"For some reason, the last couple of games, we haven't found a way to get one past him, and we have to," Justin Williams said. "We need a little bit more, especially in games like this."
"I don't think we made him work as hard as the first game. He came up big for them when he had to," Brind'Amour said. "We needed to get more quality looks at him, I think, especially in the last half of the third period. We needed to press and didn't get much."
Three
On a night like tonight when the Islanders were content stacking the blue line and did a commendable job clearing out the top of the crease, a power-play goal would have worked wonders for the Hurricanes' offense. Instead, the man advantage was 0-for-3.
"Our power play needs to get us a goal. Certainly, when we lose the specialty teams battle, then it's an uphill battle after the game. Our power play has to find a way to get one for us," Williams said. "It's the players out there needing to make some plays, get shouts through, make it happen for us and create momentum."
"Maybe it's in our heads," Aho said. "We haven't scored much, so maybe we should just relax and make some plays."
"That's got to get better," Brind'Amour said. "That's still an issue for me."
Four
Of course, it took the Islanders just nine seconds into their first power play of the game to take a 1-0 lead in the first period. Anders Lee slid into a soft spot in the slot, and Josh Bailey fed him for the bang-bang play.
More frustration: The Hurricanes' penalty kill was stellar other than that one blip.
"We had a little bit a of mess-up on the first one, right away. Of course, it ended up in the net," Brind'Amour said. "That was really the only chance they had on the power play all night."
Five
Aho continues to be a special player for the Hurricanes. He, of course, factored into the team's only goal, as he wheeled around in the offensive zone and put a backhander on net, which Greiss paddled out right to Teravainen before No. 86 pumped it to the back of the net for his second goal in as many games.
