Recap: Canes Edged by Avalanche

The Carolina Hurricanes negated a two-goal deficit in the third period but were edged by the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2.
Teuvo Teravainen netted two goals in the final frame, but Samuel Girard found the back of the net with just 2:37 left in regulation.
Here are five takeaways from Pride Night at PNC Arena.

1. Another Tough One
Another night, another tough loss for the Hurricanes, who have now gone winless in four straight games at home (0-3-1).
Tyson Jost scored a goal in both the first and second periods to put the Avalanche up 2-0, but that score wasn't a fair assessment of the Canes' first 40 minutes. Pavel Francouz stopped all 31 shots he faced through 40 minutes and it almost seemed like it was going to be one of those games, where the Canes rack up chance after chance but, for whatever reason, fail to break through.
"I thought it was a great game playing against a great team. The first period wasn't especially great, but it was OK. I thought after that it just felt like we had the game kind of going our way, especially in the second period, and we come out still short on that," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "The third period was all good, except we had the one screw up and it cost us the game."

After rallying to erase a two-goal deficit in the third period, the Canes saw their hard work crumble in the blink of an eye.
Samuel Girard snuck in undetected from the point and rattled a shot in and out of the cage with just 2:37 left in regulation.
"That was a tough game, for sure, because we played definitely well enough to win," Brind'Amour said. "There was a lot to the good. We're going to dwell on the positives, for sure, and keep cleaning up the other stuff."
2. Rallying in the Third
Down 2-0 heading into the third period, the Hurricanes knew they couldn't deviate from their game plan. Stick to it, and the bounces would come.
"We really came out with the right mindset and really were on them. We had our looks," Brady Skjei said. "It was a good effort. We worked really hard."
That mindset started with the Canes' leadership.

"We're solid in here. I love the group. They knew they had to rally, and they did," Brind'Amour said. "We've got to find a way to get it done. There are a lot of tough lessons going on in here right now."
It was one of those games, too, where it was going to take a zany bounce for the Canes to finally get one. Sure enough.
"We just kept shooting," Teravainen said. "We were down a couple goals, so we just had to keep shooting pucks and be around the net."
3. Turbo Charged
Teuvo Teravainen has always been a pass-first player. He's a playmaker - an elite one at that - but he also has a sneaky good shot, if only he'd use it more often.
One of the moments came late in the first period, when Sebastian Aho took two defenders with him before backhanding a pass to a wide open Teravainen. Instead of shooting, though, Teravainen dished the puck back to Aho along the far wall, a significantly worse shooting angle.
"It's nice to see it go in sometimes, but if I find someone open, I'll try to make some plays, too," Teravainen said.
In any case, to the Canes' delight, Teravainen became a more selfish player in the third period and scored a pair of goals to erase a 2-0 deficit.
Teravainen got the Canes on the board just about six minutes into the third period. His initial shot popped off Francouz's shoulder, spun in the air and was poked by Ian Cole's frantic effort to clear it away from the prying stick of Andrei Svechnikov.

Two minutes later, Teravainen struck again, beating Francouz with a quick wrister as he skated down the near wing.

With a pair of shots in 121 seconds, Teravainen sparked the Canes and the sellout crowd at PNC Arena. The Canes were buzzing. The building was jumping. They just couldn't quite close it out.
"I'm as frustrated as anybody that we didn't get the points, but I liked the effort of the group. They dug in," Brind'Amour said. "We got down, and we really probably shouldn't have been down, but we dug out of it. Obviously, the mistake killed us at the end, but we still kept going."
4. Aho's Streak Continues
Sebastian Aho tallied the primary assist on Teravainen's first goal (and the secondary assist on his second goal) to extend his career-long point streak to 14 games (12g, 9a). It's the longest active point streak in the NHL, the longest point streak in team (since relocation) history and the third-longest point streak in franchise history.
Aho leads the team in goals (36) and points (62) through 63 games this season.
5. Dodging a Bullet
A week ago in Toronto, the Hurricanes' lineup was gashed with injuries to both of their goaltenders and a top-pairing defenseman. They can ill afford another injury, and they escaped what seemed to be an unfortunate and ugly right leg injury to Ryan Dzingel.
Late in the first period, Dzingel absorbed a cross-check in the numbers from Nikita Zadorov and slid awkwardly into the boards. He was helped off the ice and wasn't putting any weight on his right leg, but he returned to the bench for the start of the second period and played the balance of the contest.

That was some good news in what has been a rash of unfortunate injury diagnoses.
"We're hitting that bump in the road right now. A little adversity with the injuries and some real good hockey that we haven't been rewarded for," Brind'Amour said. "That's tough."
Up Next
The Hurricanes are in back in action on Leap Day, when they make their first and only visit of the season to Montreal.
"We're on the outside looking in, so we need to get going, get some points and get some wins," Jordan Martinook said.