Recap: Holtby Stymies Canes In Dallas

DALLAS, TX. -The Carolina Hurricanes wrapped up the November portion of their schedule this evening in Dallas, unfortunately closing it out with a 4-1 defeat against the Stars.

Three Takeaways

1) Step Right Up, Step Right In
It had been a chaotic 36 hours leading up to puck drop in Dallas, as Monday morning the team learned that defensemen Tony DeAngelo and Brett Pesce would be heading to the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol List. The team was able to get Jalen Chatfield and Max Lajoie to the Lone Star State later on Monday, thus giving them only a morning skate before stepping immediately into the team's lineup.
The two didn't appear to be any out of place though, as Chatfield finished with a total of 17:35 played on the night and Lajoie led all Canes defensemen with his 2:14 on the man advantage.
2) Canes Continued To Limit Chances
A 4-1 score may not lead you to believe that the losing end did the better job of concealing the game's scoring chances, but that was indeed the case tonight.
Carolina only allowed a total of 17 shots on goal, keeping the Stars at bay for most of the evening. However, when they got their chances, they capitalized. That was the difference in the contest. After all, the Canes finished with 40 shots on goal, Braden Holtby was just masterful with his 39 stops.
Dallas' goals came in forms of a rebound, a two-on-one, a deflection with a wild bounce and then an empty net goal. The bounces just didn't go the same ways for the visiting crew.
3) Work To Be Done On The Power Play
The Canes went 0/3 on the man advantage tonight, moving their current skid to seven straight games without a goal in that department. Dating back to Thursday, November 18 in Anaheim, the club is now 0-for-17.
Tonight, with two important power play contributors in DeAngelo and Pesce on the sideline, the team even rolled out a five forward unit. The crew had no further luck though and when all was said and done, the frustration continued to mount.

They Said It:
Jordan Staal on how he, as the team's leader, can try and assist in keeping the frustration down in the rest of the locker room:
"I have to do a better job of that. My stick's turning into a twig pretty soon, the more I'm squeezing it. It's been frustrating for a lot of guys, including myself. We have to continue to do what we're doing. Like I said, tonight I thought we created enough chances to win a game and that's what we want. That's all we can worry about. We have to learn how to defend and not give up those Grade A-chances. We gave them, what, four breakaways tonight or something like that. It's too many Grade-A goals that they got. All those shots that we created were from the outside and things like that. We're going to get some bounces and get some goals but giving those freebies up is what hurt us tonight."
Ian Coleon Jalen Chatfield and Max Lajoie filling in this evening:
"I'm very proud of those guys for how they were able to step up and play. Obviously I know Chatty has played NHL games and it showed. Max had a ton of poise as well, so I think they stepped in well and did a great job. I'm very proud of the work from those two guys."
Rod Brind'Amour on the team losing two in a row in regulation for the first time and speaking further on the game tonight:
"We've got to make it stop, but I don't know how much more we could do there. We have to get sharper on the power play, obviously, but overall, that may be one our best games of the year. I mean, we gave up, what, 17 shots? It's all about what you're giving up. I don't know what we had for chances, but we're getting ours. At the start of the year everything seemed to go in for us, right now nothing seems to be going in. Considering the guys who came out and the guys who we had come in, I thought it was a great game overall."
What's Next?:
The team will fly home from Texas this evening. They will not practice or hold media availability before Thursday night when they host Ottawa.