The Carolina Hurricanes have their backs against the wall through the first two games in the Eastern Conference Final, having fallen to the Florida Panthers on Thursday by a 5-0 final score at Lenovo Center.
So far, the Hurricanes don’t appear to have an answer for the relentless forecheck of the Panthers and were unable to solve goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who picked up another postseason shutout.
Jordan Staal Described The Loss In Point-Blank Fashion
Hurricanes team captain Jordan Staal, who has been with the club for over 10 years now, best described the nature of the loss when he was asked if there was anything that he and his teammates were going to take away from it.
"Pretty much an a**-whooping, all the way through the lineup."
Jordan Staal speaks to the media following the Canes' 5-0 loss in Game 2. pic.twitter.com/5khAE3kxot
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“No, not really. It was pretty much an a**-whooping, all the way through the lineup,” Staal said. “Goaltender to forwards, we’ve just got to be better. I don’t know what we were expecting tonight. Especially the start, it just wasn’t good enough. They came at us right away and got a couple quick ones. We got behind and it kind of got worse, to be honest.”
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour, who has now lost 10 straight games as Hurricanes coach in the Eastern Conference Final, said that all his team needs to begin with is be the better team in a 20 minute period of play.
“Obviously, we’ve got to just figure out how to win a period. I think we came out with the right intentions, but it was trying to do too much and then we’re not doing the things as a team that normally help us,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was watching in the period first and that didn’t go well. The margin here is so tight.
“We’re not going to beat this time if we’re not on the same page. And tonight, for whatever the reason, like I said [we weren’t]. Intentions were good, everyone’s trying, ‘okay, I’m going to do this,’ but that’s not how we do it and it just backfired.”
The Hurricanes have no choice now but to win Game 3 in Florida on Saturday in order to avoid falling into a three-games-to-none series hole.
So far, this series is playing out in extremely familiar fashion; the Panthers swept the Hurricanes in the 2023 Eastern Conference Final, and now have their sights trained on a third consecutive appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.
Game 3 is set for Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET.