RALEIGH — The Hurricanes couldn’t capitalize on a dominant start, and Pontus Holmberg’s goal with 17 seconds left in the first period swung momentum in favor of the visiting Maple Leafs, who never relinquished the lead in a 4-1 win Sunday at Lenovo Center.
“It was maybe one of our better starts,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said, “and I liked how we played the whole period until the last 20 seconds.”
A harmless backhand by Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly from the right boards was kicked into the slot by Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen (16 saves), and Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov lost track of Holmberg, who scored his seventh goal of the season.
“It was a great first and we were playing the way we wanted to play,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “And I think after that, we kind of just expected that to keep going, and we kind of got a little complacent.”
The Leafs, battling for first place in the Atlantic Division, got goals from Auston Matthews just past the midway point of regulation and William Nylander at the start of the third to build a 3-0 lead, and Sebastian Aho’s power play goal at 7:58 of the final frame wasn’t enough to dig Carolina out of its deep hole.
John Tavares added a goal in the final five minutes to extend Toronto’s lead to 4-1 en route to the win.
The Hurricanes admitted that these final games of the regular season have been challenging to get up for since the team already knows it will face the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the playoffs.
“It’s challenging,” Staal said of gearing up for what are essentially meaningless games. “Obviously, everyone’s a pro here, and everyone wants to be feeling good about their game going into the real deal. So we’ll learn from this, and we’ll make sure that we’re sharper next time. And when it matters, everyone will be ready to go.”
The Hurricanes have used the past handful of games to rest various players, and Jordan Martinook missed his first game in three seasons to have a night off. Brind’Amour is expected to do the same in his team’s final two games of the regular season.
“We’ve been technically doing it for the last seven games, guys sitting out, and we’ll definitely look at that,” Brind’Amour said of giving his veterans more rest before the start of the postseason.
Rookie Scott Morrow has played four games this April, and Justin Robidas had a goal and an assist in his first career recall earlier in the month.
Carolina is waiting on the arrival of prized defensive prospect Alexander Nikishin, who needs to finalize his American and Canadian visas in the coming days if he wants to have a chance to play Wednesday in Montreal or Thursday in Ottawa.
The Hurricanes could also give Bradly Nadeau, who leads all AHL rookies with 30 goals and is second in points, a look in the season’s final two games.
Then all eyes will be on the Devils.
“We know what the goal is,” Taylor Hall said, “and we just need to be able to turn it on Game 1 against Jersey.”
Notes: Shayne Gostisbehere (lower back), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (lower body) and Martinook (rest) did not play for Carolina. … Rielly had three assists. … Joseph Woll stopped 25 of 26 shots.
