With the countdown on, Carolina Hurricanes looking for ‘our best game’
Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns can be a man of few words with the media, shying away or begging off most requests. But Burns faced a question Sunday that resonated.
During a media availability at the team hotel in Fort Lauderdale Beach, Burns was reminded the Hurricanes, facing a 3-0 series hole against the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference final, were only guaranteed another 36 hours or so together as a team unless things changed.
Thirty-six hours? That caused Burns to pause, give it some thought.
“At the end of the day we know we’re a good team,” he said. “We’re one of four right now. … We know it hasn’t been good enough for us, obviously. But if you have that mindset, that the countdown is on ... You can’t have it.
“Hockey is a game of reactions, a game of feeling. Yes, there’s all the other things, the game plan and everything, but you also have to be feeling good. … We’ve got to have our best game. Thirty-six hours. We’ve got to have our best game. Just come out and play together and play our game. We know we can be tough to handle if we’re all playing together.”
But the countdown is on for Carolina. Unless the Canes can win Game 4 on Monday at Amerant Bank Arena, the playoff series and the season are over and the questions will be more about who might be staying with the team and who might be leaving.
Burns, for example. Now 40, he is in the final year of his contract and will become an unrestricted free agent in July.
Burns might be in his final hours with the Hurricanes, unless they can find a way to squeeze out a victory in Game 4, buy more time and try to get back in the best-of-seven series.
But how? The Panthers can strike quickly and ferociously, as they did Saturday with a five-goal third period — the scoring damage done in nine minutes — in taking a 6-2 victory.
The Panthers have no shortage of finishers. With forward Sam Reinhart injured and unable to play Saturday, Jesper Boqvist was inserted in the lineup and responded with a goal and two assists.
Florida, which has not trailed at any point in the series, broke away from a 1-1 tie in the third when Boqvist scored after an ill-advised pass and turnover by Canes forward Taylor Hall in the neutral zone.
The Canes had done a lot of things right until that sudden turnabout. The penalty killing, for the first time in the series, was strong. Goalie Pyotr Kochetkov, starting in net, was making nice saves. The Canes were earning their share of offensive-zone time on the forecheck and their two rookie defenseman, Scott Morrow and Alexander Nikishin, appeared confident enough.
A power-play goal by Logan Stankoven had tied the score 1-1, giving the Canes the edge in special teams.
“We were right there,” forward Jordan Martinook said Sunday. “The game was tight and then you make one mistake …”
And then it all came crashing down for the Canes.
More Canes turnovers became rapid-fire Panthers goals in a hockey version of a Florida hailstorm. The game quickly got away from the Hurricanes, as did any chance of avoiding an 0-3 situation that few teams in any major league sport have been able to escape.
In the 2023 Eastern Conference final, the Panthers put the Canes in a 3-0 hole and finished them off in the fourth game. And this Panthers team, coming off last year’s run to the Stanley Cup, has not only beaten down the Canes but bullied them at times.
“They’ve just been imposing their game on us for longer,” Burns said.
Late in Saturday’s game, Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk knocked Sebastian Aho down after a faceoff. He then chased Aho from behind, pulled him to the ice and got in a few punches without a full retaliation by Aho’s teammates on the ice.
“That was a bit of a tough look,” Hall said Sunday.
Added Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour: “We need to do a better job in that situation with the score being what it was.”
Brind’Amour said Sunday that he was not sure if injured defensemen Jalen Chatfield or Sean Walker would be available for Game 4. Walker took the pregame warmup Saturday and then was made a late scratch.
Brind’Amour indicated Kochetkov could get another start in Game 4.
