I think this is what you would call "putting it all together" - defense, offense, power play, penalty kill, goaltending - as the Carolina Hurricanes played by far their most complete game of the season in dismantling the Tampa Bay Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum Monday night. The only disappointment in the final score (5-1 in favor of the good guys), was that Cam Ward barely missed grabbing the first regular season shut out of his career by about 90 seconds. But it was still a night of firsts for at least one of the Canes. Justin Williams broke out of his early season scoring slump, in a big way, with his first NHL hat trick (his first 3 goals of the season) in route to a 4 point night.
The Canes came out and skated the full 90 minutes with grit, intensity and flare, taking out their second division opponent in their third straight road win. Rod Brind'Amour had his first goal of the season to go along with two assists, while Eric Belanger also added a goal (his second of the year) to complete the rout. Brind'Amour finished with 3 points, Eric Staal and Ray Whitney chipped in with 2 assists each, while Erik Cole, Scott Walker and Anton Babchuk also added helpers as the Hurricanes reached the .500 mark for the first time this season. Cam Ward was stellar in goal as he continued his recent hot streak, getting the nod in goal over former Lightning netminder John Grahame who many thought might get the start against his former team. Ward stopped 33 of 34 shots and was simply spectacular at times, stoning Tampa stars Martin St. Louis (7 times) and Brad Richards (at least twice) with amazing stops from point blank range. As was the case with Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk on Friday night, I doubt St. Louis had a restful night's sleep last night with images of Ward in the crease still lingering. The win and its 2 points moved the Canes into a tie with Florida for second place in the Southeast Division with 7 points on the young season, only 2 points off the pace currently being set by the Atlanta Thrashers.
The Canes will return to Raleigh for a couple of days of homecooking before heading back out on the road for what is sure to be another high intensity confrontation with the Buffalo Sabres Friday night (The Cane's and Sabres went to a shootout in the season opener in Raleigh). This promises to be one early season clash that you won't want to miss.
NOTES:
- Defensemen Brett Hedican and Glen Wesley each missed their second straight game with nagging injuries, but the remining defensive corp of Niclas Wallin, Mike Commodore, Tim Gleason, David Tanabe, Anton Babchuk and Andrew Hutchinson held strong and played one of the Canes most cohesive defensive games of the young season. Niclas Wallin led the Canes in ice time with nearly 25 minutes (24:49, 31 shifts).
- The Hurricanes dominated the face-off circle taking 37 of 58 draws overall (64%) and 14 of 20 in the defensive zone,
- Carolina's 3 goals in the second period were the first given up by Tampa Bay in the middle frame all year.
- Ryan Bayda and Keith Aucoin, called up from Albany to replace injured forwards Trevor Letowski and Andrew Ladd, both got their feet wet in their first NHL game of the season. Bayda logged 8:05 of ice time on 10 shifts, while Aucoin saw 5:49 of action on 7 shifts.
-Along with everything else that seems to be starting to click for the Canes, they went 3 for 8 on the power play Monday night; while their penalty kill was solid in holding the Lightning scoreless on their 5 power play opportunities.
- Turning Points: Tampa coach John Tortorella, perhaps sensing Lightning blood in the water, used his only timeout just 2:29 into the second period to try to fire up his team and put a halt to a Carolina offensive onslaught that had the Lightning on their heels seemingly as soon as they stepped out of the locker room. The result - Justin William's first goal of the season just 52 seconds later. Conversely, Cane's coach Peter Laviolette used his timeout 17:11 into the second with 3 seconds left of a 5 on 3 power play. The Canes scored their second power play goal of the evening (Justin Williams again) just 11 seconds later for a 4-0 lead going into the second intermission.
-According to the game announcers on VERSUS, Monday's game marked the first ever NHL meeting of two American-born coaches who had both won a Stanley Cup.
- Full Game Coverage:
THE NEWS & OBSERVER
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
TSN
-martin
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