Canes Aim To 'Clean Up' Details For Game 2 of Stanley Cup Final

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have been in this position before. Not that long ago, in fact.

Dropping the first contest of the Eastern Conference Final to the Montreal Canadiens, there are both similarities and differences between that game and their series-opening defeat to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.

Atop the list of parallels is the locker room tune and Head Coach Rod Brind'Amour's assessment in the aftermath: the group did not play its best game.

Although the scores finished vastly different, 6-2 against Montreal, and 5-4 last night, the brand of hockey exhibited was not to their own standard. For a team that does not make a lot of mistakes on a nightly basis, that was its downfall in both affairs.

Against Montreal, the Canes said they "weren't ready for the pace" after an 11-day layoff. The Canadiens got behind Carolina's defense and made the most of their chances.

Last night, Carolina was ready for the tempo, as exemplified via an early 2-0 advantage paved by mistakes from Vegas, but a puck-pressuring opposition forced the hosts into missteps of their own that led to three unanswered strikes.

"A lot of what happened was self-inflicted, but they're a good team. They can force you into some bad spots, and maybe some bad situations," Taylor Hall explained, as he met with the media inside Lenovo Center on Wednesday.

For the Canes, it was a dose of their own medicine.

"They're a forecheck-heavy team. They're going to finish every hit, maybe a little different than what we just played against (in Montreal)," Shayne Gostisbehere reviewed. "Maybe that takes some time to get used to."

The plan of attack for Vegas is hardly a secret; the Canes will have to get comfortable with navigating that style of play as they attempt a bounce back in Game 2.

"You're playing hard hockey, that's what it is," Brind'Amour said. "You're going to make mistakes because the other team forces you to make them. They made some mistakes too."

"This is a totally different team. That may be a part of it, too. We've got to get up to speed on how this game and this series is going to go. I think we certainly got a taste of that now," the head coach continued. "Similarly, we made a lot of mistakes in that first game (against Montreal), and it cost us. You can't make them."

Managing the waves of momentum is going to be critical moving forward as well.

Entering the Stanley Cup Final with only one loss in 13 postseason contests, the expectation is that there will be more back-and-forth in this best-of-seven battle.

"I don't think last night was our best. In the Montreal series, that first game wasn't our greatest, but I think if we can clean up a couple of things, we can have more success," Sean Walker said. "I definitely agree there's going to be some ebbs and flows in the series and [we'll] spend a little more time in your D-zone than we're used to and that we had to in these first couple of rounds, but we know when we play our game that we can dominate a series and dominate a team if we do that. [We'll] just tighten up a couple of things, and I think we can swing it our way, for sure."

Part of handling those swings is understanding that Vegas will get its way at times, and not gripping your stick too tightly on the next shift.

"It's fast. It's high pace. You're not making the perfect play there every time," Sebastian Aho added. "You've just got to play the game. I feel like, to us, we can be a little smarter with the puck, for sure. That's the main thing."

Alongside puck management, getting the puck out of their zone quicker, and defending the high-danger areas of the ice were topics listed by players who spoke to the media, following a team video session.

"Some of the things execution-wise, we can do a better job of," Walker continued. "Look at most of their goals, they were scored from the inner slot on quick plays. That's something that we'll be looking to shut down next game."

Although today's attention was mostly spent on ways the Canes can improve in the second go-around, where things differed from the Eastern Conference Final was the fact that they were in last night's contest throughout. Against Montreal, a four-goal first period cemented the Habs in front, and they never looked back.

On Tuesday, it was a see-saw contest until the Golden Knights' dagger with 3:24 left in regulation.

"You've got to give them credit, that's a great team," Brind'Amour said of Vegas. "We were right there. We made a few mistakes that we've got to try and clean up. We've got to have a little better execution again. You're not winning this thing if you have those kinds of errors and lack of execution."

There's a belief that this round has the potential to be a repeat performance of the last best-of-seven as well, where the unit looked much more like themselves in a Game 2, series-splitting victory over the Habs.

"A ton of confidence in this group. We've bounced back before. We felt like we were right there all night, so [we'll] just clean up a few things and move on from it," Seth Jarvis said.

"I think we're confident because we know we can be better," Brind'Amour added. "If we had played our best game and had that outcome, I think there would be a different feel. It was kind of similar to the last series, where there were a lot of areas we didn't like in our game, and you're just not going to win when you don't play to your abilities. You have to give the other team a lot of credit. They're making you not play that way. It's not just happening, we're trying. But we do have to be sharper in a lot of areas. I think that's the positive, we definitely have room to get better."

Win or lose, striving for better has been a part of the fabric of the team's identity. They won't be changing that in the final series of the season.

"I think this is what this group's been on all year - bouncing back, facing adversity, and understanding what it takes to win," Jalen Chatfield responded. "We know what we have in here, what we're capable of, and tomorrow I expect nothing but our best."