The Canes victory did not come without struggle, as the first 40 minutes of the night belonged to the New York Rangers. What was perhaps most atypical about the home side's start is that even when they failed to find the back of the net through the opening two periods during the regular season, they were at least finding ways to get pucks on net. During the campaign they averaged 22.6 shots before the third period of play. Wednesday they had just 14.
"We know we didn't play as well as we're capable of. To be able to come out of it with a win was huge," Vincent Trocheck began when speaking with reporters today. "We just didn't play our game. Simple as that. We came out a little flat during the first and second periods, didn't get to our structure. We were trying to do things a little bit differently and it didn't work. We turned it around in the third because we started playing our game and it worked a lot better."
So, what was it that New York was doing specifically that had Carolina not looking like their normal selves?
"They were getting pucks out [of their end] quickly, pucks in [to our end]. They were doing what we do well, better than we were." the Canes center listed as his reasons. "They just did a really good job of making sure that we didn't get to our game, get to our forecheck."
How does that change for Friday?
"We can't wait. There've been a few times this year where we've had that same start, kind of slow. We can't afford that during playoffs. When you start playing teams like New York and moving on when the teams keep getting better and better, we need to be able to find a way to play like we did in the third," Steven Lorentz provided as his assessment. "Whether it's each guy needs to look themselves in the mirror and come a little bit more prepared and motivated, then that's what we need to do."
As for the head coach, he shared a similar sentiment, but was also quick to tip his cap to Gerard Gallant and the Rangers for what they were able to do to prohibit them getting to their game.
"They were playing really well," Brind'Amour offered. "This time of year you have two good teams. That's how it's going to look sometimes."
