RALEIGH — For 40 minutes, the Hurricanes got the better of the NHL’s best team.
The last 20 minutes, however, were the worst of the Hurricanes.
Carolina blew a multigoal lead for the fifth time in eight games, allowing four third period goals in a 5-3 loss Saturday to the Avalanche at Lenovo Center.
“We’re finding ways to lose games,” a perplexed Jordan Staal said after the game.
The Hurricanes entered the final frame with a 3-1 lead, but a pair of Brock Nelson power play goals sandwiched an even-strength goal by former Carolina center Jack Drury turned a two-goal lead into a one-goal deficit.
“We just keep beating ourselves, in essence, is what’s happening,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I mean, yeah, they made the plays, but we’re giving them opportunities that you just can’t do. And you keep talking about it, but they gotta in the room. It has to come from there. And right now it’s not happening.”
The loss squandered a solid performance by Frederik Andersen, who made 15 of his 30 saves in the first period but saw his winless streak extended to nine games.
“He was good,” Brind’Amour said of Andersen. “So good. … We’re probably fortunate to be 3-1 going into the third based on the chances that we’re going on.”
The Hurricanes built that two-goal lead primarily with their special teams.
It started with the penalty kill, which turned Colorado’s first power play into a 1-0 Carolina lead.
With forward William Carrier in the box for interference, Sebastian Aho knocked the puck off Colorado defenseman Cale Makar’s stick. Eric Robinson pushed the puck past Makar and ahead to Aho, who scored on a breakaway by going forehand to backhand and sliding the puck under Scott Wedgewood (25 saves) for the game’s first goal at 18:09 of the first period.
After Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog tied the game on a wraparound at 1:47 of the middle frame, the Hurricanes’ power play broke through on its third chance.
On a broken play, Nikolaj Ehlers passed the puck from the slot to Taylor Hall on the flank. Hall sent the puck back, and Ehlers — after a brief bobble — collected the puck and shot it past Wedgewood for his 10th goal of the season at 4:47 of the second.
Aho then stayed red-hot with his ninth point in the last four games, setting up Andrei Svechnikov for a bull rush to the net. Svechnikov fended off Colorado defenseman Devon Toews and tucked the puck past Wedgewood for his 12th goal of the season at 7:50 of the second.
But the 3-1 lead Carolina took 40 minutes to build evaporated in 7½ minutes to start the third period.
Svechnikov’s neutral zone tripping penalty 11 seconds into the third period resulted in Nelson’s first power play goal, a tip of a MacKinnon shot, that cut the Hurricanes’ lead to 3-2 at 1:09 of the third.
Thirty-three seconds later, the Avalanche tied the game when Carolina defenseman Joel Nystrom’s pass was stolen in the neutral zone and turned into a rush chance for Drury, who finished for his seventh of the year.
Then with Ehlers in the box on a questionable tripping penalty, Nelson got his second of the night and 18th of the season off a blown penalty kill coverage to put Colorado ahead 4-3.
“We know they’ve got all the world-class players out there just licking their chops right now,” Brind’Amour said. “Our penalty kill is not going so good, just a little off. That’s the game.”
MacKinnon was then awarded an empty-net goal to cap the scoring, and the Hurricanes had to pack up for a flight north to face the Devils on Sunday with another blown lead to chew on.
“There were some positives, if you want to look at it that way,” Staal said. “But you want results too, and especially in the funk we’re in, we’ve got to pull a 60-minute game in and just do it all the way through. … We said our piece after the game, and tomorrow better be more like our game and for the 60 minutes.”
At the midway point of the season, the Hurricanes are trying to reclaim their identity to end their recent spiral.
“Last game, it was me throwing the puck right to a guy in the slot,” Ehlers said. “Today, (it) was maybe a few mistakes and it was in the back of our net. So we’ve got stuff we need to clean up. Luckily, we got 41 games to do that.”
Notes: The game featured the Hurricanes wearing throwback Hartford Whalers uniforms and the Avalanche donning a Quebec Nordiques kit. … Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin did not play due to injury. … Former Hurricanes Brent Burns, Drury and Martin Necas played their first game at Lenovo Center since leaving Carolina. … The Avalanche won 39 of 62 faceoffs (63%). … Aho and Nelson each had seven shots on goal.
