Hurricanes’ Frederik Andersen, Jordan Staal injured in ugly loss to Avalanche
The Hurricanes lost a game Saturday night, but they potentially lost a whole lot more than that.
Stalwart starting goalie Frederik Andersen, whose 35 wins this season are among the best in the NHL, and Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal left the team’s road game at the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night, adding injuries to the insult already on the scoreboard.
J.T. Compher and Nathan MacKinnon had a pair of goals each for the Avalanche, who led by as many as four and never let the Hurricanes back within two after that, in a 7-4 win at Ball Arena.
In a game featuring two of the league’s best goaltenders, it was offense that ruled the night in Colorado, the teams combining for 11 goals on a pair of goalies with sparking records this season.
But the injuries — and the potential ramifications for the Hurricanes heading into the playoffs — were the real story.
“We obviously didn’t like the result,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said after the game, “then we had a couple of guys get hurt, that’s our major concern. Just not a good night for us, that’s for sure.”
Andersen, Staal injured
Andersen appeared to tweak his left leg on a sequence midway through the third, and he stumbled backward into the net making an awkward save. As he tried to get up, he did a pushup-like exercise, shook out his left leg, and resumed his goalie stance.
Later in the period, another shot came in from distance, and the keeper flashed his right pad. His left leg dragged awkwardly, and he immediately grimaced in pain.
After a brief chat with the team’s training staff, during which he repeatedly flexed his left knee, he was helped off the ice, putting no weight on his left leg.
Antti Raanta played out the final minutes of the game.
That sequence came only minutes after Staal, the team’s catalyst for the past two weeks, also left the ice injured.
With the Canes trying furiously to come back in the third, Staal, who already had two goals in the second period, and whose line was a spark plug all night — and has been for the past month or more — skated slowly off the ice and subsequently walked slowly down the hallway behind the Hurricanes bench and to the locker room.
The reason: As he went to dump and chase the puck along the left wall near the faceoff circle in the Avs zone, Cale Makar stepped into the Canes captain with his shoulder square to Staal’s upper chest. The jolt stopped Staal in his tracks, his head bobbing forward briefly before his whole body crumbled to the ice.
He landed on his backside, and his head never hit the ice, but he was nonetheless stunned. He skated on his own power to the defensemen’s door at the Canes’ bench and made his way back to the team’s locker room.
Brind’Amour didn’t have an immediate update on the injured players after the game, but he didn’t sound optimistic.
“No, we don’t (have an update),” Brind’Amour said, “but it doesn’t look good. Like you say, it’s a tough night.”
Tough opening act
Another slow start — something that has intermittently plagued the Canes for the past month — afforded the Avalanche a two-goal lead after 20 minutes, a lead that ballooned to four in the early minutes of the second. Frustrated, Brind’Amour burned his timeout to settle the team down, but he said very little, instead letting the players stew over the situation, and rest. Staal had a few words for the rest of the team, and Brind’Amour chimed in near the end of the break.
Staal then put the puck where his mouth was, potting a pair of goals to give the Canes life.
“They’ve been our best line all year,” Brind’Amour said. “They do it right, shift after shift. They’re big, so they can kind of control things, especially in games where it gets tight, their game doesn’t change.”
But while the teams combined for another five goals in the second half of the game, the Avs made sure they maintained their advantage.
Still, Brind’Amour said, it was the kind of game he said he’d expect against a team like the Avalanche.
“They have good players, they have some good one-on-one battles they won, got pucks to the net,” Brind’Amour said. “I don’t know that it was a total gong show for us, but it was just ...
“We gave up too much early,” he continued. “We fought back, we always do, but you can’t spot a team that many goals and expect to have success.”
Special teams report
The Canes power play, which was flying and among the top four in the NHL for much of the first half of the season, went cold when power play quarterback Tony DeAngelo had to miss time with an injury. He’s since returned, but the team’s mojo with an extra skater has only shown flashes of its former self.
Saturday, the Canes snagged one power play goal on three chances, one of which was abbreviated by a penalty of their own. During the first power play of the night, on which the Canes did not score, they controlled the tempo and saw several solid scoring chances.
The Canes’ vaunted penalty kill, still the best in the NHL at 88.6 percent prior to Saturday, has been a bit off kilter of late. It was for a while this season floating above a 90 percent clip.
Saturday, the unit struggled again, allowing two goals on five Colorado power plays.
“Our power play was good,” Brind’Amour said. “So that’s a little bit of a bright spot in that game. But our penalty kill was no good. That was really the difference in the game. You give up two power play goals that put us behind. We were too sloppy, gave up too many good chances. That team’s too good to play that way.”
Goaltenders spotlight
One of the main talking points headed into Saturday’s showdown between Colorado and Carolina was the goaltending duel. Andersen and Darcy Kuemper have both at times this season been mentioned as possible Vezina Trophy candidates, and there’s no doubt why.
Andersen has been the backbone of the Canes’ success this year and has teamed with Raanta to post the lowest team goals against average in the league. His personal GAA was at 2.07 before Saturday’s game, with a sparkling save percentage of .926 to go with a 35-13-3 record. Andersen also has four shutouts.
On the other side, Kuemper has been outstanding this season, as well, posting a 35-9-3 mark prior to Saturday with a 2.38 GAA, a .926 save percentage and five shutouts.
Saturday, though, the offenses stole the show, with the Avs and Canes combining for 11 goals on 70 shots, a combined save percentage of .840.
“It was just one of those nights, everything was going in,” Brind’Amour said.
This story was originally published April 16, 2022 at 11:58 PM.
