Hurricanes rally multiple times but fall in a shootout. Brind'Amour, Staal, and Nystrom dissect the tough loss and missed opportunities.
The Carolina Hurricanes' comeback effort came up short Thursday night, as they fell 4-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks in a shootout at Lenovo Center.
The Canes trailed three separate times in the game, but were only behind for a total time of just 7:01 of game time as they got quick response goals time and time again.
However, it wasn't enough in the end.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Jordan Staal and Joel Nystrom spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the power play going essentially -1 for 5: It was a tough night for those guys. We did have some good looks, just we didn't bury them. And then you can't give up a shorty in a tight game. When you look back, that's probably the difference.
On the team's response goals: It was tough. Get down, but they just kept playing. A good play by Stanks there to get us right back in the game and get us a point. Had our opportunities. Obviously shootouts... you get to that point, it is what it is.
On Alexander Nikishin's fight: Well, you know, we're learning some new things about him. He can obviously handle himself if need be. We don't necessarily want to see him doing that a lot, but obviously he can handle himself. Good to see.
On how he views games his team fights back into even if it is a loss: Whether you win a game or loss it, you're going to find positives and negatives and obviously work with both. There were some good things in that game. Not a lot, but I liked how we pushed back, got right back to it, got goals to tie it up a couple of times. Okay, that's great. But why did we get down? We'll figure that out too. Wasn't a great game by our top guys, a couple of non-factors, but that's more probably on the power play stuff. When they're out there, we have to make it count.
On Joel Nystrom: He's had a ton of opportunities just like that, so it was nice to see him finally get one. Obviously it was a big goal at the time too. It's been a while waiting for that one.
On if what he sees at practice plays into his shootout philosophy for choosing who goes: Yep. Obviously it's not one of our fortes, but we practice them every day and some guys have some moves. But it's different in a live game. That's a bit of the problem. Their goalie made some nice saves, Freddie did too. It is what it is.
On Frederik Andersen's performance: He played pretty well, I thought. You take the shootout and obviously he was really good. Made some good saves there. That game wasn't about goaltending though, that's for sure. Their guy played good and our guy did too. There were other areas we needed to be better.
Jordan Staal
On the game: We didn't get a whole lot of grade-As and they did a good job of, after our initial shots, clearing them out and moving the puck forward.
On the power play: It wasn't great tonight. It's a great penalty kill, for one, I think they're one of the top in the league. We just weren't very sharp. We were trying to make plays that we probably weren't supposed to be doing and a few off-cue passes and a bouncy puck and the next thing you know, they killed all of them. That definitely hurt us tonight.
On quickly responding to Chicago's goals: I thought 5-on-5 was a good game. There were opportunities to score goals. Some pretty good defending and I think for the most part it was pretty even and the score showed that. Shootouts are shootouts.
On Alexander Nikishin's fight: That was great to see. We always want our group to be as physical as they can. That was a great hit, clean hit and he backed it up when guys came calling. It was a great individual effort. Loved to see it.
On his no-look goal: I would have felt bad with the amount of looking off I did there if it didn't go in. But just a great play by Slavo right behind the net there just bypassing the guy and then Marty doing a great job along the wall to get it by his guy. Those inbetweeners sometimes are tough and I saw their D going down and I got a really nice bounce and just kind of popped it by him. Just one of those where I had two or three good bounces and I was due for one, so it was nice to see one go in.
On Joel Nystrom: Nys' been great all season long. He's stepped up and played a lot of minutes, especially early there and has played really well. He's fit in nicely with the group and he's gotten a ton of chances and a ton of shots on net. Kept telling him it was math and one was bound to go in for him if he kept shooting the puck, so it nice to see him get one. He acted like he's done it before and I'm sure he will again.
Joel Nystrom
On scoring his first NHL goal: Obviously I'm happy to get my first goal. I've been waiting for it. It was a great pass by KK and I had a lot of space there, so I tried to shoot it. Happy to see it went in.
On how he feels his season has gone so far: I'm happy for the season so far. I just try to play a simple game. My teammates helped me very well, so just going to try to keep going and getting better every day.
On Alexander Nikishin: He's playing great every night. I think me and him play good together and we're getting to know each other better and better. I like playing with him.
On if he felt like he was due for one with all the shot attempts he had racked up: Yeah
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Category: General Sports