Recap: Canes Blanked by Nashville in Regular Season Finale

NASHVILLE - The Carolina Hurricanes were blanked 5-0 by Pekka Rinne and the Nashville Predators in the regular season finale.

HIGHLIGHTS | PHOTO GALLERY | STATISTICS

The Bottom Line

Game 1 of the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs will look a lot different than game 56 of 56 in the regular season, a game whose outcome carried incredibly little tangible meaning in the overarching story of the 2020-21 campaign.

Plus/Minus

Plus: Joey Keane makes his NHL debut
On Saturday, Keane got word that he'd be making his NHL debut in the Canes' final game of the regular season. On Sunday, he made the near eight-hour drive from Chicago to Nashville. On Monday, he suited up for his first in the show.
And he took his solo lap with his helmet off, letting the hair breathe.

"It was a pretty surreal experience," he reflected afterward. "From puck drop, I wasn't really thinking, just kind of in the moment. It was great."
Keane finished the evening with one shot on goal, two additional shot attempts and two hits in 19:34 of ice time.
"I knew it was going to be another hockey game, so that's what I focused on," Keane said. "It was a great experience, and I'm looking forward to the next one."
Minus: The final score
That's an obvious one, right? But don't dwell on it for too long. The Canes aren't.
"We're going to flush it. We played 56 games, and in 55 games, we were in every one," Brind'Amour said. "This is the one game the whole year we weren't in. It's kind of flushed for me."

"We're putting that game behind us. We're moving forward and looking ahead to Game 1," Max McCormick said. "We're going to head back home, regroup and get ready for playoffs."

Stats Pack

36-12-8: The Canes finish the regular season atop the Central Division with a 36-12-8 record and 80 points.
56: Due to a handful of players sitting out of the lineup, Sebastian Aho and Nino Niederreiter were the two players on the roster to play in all 56 games in the regular season.
2: This is just the second time all season in which the Canes have lost consecutive games in regulation.

Quote of the Night

"[McCormick] and Joey Keane comes in and does the same thing for me. Maximum effort, giving it everything they can. They're trying to say, 'Hey, I want to stick here. I've got to do what I've got to do. I'll do whatever it takes.' That's the kind of attitude you need to have." - Rod Brind'Amour

Up Next

These two teams will meet in the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Games 1 and 2 will take place in Raleigh, and a full schedule will be announced this week.