RALEIGH, N.C. — While everyone’s wondering about where Tony DeAngelo is mentally — and he was cheerfully defiant Monday after his contretemps with Brad Marchand on Sunday — it’s not like he’s the only one.
As the series shifts back home for Game 5 reset to even at two games apiece, the Carolina Hurricanes’ early advantage lost in a spectacular road implosion, it’s clear now this is going to be won or lost not between the blue lines, but between the ears, and the Hurricanes have gone from decisively winning that battle to comprehensively losing it.
That includes DeAngelo’s composure, the team’s (sudden lack of) discipline, a stalled power play, Frederik Andersen’s continuing absence and the fact that the Hurricanes worked so assiduously to evict the Boston Bruins from their heads in the regular season and at the start of this series, only to let them stroll right back in.
Because five-on-five, the Hurricanes have dominated. And yet they still find themselves back at square one, with an extraordinary amount of struggle and effort already expended, for all those other reasons.
“We’ve done a lot of good things,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Everybody’s talking about the bad, but there’s way more good that’s gone on. So hopefully we can build on that and try to correct, build on the things obviously we’re not doing well, but there’s a lot of good in these four games.”
While there are many culprits, DeAngelo became the exemplar on Sunday, with Marchand goading him and DeAngelo getting his stick up on Curtis Lazar to help snuff out whatever chances the Hurricanes had of a late comeback.
Throwing his stick down the ice at Marchand in the final seconds, trying to deny him his fifth point of the game in an empty net, is something Alexander Ovechkin did as a joke during the 2011 All-Star Game in Raleigh — on a Matt Duchene breakaway, leading to the first penalty shot in All-Star history — and DeAngelo did in all seriousness. He shrugged it off Monday, but even seen in the most generous light, it was a tangible representation of the Hurricanes collectively losing their cool.
“It’s going to be a goal anyway, right?” DeAngelo said. “It counts. I’d rather knock off the puck, just to, you know, if it’s knocked off his stick it’s going to be a goal anyway, so would you rather see it go in the net or go wide? It is what it is. It doesn’t bother me very much.”
Despite his reputation upon his arrival, by all accounts DeAngelo has been a model teammate during his time with the Hurricanes, winning over fans not predisposed to like him with charisma, playing on the edge — as he has to, to be his most effective — without really going over it until now. This is no time to roll around in the muck with Marchand; the Boston agitator is just better at it. Just ask Justin Williams. Or better yet, don’t.
Still, DeAngelo is far from alone. Between the propensity for penalties, a well-intentioned but ill-advised challenge of a disputed goal and the way the Hurricanes have allowed the Bruins’ stars to gather momentum while many of their best players have none of their own — Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen have combined for fewer points than Marchand alone — the Hurricanes have matched the Bruins’ physicality, but not their mentality.
They’ve also felt the absence of the goalie who was such a rock for them during the regular season. In a series where the Hurricanes’ goalies haven’t yet lost them a game, they haven’t won one yet, either. Andersen excelled at that over the course of the season, but he’s still not practicing with the team four weeks after suffering what is believed to be a sprained left knee.
“Until he hits the ice, there’s really nothing more to say,” Brind’Amour said, again, Monday.
That’s always a tricky injury for goaltenders given the demands of the position. Because of that, it’s going to be as much a mental hurdle as a physical hurdle for Andersen to get back practicing, let alone playing. In that respect, he fits right in with his healthier teammates.
