’t specifically mention Svechnikov. Really frustrating to watch him. The dumb penalties continue. Most have to do with his stick. Whether he is swinging it foolishly or having it up high on a hit it happens way too often. The other issue is that defensemen are in Svech’s head all the time. He constantly responds to stupid little crap be it physical or oral. You’re a skill player. You have to ignore that crap. The frustrating part is that he doesn’t seem to be learning. Thank god he’s young, but with a few years of experience you would hope he would start making progress.
Agree on Svechnikov. He has regressed this playoffs and looks like a rookie trying to figure it out. He has stretches where he is invisible and/or a step slow. Then he has a shift or 2 where he gets determined and tries to hit everything in sight but often adds in a bad decision or 2 and then is prone to being out of position chasing a hit or taking an unnecessary penalty.
The positive with him is that his commitment level, desire, work ethic, coachability, etc. are in the right place. Nothing has changed with what he projects to be at his peak. Unfortunately, the playoffs have shown maybe what we saw a bit in the regular season; he just is not there yet.
Yeah, I was hoping Rod would put Ned back in after the third goal. I was also hoping he’d take the timeout after Tampa tied it, the team was just all over the place and needed to settle down and make it to the intermission tied.
It’s always easy to be a couch coach.
I’m a bit surprised the Canes didn’t put Gardner back in, even in a third pairing. Is he really that bad or is he fighting an injury?
Svech will hopefully settle for a prove it 5.5 to 6 mill 2 or 3-year contract now. Hopefully that’s the silver lining of his rookie mistakes showing. He can be great but he’s hit a bit of a wall.
In my mind I keep going back to the trade deadline decisions made, puzzling over why the Canes didn’t add to the roster like the competition, especially given the modest price of rentals.
Keep Fleury, add Hakenpa (or do the trade then add one more depth d-man with some top 4 aspirations), add one scoring winger or center (Sam Bennet proved pretty great for the Panthers, not good enough but definitely taking the team to the next level, Taylor Hall made a difference for the Bruins).
But it’s done now, a second round exit wouldn’t be the worst fade for the Canes, the trajectory overall is upward.
Next up, beat the Lightning at home on Tuesday for the Caniacs, then take it one game at a time. Play hard and without nerves, we got nothing to lose.
I see a lot of people suggesting that it is a no-brainer putting Gardiner in. His limitations are a horrible fit for this series, especially on the road. Brayden Point one on one against Gardiner even if he is in good position to start is a problem every time.
Gardiner’s issue is mobility and Tampa Bay is a really tough match up in that regard.
Will be curious if Brind’Amour inserts him for game 5 at home where he can pick match ups/hide him a bit, but I do not think he made sense for games 3 and 4 in Tampa.
Makes sense. The Gardner signing was a mistake, especially with the benefit of hindsight.
But most teams ahve at lesat one such contract and have to either play the player in suboptimal conditions or live with the cap restrictions.
It’s not as if Gardner can impress enough in one or two games to create a long line of teams willing to trade for him and if he is dealing with some sort of an injury, it’s probably best to give him the whole summer off. But we are having a big problem with our third pairing on D against the offensive weapons of the Lightning.
Jake Gardiner has a chronic back issue. If you have a subscription to The Athletic you can read about it here. https://theathletic.com/1474943/2019/12/20/jake-gardiner-opens-up-about-a-lost-season-in-toronto-turning-down-the-canadiens-and-why-he-chose-carolina/
When you combine the injury issues with his softer style of play Gardiner is not a good choice to play in the playoffs. Everyone saw his last playoff game in Toronto. I also think how he was replaced by Lajoie is a signal that Brind’Amour is done with Gardiner. Brind’Amour sticks with his guys until he doesn’t. So far once you’re out, you’re out with Brind’Amour. How it went with Scott Darling too. I would be surprised to see him in a Hurricanes jersey next season.
Hope the team can either trade him or put him on the long-term injury.
Heck, if TD is willing to pay the extra money we can put a few guys on the reserve until the playoffs, works wonders for Tampa.
I think Mrazek’s status as the main goalie took a big hit in the last game. Maybe it’s not fair, small sample, but that really was a poor performance under pressure.
Every goalie lays an egg, but this was a scramble, complete with mushrooms and spinach.
Agree with Matt on Gardner. With his back problems, he is a bad fit for this series (now that I said that, he will be in the next game and be the hero with a hat trick :))
I know, hindsight, but I thought we should have put Petr in the first game of this series. I know Ned had been good, but All year, we rotated goalies, even when they were good. Ned had not played that many games in a row in over a year…. I still think that had something to do with it. Petr has been good for us. He was great early this year, then got hurt. He came back and played better than I thought he would. He had a good game 3. He had a good early game 4, however, IMO, since he had not played alot this year and recently, it was harder for him mentally to overcome the tailspin that happened so quickly. I believe if he had played earlier, say game one, the pressure would not have been as high. It would also have given Ned a rest.
Of course all of that is hindsight….. so Go Canes!
Mrazek succeeded…in playing himself out of a roste spot on the Canes next season. That was the same Mrazek who DET walked from – when he is on, as he is for stretches every season, he is excellent. Then he fades.
Matt – your wish for a Svech fade to reduce his contract amount has been met. He is playing on his reputation for his rookie and sophomore seasons – he hasn’t been impressive this season and less so in the playoffs.
Bean cracked under pressure – not the time for rookie mistakes.
After Game 4 the best thing that can be said about Hamilton is his 14-game point streak.
But Hakenpaa is being Hakenpaa – you cant ask for more from him.
Will TD and DW do the smart thing and buy out Gardiner? He is not tradeable and has no business being on the ice against Tampa.
I am not giving up on the Canes. Game 5 is on Ned’s shoulders – and I really do think Ned can brickwall the Bolts for Game 5 – this is primetime Ned-time. He rises to these challenges. Expect little to no time for the 3rd pairing on defense – we are going to ride the top 4. I don’t know the forward lines, but the 4th line has to be more than energy.
Watch MON play, and EStaal is showing how a 4C should play -0 granted he is slotted low, but his line with Perry is solid and doing all things the right way. And for all the praise that Lorentz and Geekiehave gotten – take a look at the contributions Roy and Brown have been making as the 3C and 4C, respectively, for Vegas.
Neno is supposedly back for tonight.
Agree with all your points here! Ned time, hero rising time, and time to admit the Gardner mistake and buy him out or trade him for James Neal + a sweetener from the Oilers.
I always said we made a bad mistake trading those key pieces of the Checkers championship team away. Hala is nowhere in sight, well in Florida, so we essentially traded those two guys for zip. Well, go Vegas (in the west), most of all, go Canes. Mon came back from 3 – 1 against Tor.
Well, goodbye Canes, see you in the fall. Great regular season, disappointing playoffs.
We’ll keep game 5 commentary for the game 5 blog but this was a very uninspired performance by a team that is not a huge margin, but a very definite margin, lagging behind the Lightning.
It’s understandable, Lightning had their own 4 or 5 years walk in the playoff desert before striking Stanley gold, and based on how they play they have a good chance of doing it again, but given the magic of the season we were hoping for a bit more.
Still, bloody good regular season, lot of fun moments to distract the mind from Covid, so someting to be thankful for and look forward to going further next year.
Some adjustments have to be made, but we got all summer to talk about that.