Canes fall in overtime to Avalanche, 2-1

Carolina Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis said he expected his team to be rested and hungry after its NHL bye week.

The Canes were rested. They’re hungry for wins.

But sharp? The Canes were anything but sharp Friday in an ugly 2-1 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the worst team in the NHL.

Mikko Rantanen’s goal with 36.4 seconds left in overtime decided it, and almost fittingly came after a Canes turnover. Matt Duchene swiped the puck from Canes center Victor Rask and set up Rantanen for the winner as the Avs ended a five-game losing streak and picked up their first road victory since Dec. 23.

Asked what positives Carolina could take out of the game, Canes coach Bill Peters said, “The point. Not many nights are you going to play like that and get a point.”

All of Peters’ fears about his team coming off the mandated bye week were realized.

“What everybody said was going to happen, happened,” he said.

The Canes were sloppy. They fumbled pucks. They had turnovers. They bungled their two power plays.

“There definitely were some bouncing pucks and some plays we’d like to have back, some mistakes that we made to give them those chances,” Canes center Jordan Staal said.

Had goalie Cam Ward not made some sparkling stops, the Avs (16-38-2) would have won in regulation. On the other end, Avs goalie Calvin Pickard made 28 saves and was the difference.

The Canes (24-22-8) did do some good things. The penalty killing was flawless, as Carolina killed off a four-on-three power play by the Avs to begin the overtime after defenseman Justin Faulk was called for tripping in the final seconds of regulation.

Some of the Canes’ best offensive looks of the game came shorthanded, and Carolina had a good chance to end it in overtime near the end of the Faulk penalty.

Jeff Skinner scored his 19th goal for the Canes, who were beginning a five-game homestand everyone agreed could be a maker or breaker. Carolina went into the game eight points out of playoff position in the Eastern Conference but with games in hand.

Skinner got the puck past Pickard again nine minutes into the third. But forward Lee Stempniak had been called for slashing just before Skinner’s score, and the penalty enforced as soon as Skinner touched the puck.

It was that kind of night, that kind of game, for the Canes, who lost their last two games before the mandated bye week.

The Avs are a team in disarray. General manager Joe Sakic was traveling with the team on its five-game road trip, further fueling trade speculation the Avs are willing to trade Duchene, team captain Gabriel Landeskog or others.

The Avs were generally lifeless Thursday in a 2-0 loss to Buffalo. But they took advantage of the Canes’ early sluggishness, taking a 1-0 lead on Tyson Barrie’s shot off the rush in the first period.

Skinner tied it with 48.5 seconds left in the first with a sharp-angle shot from the left wing, and Pickard and Ward matched saves the rest of regulation.

NHL teams are 3-9-2 in their first game after a bye week. One of the three wins came in a game matching two teams coming off bye weeks.

“This is what it looks like,” Peters said. “This isn’t a surprise to anybody. We didn’t skate. We didn’t move the puck. We didn’t execute.”

The Toronto Maple Leafs are the team the Canes are chasing, holding the second wild-card playoff spot. The Leafs come into PNC Arena on Sunday.

Staal said it would be a big game. But so was Friday’s and the Canes couldn’t win it.

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Canes fall in overtime to Avalanche, 2-1."