RALEIGH, N.C. _ Is it time to worry yet?
Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour is trying not to _ or at least not let others outside the team know it. Canes captain Justin Williams is trying not to.
But the Canes' power play isn't working. The penalty kill is leaky. Now, the Canes have lost a third straight game in regulation, falling, 3-1, to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
"It's 82 games but you don't want to let things snowball and go the wrong way," Williams said. "We won four in row, early. We've lost three in a row. The thing is to not let it become bigger than what it is.
"Nip it. And as long as we approach it that way we're going to be fine."
This was the game the Canes scheduled at home during the N.C. State Fair, biting the bullet on potential traffic snarls and low attendance.
A crowd of 11,753 came to PNC Arena. There wasn't a lot for the home fans to cheer until a couple of big hits and flying fists from Micheal Ferland in the third, then a goal by Ferland late in regulation off a Sebastian Aho pass _ Aho extending his point streak to eight games.
The Canes entered the game 2-for-25 on the power play this season and ended it 2-for-30, Brind'Amour calling it "stale." They were last in the NHL in penalty killing and allowed a second-period power-play score to Avs forward Gabriel Landeskog, his second goal of the game and fifth in the past two games after a hat trick earlier in the week against the New Jersey Devils.
Nathan MacKinnon scored the Avs' third goal and has points in each of the eight games for the Avs. With goalie Philipp Grubauer making 42 saves, the Avs improved to 5-1-2.
"I don't want to be negative or anything because I think our game is there," Brind'Amour said. "It's just a matter of getting a couple of bounces here or there (and) special teams we've got to get better.
"But you don't want the losses to bleed and make you feel like, "Oh my God, we're not playing that well' when really, in my opinion, we're playing pretty well. ... This is the danger zone for me, and as a coach, when you lose three in a row and everyone sees it and thinks "Oh, this is drastic.' I don't see it that way."
The Canes (4-3-1) had a couple of practices this week to try and sharpen up their special teams. Brind'Amour addressed the need for better execution after the workouts and again a couple of hours before Saturday's game.
"If it keeps costing us games it becomes a sore point," Brind'Amour said. "I don't want it to bleed into our five-on-five game, which I haven't really seen. The guys we're counting on on the power play are playing well five-on-five. Once it starts to go the other way then you've got to make some major adjustments."
On the Canes' first power play Saturday, Teuvo Teravainen made a weak pass that became a turnover and another power-play opportunity soon went by the boards. That set the tone for the day for the power play _ more passes that didn't connect, shots that were easily blocked, easy attempts for Grubauer to track.
"Special teams are kicking us in the butt right now but we'll rectify that," Williams said.
Not that all of Grubauer's best work came with the Avs shorthanded. Six minutes into the second period, a stretch pass from Teravainen gave Ferland a breakaway. But Grubauer didn't bite on Ferland's forehand feint and turned away his backhander.
Grubauer has a comfort zone at PNC Arena. While with the Washington Capitals he beat the Canes four times in the arena.
Soon after the stop on Ferland, the Avs took a 2-0 lead after the Canes' Andrei Svechnikov was called for slashing.
Landeskog, who scored in the first period on a quick shot that beat goalie Curtis McElhinney to the short side, attempted to pass through the slot but the puck hit the skate of the Canes' Jordan Martinook. With McElhinney shifting away from the post, the puck bounced back to Landeskog for an easy shot and score.
Ferland did his part physically for the Canes in the third. He put a brutal hit on defenseman Samuel Girard, then another on center Tyson Jost. Defenseman Erik Johnson took issue and gloves were dropped, but Ferland landed all the heavy blows.
The Canes finally had a spark. Another power play came up empty but Ferland did later score his fifth of the season as Aho and Teravainen assisted.
A third straight regulation loss could not be avoided. There would be no postgame celebration, no flying leaps into the glass this time.
