Canes crumble in 1st, fall 6-3 in Toronto

The Canes gave up three goals within the first 7 minutes of the first period and went on to loe, 6-3, to the Maple Leafs in Toronto.   In Carolina's first game coming after the 4 Nations Faceoff break they played like a team that hadn't seen each other in two weeks.  Poor decisions, worse puck management and a lack of precision added up to a 4-0 deficit after 20 minutes.  That the Canes scored three times in a 2:41 span of the 3rd period to give themselves a chance to steal something -- ANYTHING -- out of this game is a borderline miracle.  But, after Jaccob Slavin swept in a rebound to make it 4-3 with just under 5 minutes remaining, Mikko Rantanen passed up Carolina's last best chance to score passing into a crowded crease rather than shoot from the right face off circle.  In fairness, Rantanen, who did pick up an assist tonight for his 3rd point in 7 games with the Hurricanes, was probably Carolina's best forward tonight.  Shayne Gostisbehere scored his first goal since December 10 off a feed from Sebastian Aho for Carolina's first goal of the night.  Andrei Svechnikov and Slavin had the others.  Pyotr Kochetkov allowed 4 goals on 21 shots.

Adam Gold hosts Canes Corner, featuring guests from the Carolina Hurricanes organization, hockey writers, and radio and television hockey announcers from around the NHL talking abut the latest happenings for everything that is Caniac Nation. Episodes are posted after each game during the NHL season. This is a production of 99.9 The Fan in Raleigh, North Carolina.