Canes fall flat in New Jersey, LaFontaine struggles in first NHL start

You can’t expect to win a hockey game when you give up seven goals.

The Carolina Hurricanes discovered this harsh truth on Saturday, Jan. 22 when they got smacked by the New Jersey Devils in a 7-4 defeat in Newark, New Jersey. Goaltender Jack LaFontaine was not stellar by any means, but a poor effort by the skaters in front of him ensured that he was not wholly to blame for the loss.

The Canes (27-9-2) actually got off to a great start in LaFontaine’s first NHL start, jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead over the Devils (15-19-5) in the first six minutes. Right wing Andrei Svechnikov sniped in the game-opener just 2:20 into the first period, followed by a goal by defenseman Ian Cole a little over three minutes later.

We've watched this 37 times and our jaws are still on the floor pic.twitter.com/7ZJDVfzue4

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 23, 2022

However, New Jersey ultimately wreaked havoc on LaFontaine’s net, capitalizing on a lackluster defensive effort by Carolina and several rebound chances off of the unpolished rookie netminder. The Hurricanes managed to wrestle back a 3-2 lead thanks to left wing Josh Leivo’s first goal in a Carolina sweater, but by the end of the second period, Canes had relinquished a 5-4 lead to the Devils.

“We just weren't sharp,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “It's hard to find 20 guys or a couple of guys that were good. We had a couple but when you’re off a little bit that's what it looks like.”

After a very shaky first 40 minutes by LaFontaine, the rookie managed to pull himself together at the start of the third period, looking cool and collected while making a handful of saves to keep his team in the game. A Canes comeback simply was not in the cards, however, as an untimely penalty by Cole led to a power-play goal by Jack Hughes that put the game out of reach for Carolina.

LaFontaine’s goals against average now stands at an appalling 7.20, but in addition to an extremely small sample size of just under 75 minutes of ice time, the newby has frequently been left out to dry by his defense.

“We kind of left him out to dry on a few of those,” said defenseman Brady Skjei. “It's tough, obviously his first game. But we'll be there to support him. We know he's a good goalie and he'll bounce back from this.”

A final goal by the Devils’ Pavel Zacha finalized the scoreline at 7-4. Even when considering a delayed flight from RDU after a 6-3 win over the New York Rangers a night prior, the result in Newark fell far short of what Carolina had hoped.

“It’s the NHL, there's no excuse,” Leivo said. “We know we're a good team, we just didn't come out with our best effort. We gotta get back to work here. As a group, that's unacceptable.”

The Hurricanes will return to PNC Arena to host a Western Conference visitor in the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, Jan. 25. Puck drops at 7 p.m.