RALEIGH, N.C. _ For perhaps the first time in these playoffs, Rod Brind'Amour is worried. Not about being behind 2-0 to the Boston Bruins; the Carolina Hurricanes coach is merely unhappy about that.
But Sunday's 6-2 loss in Boston was so out of character, such a departure from the hockey his team has played throughout the playoffs, that Brind'Amour on Monday openly wondered if the Hurricanes are out of gas, mentally speaking, heading into Game 3 at home on Tuesday.
"The whole thing was not what I've seen all year out of our group," Brind'Amour said. "Why that would happen, I don't have the answer to that. It looked like we were really tired. We've only played two games in 10 days, but I think the mental fatigue got to us. It's been a real strong push from our guys for about four months, and it felt like we didn't have the extra gear you need this time of year."
The Hurricanes have indeed been pressing since January, when they were among several teams mired at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division standings and were on what is essentially must-win alert since then just to get into the playoffs, let alone advance through two rounds.
Unlike 2009, when the Hurricanes reached the Eastern Conference finals with Brind'Amour as their captain and were dead in the water after playing two incredibly emotional seven-game series, leading to an easy sweep by the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Hurricanes cruised through the second round with a sweep of the New York Islanders.
But they looked the same Sunday as they did at this point in 2009.
"I'm shocked we got this far without having that," Brind'Amour said. "From January 1 we've been in playoff mode. We've had to grind these guys. There's only so many times we can go to the well, where they don't respond. It happened the other night. I think there's enough pride in the room to dig in a little more."
