Hurricanes' Peters rips Lack in lengthy tirade

Bill Peters has found his scapegoat.

The Carolina Hurricanes head coach went on a long rant about backup goaltender Eddie Lack - who stopped only 12 of 16 shots in a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday - when prompted by reporters Friday.

"Well, you’ve got to push,” Peters said, according to The News & Observer's Chip Alexander. “One guy has played 10 games. Eddie has played 10 games and was poor in his last outing, let’s not kid ourselves, right? There were 16 shots, four went in. Not good enough. You look at his numbers in the league, they’re not good enough."

Peters' comments came in response to a question about how the Hurricanes' final 22 games would be split between Lack and starter Cam Ward.

“So I don’t think it’s much of a competition," Peters added. "We’ve got a guy who’s well ahead of the other guy. That’s what I see and the numbers back that up. So when he gets in another game, you better play. You better earn some respect from your teammates. Your teammates are out there working their bag off. You better get some saves and a timely save at the right time wouldn’t hurt."

The head coach had a moment of self-realization before continuing to criticize his No. 2 netminder.

“That’s a little bit honest, eh? I just looked it up. You look up any goalie who has played 10 games in the National Hockey League and the top 60 in save percentage, I know who’s 60. There’s 30 teams. Not good enough."

He then punctuated the media session with a stern ultimatum, according to Alexander:

Peters ended the media scrum by glancing down the hallway, in the direction of Lack’s locker stall, and saying, 'Make a save.' Or something like that. There was another word in there but the point already had been made: the coach was not happy with the player.

Lack is three appearances removed from a shutout victory over the Ottawa Senators, but he gave up five goals in a loss to the Washington Capitals two games before that.

The veteran goalie missed three months earlier in the season with a concussion, and while consistency has eluded him in 2016-17, the opportunities for redemption have been few and far between.