Whew! Exhale.
Now that's a relief.
A Ray Whitney wrist shot on a bouncing puck as time expired gave the Carolina Hurricanes their first victory of the season in Atlanta on Friday night, and a collective sigh of relief could be heard all across the triangle.
Everyone was starting to get a little tense. Myself included. And while this one win does not right all that has been going wrong for the Canes early on, it does get that cliched monkey off their backs. Hopefully they will now be able relax a little and just play the hockey they are capable of playing. Pittsburgh will be a stern test tomorrow (Saturday) night. But everyone should sleep a little easier now that the first one is out of the way. At least that late night flight to Pittsburgh on the team plane will be a little less tense.
The Canes came out of the gate tonight playing inpsired hockey. Coach Peter Laviollette shook up his forward lines, as promised, hoping to mspark some offense, and after taking a 3-0 into the lockeroom after the first period, it seemd liker a brilliant coaching move. The new line pairings were: Walker/Staal/Williams; C. Adams/Brind'Amour/Cole; Ladd/Belanger/Whitney with Kevin Adams and Chad LaRose playing mix and match for the fourth line. The first period was a thing of beauty with the Canes skating aggressively and, for the most part, taking the play directly at the Thrashers. The new line combinations worked beautifully, especially Adams/Brind'Amour/Cole combination, with Craig Adams notching two goals, and Brind'Amour picking up 2 assists. The offense kept it simple - skate hard, shoot the puck, crash the net. Both of Adams' goals came as he picked up juicy rebounds around the net to beat Atlanta's Kerri Lehtonen (who until tonight's first period had been almost unbeatable in the Thrasher's first four games) from both sides of the net. The rebounds came courtesy of slapshots from Erik Cole and Niclas Wallin. Eric Staal closed out the first period in style with a goal as time expired. Staal was set free on a breakaway seconds after Cane's goalie Cam Ward had stoned Thrasher's supa-star Ilya Kovalchuk 's breakaway at the other end. Mike Commodore collected the rebound behind the net and sent it around the boards, with Staal collecting the puck near center ice and breaking free on Lehtonen as the clock ticked down to zero. Staal found the back of the net with a wrist shot with 1.5 second left in the period. 3-0 Canes.
The second period did not get off to a good start for the Canes as the Thrashers came out and made it clear early on that they would not go gentle into that good night. Canes forward Andrew Ladd did not return from the lockeroom after the first intermission, and it was quickly learned that he was out for the rest of the game with the ubiquitous "upper body" injury. The Thrashers were agressive, and defintely took the play to the Canes early in the period. The Canes held their own thanks largely to Cam Ward, who was electrifying all night, and who stood strong for the Canes as their offense sputtered a bit. The Thrashers finally broke through, in a big way, 14 minutes into the 2nd, as Jon Sim scored two gritty goals in the span of 20 seconds. The first goal came in the midst of mayhem in front of the net, as the puck bounced off of two Thrashers and over the net before Sim was able to get his stick on it in the crease, just sneaking the puck behind a sprawling Ward. Officals had to go to the replay to confirm the goal but the call stood (as it should have). Sim was back at it again before the crowd could even watch the replay and get the offical scoring. The Thrashers won the center-ice faceoff sending the puck deep into the Canes zone. Sim cut to the front of the goal as Vyacheslav Kozlov gave him a beautiful feed from behind the net. Sim manged to squeeze the puck between the legs of Cane's defensemen Tim Gleason and between Ward'a pads. Boom-Bang-Boom. Canes 3 - Thrashers 2 at the end of the second period.
As high as the Canes must of felt heading into the locker room at the first intermission, they must have been a bit shaken as they came back on the ice for the 3rd period. And it showed, as the Thrashers came out like a buzzsaw and continued to pressure and attack hoping to take advantage of what had to be the Canes' shakey confidence. The first 5 minutes of the third were a blitzkreig on the Cane's net as Atlanta got off 8 shots and controlled to flow of the game with a relentless forecheck that kept the puck in the Cane's zone shift after shift. Once again, if not for the heroics of Cam Ward, the Canes would have been in deep trouble. Momentum shifted a bit when the Thrasher's 2nd period hero Jon Sim took a goalie interference penalty 9 minutes in. The Canes did not score on the ensuing powerplay, but they did seemto find their legs and managed to keep the puck in the Thrasher's zone for several great scoring chances. Even back at 5 on 5 the Canes seemed to be back up on their skates, playing aggressively instead of playing not to lose. Both teams skated well for the next 5 or 6 minutes, matching check for check, with both goalies making some spectacular stops. Ward stood especially tall against Kovalchuk, who is sure to have nightmares tonight about the Canes netminder. Breakways, point blank slap shots, beautiful one on one moves, it did not matter as Ward stoned the talented Russian star time and time again. Kovalchuk got off 10 shots in the game, but is still scoreless for the season.
With both teams shifting momentum back and forth in the 3rd period, but with nothing tangible to show for it, something had to give one way or another. The first crack came at the Cane's expense. Bobby Holik played a nifty give and go at the blue line with Scott Mellanby. Holik got by Tim Gleason and skated in on Cam Ward as David Tanabe rushed in to protect his goalie. Holik lost control of the puck briefly, but it bounced off of Tanabe's skate, right back onto Holik's stick as he deftly put a wrist shot against the grain and past Ward who was shifting with the flow of the play. 14:39 into the third the Thrashers had come all the way back. With just over 5 minutes to play it looked like a game had started out so impressively for the Cane's was slipping out of their grasp, and heading to overtime.
Both teams had a few more chances in the closing minutes, but nothing materialized until Whitney's heroics took center stage. With less than 10 seconds left before overtime and a disappointing split of two points that the Canes badly needed, Rod Brind'Amour came onto the ice for a faceoff deep in the Thrasher's zone. Whitney set up at the point, hoping to be in position for a last second blast should Brind'Amour win the draw. Eric Staal was in position to crash the net for a deflection or possible rebound. But (surprizingly) Brind'Amour did not win the draw, and the faceoff bounced towards Staal in front of the net. Staal tried a quick shot, that popped up high over the back of the net. A hustling Staal managed to get to the bouncing puck behind the net, and his only option at that point was to flip the puck back towards the crease and hope for the best. The best on this night was in the form of Ray Whitney, sweeping in from the point to corral the bouncing puck directly in front of the net just in time to flip a wrist shot delicately past a lunging Lehtonen as time expired. 4-3 Hurricanes. Game. Set. Match, Exhale.
A win is a win. The Canes played inspired hockey at times, but after jumping out to an early lead they allowed the Thrashers back into the game by allowing Atlanta to control play for much for the second and third periods, where the Canes seemed to play a bit nervous at times. Hopefully, getting this first one under their belt will propell the Canes towards palying the aggressive but smart hockey that we all know they are capable of. First test comes quickly in Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
NOTES: Cam Ward had 31 saves, many of them spectacular, and Kerri Lehtonen (equally spectacular at times) had 29 in a battle of two of the NHL's most talented young goaltenders...Rod Brind'Amour broke out in a big way scoring his first 3 points of the season on 3 assists...Eric Staal scored his first goal since opening night against Buffalo, and Erik Cole picked up his first point (an assist) since opening night as well..Mike Commodore continues to rack up the penalty minutes with 3 trips to the box tonight for 6 minutes. I just wish he were taking good pnealties more often than stupid ones...newcomers Eric Belanger and Scott Walker continued to impress with strong forechecking and agressive skating...Ray Whitney, who wears jersey #13, scored the game winning goal on Friday the 13th...spooky!...Trevor Letowski and Anton Babchuk were healthy scratches for the Canes.
-martin
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