How are teams handling the Carolina Hurricanes’ pressure? Hint: not very well

Sheldon Keefe liked the way his team played. The Toronto Maple Leafs coach liked the competitiveness and willingness he saw from his players.

“I thought the spirit of the team was good. I thought the energy on the bench was good,” Keefe said Monday.

But playing the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena proved to be a “different animal,” Keefe acknowledged after the Leafs’ 4-1 loss.

The Canes are off to a 5-0 start this season and are one of the NHL’s four undefeated teams. It’s a balanced and experienced team, one that exerts a lot of pressure on the ice and doesn’t let up.

“I thought we played on a much higher level today but unfortunately it’s not high enough,” Keefe told reporters. “You’re playing against the Carolina Hurricanes and I think they set the standard really in the league in that regard. We got a real sense of what a Stanley Cup-contending team looks and feels like.”

That’s what Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour wants: to set the standard. It’s a mantra that’s posted in the team’s practice facility weight room.

Brad Larsen, in his first year as the Columbus Blue Jackets coach, has his team competing harder. There’s spirit to their game as well. But the Canes were better Saturday in a 5-1 road win at Nationwide Arena.

“We got a taste of a pretty good hockey team and what it takes,” Larsen said afterward. “You’ve got to be on your game against them. You’ve got to make sure you’re tracking pucks, you’re reloading. You can’t give them anything for free.

“They’re tough. There’s not a lot of holes in that team, so you have to be on it. They’re deep — they’re very deep.”

Brind’Amour said after Monday’s game that he likes how hard his team has been playing, top to bottom in the lineup. There have been errors in execution, but there’s a belief in the group they can and will find a way to win.

“To a man, I feel like everybody is not always going to be perfect and you don’t expect them to be, but the effort is there,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s making up for a lot of the mistakes that we are making. The compete level has been really good. If you ask me the one thing that stands out, I love the work effort of the group.”

The Canes were fifth in the NHL in both power-play percentage (31.6) and penalty killing (90%) through Monday’s games. They were sixths in goals per game (4.4) and led the NHL in allowing just 1.6 goals a game with Frederik Andersen stopping 141 of 149 shots.

The Canes used three power-play goals to beat the Blue Jackets for their third road win of the season. They were the better team at even strength Monday against the Leafs while also efficiently and aggressively killing off three penalties, limiting the Leafs to two power-play shots.

Toronto took a first-period lead when Auston Matthews scored his first goal of the season — and 200th career goal — with a wraparound and stuff that beat Andersen. But the star of the opening period for the Leafs was goalie Jack Campbell, who was sharp and did all he could to keep his team in the game. That was undone in the second when the Canes scored three times and took control.

“Offense is hard to come by with the way that they play,” Matthews said of the Canes. “They pressure the puck everywhere. They don’t really sit back. They’re constantly moving, putting pressure whether it’s the D zone, neutral zone, offensive zone.

“They play really well as a five-man unit and pressure the puck all over the place. It’s much tighter out there than it typically is.”

Added Keefe: “That’s the hardest game we’ve played this season, by a wide margin, in terms of the pressure.”

As Larsen sees it, the Canes have built a team the past few years that’s now in position for a Stanley Cup run. The Canes have improved year by year under Brind’Amour.

Sebastian Aho, in his sixth NHL season, has become an elite center. Andrei Svechnikov and Martin Necas, while still young wingers, are dynamic players and gaining more experience. Then there are the veterans — Jordan Staal, Vincent Trocheck, Jaccob Slacin, Brett Pesce and others. It’s a good blend and Andersen has been rock-solid in net.

“They’re a team that’s maturing,” Larsen said. “Aho and those guys, they’ve been in the league now, and Trocheck and Necas and Svechnikov, they’ve been in the league, and now they’re making that push.

“You’ve got to be on your game to play against a team like that and it’s a great lesson. You’ve got to be prepared and ready to skate the full length of the ice, or you will be chasing it.”