The Carolina Hurricanes have been losing but with great effort. That wasn’t the case Saturday night as the Canes fell 5-3 in a largely lackluster effort against the Philadelphia Flyers.
“Tonight was the first game in a long time that we’ve been disappointed with the effort and commitment with our guys,” Coach Kirk Muller said. “We’ve been praising them for awhile, and they’ve been going hard, playing hard and not getting the results, but tonight was probably the first time we’ve been disappointed with some of the guys not competing at the level we want to.”
More Muller on the Canes’ compete level: “They outworked us tonight,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to come ready to play. You can’t take a night off in the NHL.”
The story recently has been that bounces simply haven’t gone in the Hurricanes’ favor. Rinse and repeat tonight, as Matt Read put the Flyers up 5-3 on a breakaway just seconds after Tuomo Ruutu nearly tied the game at four. “The hockey gods don’t like us a whole lot right now. You’ve got to work through that,” said Kevin Westgarth, who recorded his first point as a Hurricane with an assist on Justin Faulk’s second period goal. “We’ve got to make sure we’re better come next game.”
Playing in his 100th NHL game, Faulk scored his fifth goal of the season, a seeing-eye slap shot from the point. The sequence was initiated with a grinding shift from the fourth line of Westgarth, Tim Wallace and Nic Blanchard. Westgarth made a leaping play at the blue line to keep the puck, headed toward the net and – along with Blanchard – screened Steve Mason as Faulk ripped a shot. The goal extends Faulk’s point streak to a career-high four games. “He’s doing a lot of good things out there. That’s important for us to see, that he’s finishing up the season on a good, strong note,” Muller said of Faulk. “We need him to play at that level.”
Returning to the lineup after missing a game with an upper-body injury, Jeff Skinner potted the Canes’ first goal, his 13th of the season. The puck popped out into the slot, and Skinner hacked at the puck and beat a surprised Mason. Skinner has recorded goals in three of his last four games (and he only played a few minutes in that game he didn’t score in). “I just sort of closed my eyes and swung at it,” Skinner said with a smile.
The Hurricanes will travel to Tampa Bay for the last Southeast Division match-up with the Lightning Sunday evening. With the 6 p.m. start in a back-to-back situation, Muller said it’s likely that Dan Ellis will get the start in net. The Hurricanes will be dressed in their third jerseys for the seventh and final time this season tomorrow night in Tampa Bay.
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