Hurricanes don’t want ‘snowman’ to have snowball effect in playoff series with Devils

A day after the fact, Jaccob Slavin was having a hard time dealing with it and accepting it: eight goals allowed, in one game.

“It definitely stings,” the Carolina Hurricanes defenseman said Monday. “Giving up eight, a big snowman .. it’s not a good score in golf and definitely not a good score in hockey.

“I don’t know if that’s happened to us before. Maybe seven? But not eight.”

So it went Monday as the Hurricanes tried to come to grips with their 8-4 loss to the New Jersey Devils in Game 3 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series. It was a day for practice, for watching video that was not pleasant to watch.

The Devils, who trail 2-1 in the series, are looking to be as fast and feisty Tuesday in Game 4 as they were Sunday. The Hurricanes want to go back to Raleigh for Game 5 with a 3-1 series lead.

“We need to have a short memory while knowing it’s not going to be an easy series,” forward Jesper Fast said.

But again, eight goals? In truth, it has happened to Slavin and the Canes. The last time was on Dec. 23, 2019 in an 8-6 loss at Toronto. Slavin was in the lineup and Erik Haula scored twice — for the Canes — with Martin Necas assisting on both.

But Sunday’s game was the playoffs, not a just-before-Christmas road game. This came in a game at the Prudential Center charged with emotion, bile and several testy after-the-whistle scraps.

Things became so heated that the Canes’ Sebastian Aho fought with the Devils’ Jack Hughes, a short but intense confrontation of stars that Aho had no interest in rehashing Monday.

“Just playoff hockey,” he said. “It was just a little wrestling there.”

Nor did Aho care to say much about the $5,000 fine imposed Monday on the Devils’ Tomas Tatar for high-sticking him in the first period, swinging his stick around and smacking Aho in the back of the head.

Tatar was penalized in the game for the dangerous play and then received the fine, but did not draw a suspension from the league’s department of player safety.

“It’s not something I need to think about,” Aho said.

The Aho-Hughes altercation proved to be an undercard of sorts Sunday as the Canes’ Stefan Noesen and Haula later dropped the gloves and really went at it, Noesen landing the big punches.

The Hurricanes have long prided themselves on keeping their emotions under control, not backing off from any physical challenges — as Noesen pugilistically demonstrated again — but not getting fully caught up in all, even in the heat of the playoffs.

Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour, who was able to do that as a player, said Monday he understands how his players can sometimes cross that fine line between being adrenaline-fueled and emotional on the ice and without letting it change their play.

“You need to be emotional,” Brind’Amour said. “That’s what this is about. If you’re a lump on a log, I don’t think you’re playing that well. It’s got to matter. You don’t want to let it affect how you play, that’s for sure, but I don’t really see that being an issue.”

Fast has been one of the Canes’ quietly efficient players, doing his job, staying even-keel. But the Swedish winger said he found himself in Game 3, as he put it Monday, “In situations that can affect your emotions.”

“I got a little fired up yesterday, too,” Fast added. “I feel like I could have done a better job not to let emotions get in the way. I mean, we’ve got to just stick to being calm and focusing on what we can do and not what other people are doing.

“It’s hard. But we have to play our way and make sure we keep our emotions in check.”

Few Canes are better than Slavin in doing that. He plays with a certain calmness, with poise, regardless of the time, place or score. He did that Sunday, even as the Devils stacked up goals and enjoyed themselves, and it should be that way again Tuesday.

“It’s never fun being down 5-1 in that game and then you get some penalties called and then they get more goals,” Slavin said. “It was just one of those games and a weird one.

“But last night is what it is and we can’t do anything about it now. It’s about moving forward, on to the next one.”

Chip Alexander

The News & Observer

919-829-8945

In more than 40 years at The N&O, Chip Alexander has covered the N.C. State, UNC, Duke and East Carolina beats, and now is in his 15th season on the Carolina Hurricanes beat. Alexander, who has won numerous writing awards at the state and national level, covered the Hurricanes’ move to North Carolina in 1997 and was a part of The N&O’s coverage of the Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run.