Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour sent a message to his top players after Saturday's disheartening Game 3 loss to the Florida Panthers.
The Panthers dominated the third period en route to a 6-2 victory and grabbed a 3-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final.
"The four rookies in the lineup can't be some of your better players," Brind'Amour told media postgame. "That can't happen. There's a couple guys in there that I don't think came to play the way they needed to in this time of year. It can't be Jordan Staal and Martinook being our best players. That can't always be that way. And they are every night. We needed more out of some guys."
Brind'Amour didn't single anyone out, but Carolina's top line of Taylor Hall, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis was caved in throughout the contest. The trio was outscored 2-0 and out-attempted 17-6 at five-on-five while owning a 16.80% expected goals rate, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Carolina's Staal-Martinook-Logan Stankoven line was also on for two goals against but had much stronger underlying metrics. The Hurricanes' back end was without Sean Walker and Jalen Chatfield because of injury, which brought rookies Scott Morrow and Alexander Nikishin into the lineup. Dmitry Orlov moved to his off side to accommodate Nikishin, and was a minus-4 with a handful of costly turnovers.
The Hurricanes scored only two goals in the opening two games of the series. Game 3 was tied 1-1 to start the third period, but Carolina unraveled in dramatic fashion as Florida scored five goals in a little more than nine minutes.
Brind'Amour lamented his club's carelessness with the puck.
"I think we were there, obviously," Brind'Amour said. "We were playing better, and then just to turn pucks over, it's not what we do. No one does that. Pretty surprised. You can't do that. You can't do it any time. Preseason game it's going to cost you, but against that team, and you turn it over for an odd-man rush, forget it."
The Hurricanes have lost 15 consecutive Eastern Conference Final games dating back to 2009. The past seven defeats have come against the Panthers.
Game 4 is scheduled for Monday night in Sunrise.
