Against Columbus, the Canes were playing the 2nd half of a back-to-back and it showed; Carolina was too tired to own the puck. There were a handful of offensive bursts, but otherwise, Columbus controlled the play. The Canes sagged back in the defensive zone and clamped down on the Jackets, keeping the shots to the outside and the rush chances to a minimum. The Canes won 2-1 and Darling was the 1st star.
Fast forward to Toronto, the Canes were rested and went back to the playing the game they want to play: fast and aggressive hockey. That frees up the opponent to play that way as well. The more-skilled Leafs attack with speed all afternoon, generating rush chance after rush chance. The defensive zone was chaos at times as the forwards weren’t insulating the defense and the defense insulating the goalie as much. The Canes lose 8-1 and Darling is the worst player on the ice.
I’m not trying to absolve Darling from blame here, but this team just doesn’t have the horses to be successful playing the way they want to play. The skill isn’t there to win 5-4 hockey games with consistency. Peters needs to adjust or go.