Canes hope this NC State Fair trip goes better than the last one

Eric Staal has taken his family to the North Carolina State Fair a time or two in his years with the Carolina Hurricanes.

It’s not as if the Canes are out of town every day the state fair makes its annual October run, even if it seems that way.

But for the Hurricanes, there is no October surprise, no guessing about the NHL schedule before its release. The Canes know October means the fair and that means time away from home.

“You do know you’re going to be on the road for a whole lot in a row,” Staal said Wednesday. “You also know you must compete at a real high level, otherwise it’s not going to happen.”

That is, winning games.

The Canes have lost their first three games this season, two at PNC Arena. They competed well on the road in their season opener against Nashville, losing 2-1, and competed well much of the home opener Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings before losing 4-3.

And Tuesday, against the Florida Panthers? Not so well. The slow-starting Hurricanes chased the Panthers most of the night in a 4-1 loss at the arena.

“We just didn’t bring the edge and the compete level that you need in this league,” said Staal, the Canes’ captain. “We did against Detroit and we weren’t rewarded for it. We found a way to lose it.

“I think for some reason we maybe think it’s going to be easier the next time around and it’s not. Florida showed us that. Now, we need to respond and get back to the style of game that will help us be in every game.”

The Canes face a stretch of seven straight road games, beginning with another matchup against the Red Wings on Friday in Detroit. They make their first West Coast swing of the season and won’t be back in Raleigh until Oct. 30.

“Everyone says you have to have a good home record, but you look at the teams that are successful and they can get the job done on the road, as well,” defenseman Justin Faulk said. “You look at our road record last year (12-25-4). We need for that to be better this year and here’s a good time.

“It’s important to get going, especially with where we are right now. We’re searching for our first win. Hopefully we can get some wins and enjoy the road together as a group.”

In October 1999, with PNC Arena in the final stages of completion, Carolina played its first nine games on the road and was 4-2-3. The Canes had seven consecutive road games in October 2006, going 3-3-1.

A year ago, the Canes were 0-4-1 on its October road sojourn in closing out an 0-6-2 month. Once back in Raleigh, the Canes did win four straight home games and were 5-0-1 in the six games after the road swing.

The Canes could be missing forward Joakim Nordstrom for part of this year’s trip. Nordstrom blocked a shot Saturday against the Wings, and while he played Tuesday his injury has worsened, Canes coach Bill Peters said. Nordstrom was unable to practice Wednesday.

The Canes recalled forward Brock McGinn from the Charlotte Checkers, their AHL affiliate, while also calling up Brett Pesce as a seventh defenseman.

Peters was pleased with few aspects of the Canes’ loss to the Panthers. The power play lacked good decision-making and confidence, he said. The Canes were slow reacting to pucks. The intensity was missing.

“As disappointed as we are in the way we played, it’s 1-1 with 10 minutes to go,” Peters said. “So if you just step up and play high-end hockey for 10 minutes, you get out of it with a win. But we didn’t do that.”

Peters again made some tweaks in Wednesday’s practice. Eric Staal was at center with Chris Terry and Kris Versteeg. Center Victor Rask had Jeff Skinner and Elias Lindholm on the wings, and Jordan Staal centered Nathan Gerbe and Andrej Nestrasil.

Defenseman Noah Hanifin was being used on a power-play unit with Faulk, Rask, Lindholm and Gerbe. A second unit had Eric Staal, Skinner, Versteeg, Ryan Murphy and John-Michael Liles.

Cam Ward, the starting goalie in the first two games of the season, will be in net Friday against the Wings, Peters said.

“It’s a good opportunity for us to come together as a group and establish a consistent game that will translate into a great year,” Staal said. “It’s going to be a good challenge.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Canes hope this NC State Fair trip goes better than the last one."