Recap: Canes Fall to Stars

The Carolina Hurricanes stumbled in their first game following the trade deadline, dropping a 4-1 decision to the Dallas Stars.
Both Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov extended their career-long point streaks in the lone goal of the game for the Canes.
Here are five takeaways from Dave Ayres Day in Raleigh.

1. Better Effort, Same Result
Exactly two weeks ago in Dallas, the Hurricanes fell to the Stars, 4-1. The prevailing thought was that the team wasn't good enough to win.
The Canes were again bested by the Stars, 4-1, in Raleigh on Tuesday night, but the sentiment in the locker room after the game was much more positive, despite the result.
"I thought we put a lot of shots on net and played our game for the most part," Jordan Staal said.
"I was not disappointed with that game," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I like the way we came and stuck to our game plan. We just couldn't find a way to get one in."

It took just 51 seconds into the game for the Stars to grab a 1-0 lead, which forced the Canes to chase the game for the remainder of regulation. Add another pair of goals in the span of 1:49 late in the first period, and Dallas could sit on a comfortable advantage.
"It's tough when you're chasing the game the rest of the night, especially when you give one up that early, but you've got to bounce back. That's what good teams do," Alex Nedeljkovic said. "I thought we took it to them in the first period, for sure. They just got a few good bounces and capitalized on them."
"They protect the lead well, but we still generated quite a few opportunities," Brind'Amour said. "We just had a few too many grade-A mistakes."
2. Streaking Fish
Sebastian Aho netted his career-best 36th goal of the season to extend his point streak to 13 games (12g, 7a). This marks the longest point streak of his career and the longest in team history (since relocation). It also happens to be the longest active point streak in the NHL.
Aho has netted 11 goals in the month of February, which leads the league and marks the most goals in one month of his NHL career.
3. Streaking Svech
And don't forget Andrei Svechnikov's point streak. With the secondary assist on Aho's goal, Svechnikov's streak now stands at a career-long 11 games (5g, 8a).
Svechnikov and Aho have become the second pair of teammates in franchise history to each record a point in the same 11-game stretch and the first duo to do so since Hartford's inaugural NHL season in 1979-80 (Blaine Stoughton and Mike Rogers).
4. The New Guys
The first game with a new team - especially with just a quarter of the season left to play on the day after your life is turned upside down - is always an interesting one.
For Vincent Trocheck and Brady Skjei, what Brind'Amour wanted to see was simple.
"They're going to play a lot of minutes. I'll maybe play them a little bit all over and in all situations. It's tough when you get new guys in and throw a lot at them. Whole new systems and everything," Brind'Amour said after the morning skate. "At the end of the day, they just have to trust their instincts and go play."
Trocheck finished his Canes debut with three shot attempts, a hit and a 71 percent faceoff win rate in 17:06 of ice time. Skjei tallied a team-high five shots on goal, two additional shot attempts and 20:37 of ice time while paired with Jaccob Slavin.

"As the game went on, I thought I played better," Skjei said. "Definitely real impressed with this team. The work ethic and the trust guys have in each other is something that really stuck out to me."
"I thought they both were good. I thought Vinny was really good up front, and Brady, too. He had a couple really good opportunities to score and jumped into the play," Brind'Amour said. "It's tough. Those first games are always tough, especially when you don't really know our systems that well, but I thought they looked really good."
5. Ayres
Feb. 25, 2020 was christened Dave Ayres Day in Raleigh, honoring the 42-year-old buildings operation manager who, in emergency relief, made eight saves to help the Canes secure a 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

You probably know all that by now, but on Tuesday, local fans had the opportunity to meet the legend face-to-face. Ayres made media appearances all over the Triangle throughout the day (listen for him on a new episode of CanesCast on Wednesday!), signed autographs on the concourse and cranked the warning siren before the Canes hit the ice.

A Forslund Focus video tribute keyed on Ayres. The crowd of 18,176 at PNC Arena showered him with a standing ovation. The Canes stood and banged their sticks on the boards, and even the Stars acknowledged him with stick taps in kind.
Up Next
A back-to-back set closes out the month of February for the Canes. They host the Colorado Avalanche on Friday and then travel to Montreal on Saturday.