Crowds dwindle at RBC

RALEIGH -- For two periods, the Carolina Hurricanes made it impossible for their fans to leave their seats. With five minutes left in the game, fans couldn't vacate those seats fast enough. The aisles were full as they headed to the exits.

A few of the fans who were left, who cheered so loud for 40 minutes, were booing in the final minutes.

The Canes matched the Anaheim Ducks hit for hit and stride for stride Sunday, until third-period penalty trouble made their early effort moot and the Ducks ran away with a 4-1 win.

It could have been the kind of game that generate not only can momentum but optimism. Instead, it was a third straight home loss in front of crowds that continue to dwindle.

An announced crowd of 14,191 braved ugly weather and enduring tryptophan hangovers to come out to the RBC Center on Sunday. The Canes drew more than 15,000 fans in each of their first five home games but have had that many in only one of the past eight.

In the first game of a four-game homestand, the Canes got off to a good start and outshot Anaheim 37-27, but too many chances went by the wayside. No one can argue that the Canes didn't play hard, but effort is only the first half of the equation. Results have to follow.

"It's about attitude right now," Hurricanes forward Tuomo Ruutu said. "We didn't play a bad game. We played an all-right game. It's not enough in this league."

It was a recipe for disaster from the start. The Canes were missing two of their top four defensemen, with Tim Gleason and Dennis Seidenberg out. They were playing an Anaheim team that had won three straight and 12 of 18 since losing to Carolina on Oct. 19.

And then it got worse.

The Hurricanes gave up the first goal for the 10th straight game. They lost Cam Ward, who was on top of his game, to a "lower body" injury at the first intermission.

Yet the Canes were in the game, even holding the edge with the score tied 1-1, until Teemu Selanne gave the Ducks the lead on the power play with less than 13 minutes to play.

Sixty-nine seconds later, Rob Niedermayer scored the first of his two goals. Meanwhile, Carolina's power play extended its scoreless streak to 25 chances as part of a 1-for-35 skid.

The Canes started slowly against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday and needed Ward to bail them out, rallying for a 3-2 overtime win. They played well Sunday in the face of significant adversity, only to collapse after Selanne's goal in the third.

"We did what we wanted to do," Hurricanes forward Eric Staal said. "We threw pucks at the net. We had chances. We didn't capitalize."

As Paul Maurice famously said after what turned out to be his last game as coach of the Hurricanes, it's getting a little late for moral victories.

Carolina's attendance traditionally has increased as the season wears on, and that time is coming. Football season is all but over. The weather has turned cold. Marquee opponents -- the Pittsburgh Penguins, Flyers and Washington Capitals -- will visit this week.

In this economy, tickets don't sell themselves. Nothing sells like winning, but Carolina is 6-7-0 at home.

For two periods, the Canes gave fans every reason to come back. Then they sent them home early.