The Hurricanes will try to keep things rolling with an afternoon matinee against Colorado today. Coming off 2 solid wins over the Islanders and Lightning, this afternoon's match up promises to be more of a challenge.
STREAKS: Colorado enters the RBC Center on a 3 game win streak with victories over Red Wings, Senators and Capitals. This streak of success comes on the heels of a 4 game losing streak for the 'Lanche. Both the Canes and the Avalanche have had up and down seasons, with both clubs struggling to develop any sort of consistency. The Avalanche enter today's game having gone 5-5 in their last 10 and 9-11 in their last 20 outings. The Canes are 6-4 in their last 10 and 10-10 in their last 20.
STANDINGS: The Canes currently sit in the 9th place slot in the Eastern Conference with 65 points (30-25-5), while the Avalanche currently occupy the cellar in the Western Conference with 57 points (28-30-1). The Canes currently sit 3 points out of a playoff slot, while the Lanche is 6 points out, but have 6 teams ahead of them.
TEAM LEADERS: Ryan Smyth leads the Avalanche in points (49) while Milan Hejduk leads in goals with 21. Ray Whitney leads the Canes with 49 points overall, while Eric Staal leads the team with 27 goals.
INJURIES: Colorado has been decimated by injuries this season. Stars Joe Sakic, Paul Stasny and John-Michael Liles have all missed significant time with a variety of ailments. Phillipe Dupuis and David Jones are currently listed as day-to-day. The Canes are currently without the services of Justin Williams, Scott Walker and Joni Pitkanen, though Pitkanen could return to the ice this afternoon.
Let's go Canes!
-m
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Just what the doctor ordered?
Let's just say you are an NHL franchise just outside of the playoff picture having just lost 3 very important games at home by a combined score of 15-2. Your confidence is reeling and you have suddenly lost any sort of identity as a team. What might be the subscription to cure your ills?
How about back-to-back games against the Islanders and Lightning?
Yeah, that seems to be the ticket.
Having come off a 6-2 pasting of the Islanders on Long Island Thursday night, the Hurricanes followed up with a 4-1 win over the hapless Tampa Bay Lightning Friday night in front of what could have only been a anxious crowd at the RBC Center.
The Canes played a solid game overall, but did have some obvious trouble moving the puck out of their own zone at times. This team seems to pull the string a bit on way too many passes on home ices - cross ice passes to defensemen who apparently aren't even looking at the play, a lot of pucks in skates and turnovers at the blueline. BUt on this night, after some shaky moments that were enough to make this Caniac cringe, the home team was able to put the game away in the third period and continue to climb in the Eastern Conference points race.
Joe Corvo iced the game in the third with two goals 39 seconds apart, to give the Canes a 4-1 lead. Both goals came with the Canes enjoying a 5-on-3 powerplay.
Eric Staal got the scoring started mid way through the first period with his 27th goal of the season. It was Staal's 4th goal in his last 4 games, but his first on home ice since January 29th, which just so happened to be the game winner in a 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay.
The Lightning only managed to generate one shot on goal in the first period. But they did get a tying marker early in the second when Vaclav Prospal found the back of the net to make the score 1-1, and the RBC Center grew tense once again.
But what turned out to be the game winning goal came from former Lightning Jussi Jokinen at 14:30 of the second. The tally was Jokinen's first goal for the Hurricanes after being acquired in a trade with Tampa Bay on Feb 7th. Rod Brind'Amour forced a turnover deep in the Lightning zone and was credited with an assist on the game winning goal, his first point since Jan 27th.
Corvo's two goals in the third then put the game out of reach.
Tampa Bay managed only 13 shots on goal for the entire game, and their star forwards Martin St. Louis and Vinnie Lecavalier were kept off the score sheet entirely.
Sergei Samsonov picked up two assists, giving him 5 helpers in his last two games.
Ray Whitney also scored two assists for the Hurricanes.
Next up is what promises to be a sterner test against the Colorado Avalanche at 3pm on Sunday at the RBC Center. Colorado will come into town on a 3 game winning streak, including a 4-1 victory over the Capitals on Friday night in DC.
-m
Friday, February 20, 2009
Jekyll or Hyde?
Hockey Night in Carolina: Hurricanes vs Tampa Bay
Most of Caniac Nation is probably wondering which Hurricanes team will show up at the RBC Center tonight:
The team that has won its last 4 road games by an aggregate score of 20-7?
Or the team that has lost it's last 3 homes games (in front of sellout crowds) by a combined score of 15-2?
Tonight's game is the back end of a back-to-back, with the Canes winning 6-2 over the Islanders on the road last night. Tampa Bay is also coming off a game last night - losing at home 3-2 to New Jersey in a shootout. The Canes are 6-4 in their last 10 games while the Lightning are 2-8 in their last 10. The Canes have won 5 straight over the 'Ning, including all 4 meetings this season (all 4 by a single goal). The Canes are also 8-2 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.
The Canes's Jekyll and Hyde act over the last few weeks has been frustrating at best. Road wins over San Jose, Phoenix, Buffalo and NY Islanders have featured a physical, aggressive forecheck along with a solid defense from the goalie out. The three home loses (Florida, Columbus and Boston) have been marked by stretches of inconsistent or even passive offensive effort and a defense that wilts under the pressure of other teams' forecheck and puck possession.
Let's hope the Canes can turn their fortunes around on home ice tonight against a team that is currently 13 points behind them in the Eastern Conference standings. The Canes are battling for a playoff berth (currently 3 points out of 8th place) while the Lightning are once again jockeying for a top draft pick.
This is game 2 in a 6 game stretch against 5 teams who are currently out of the playoff picture and one against Buffalo, one of the teams Carolina is dueling with for a final playoff spot. This is the time for the Canes to go on the sort of multiple game winning streak that has eluded them thus far this season. 8-10 points out of these 6 games is probably essential of the Canes are to be a factor in March & April, where the schedule get tougher. This stretch against non-playoff teams also coincides with a stretch where Florida is facing off against division leaders. The time to make up points is now.
Bottom line, if this team is to have a serious shot at the playoffs that need to beat the teams they are supposed to beat, they have to play winning hockey at home, and they will need to steal a few points somewhere along the way. It's a game to game journey where every night and every point is at a premium.
The rest of the season starts tonight.
So that makes this the biggest game of the season so far.
Go Canes!
-m
Friday, February 06, 2009
Canes Rally to Tank the Sharks!!
Coming off a heart-wrenching loss to Vancouver on Tuesday night, the Hurricanes faced a stern test Thursday night at the Shark Tank in San Jose. Captain Rod Brind A'mour was back in Raleigh with a "lower body injury", rumored to be a groin. Jakub Petruzalek got the call up from Albany for his 1st NHL game. Michael Leighton got the start in goal for the first time in 17 games (a bit of a surprise move if you ask me). The Sharks were in a foul mood coming off a rare home loss. Not exactly the recipe for success if you are a Hurricanes fan.
But the Canes played a gritty hard nosed road game, keeping things simple and coming away with an unlikely 4-3 shoot out win over one of the NHL's top teams. The Canes came back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 in the second period, and played the entire third period without Eric Staal ("lower body injury") to force overtime. After a scoreless five minutes of overtime, Tuomo Ruutu and Sergei Samsonov tallied for the Hurricanes while Michael Leighton stopped 2 of 3 from the Sharks. A tremendous win for the Canes, picking up 2 points to stay just one point behind the Florida Panthers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern conference.
The Sharks led 1-0 after the first period on a goal by Ryane Clowe at the 12:33 mark.
It was a hard fought first period from both teams as the Sharks came out strong, and the Hurricanes tried to keep things simple and clamp down on defense. Leighton was challenged early but stood his ground well, showing little rust from more than month of bench time. The Canes seemed to get their legs around the 10 minute mark of the first, and even though they trailed heading into the first intermission, the men in the white sweaters had to feel good about their overall effort.
San Jose grabbed the momentum early in the second on a goal by Alexi Semenov at the 3:10 mark. It was Semenov's first goal in 46 games - deflecting off Anton Babchuk at the top of the circle and catching Leighton leaning the wrong way. Things did not look too good for the road team at this point. But Matt Cullen got the scoring started on a penalty shot 5 minutes into the period to give the Cane's life. Marc-Edouard Vlasic extended Sharks' lead to 3-1 with a power play goal less than 3 minutes later. Still the Canes would not go away. At the 14:50 mark of the second, Sergei Samsonov found the back of the net off of a great hustle play and beautiful feed from Petruzalek to make it a game again heading into the third. The assist was Petruzalek's first NHL point.
Both teams played it pretty close to the vest early in the third, with the Canes shuffling lines to make up for the loss of Staal. Seven and half minutes into the third Matt Cullen struck again, this time with a dazzling feed to Ray Whitney. Whitney tied the score with his 17th goal of the season.
From there both teams had chances, with Sharks' goalie Evgeni Nabakov making at least 3 stellar saves and the Canes defense playing strong in front of Leighton with several key blocked shots, helping keep the high powered San Jose offense off the board in the period.
Overall a gritty, hard fought team win. One that was sorely needed after the point given away in Vancouver. On this night the Cane's secured that point and then were able to steal a 2nd point in the shootout. Now they head into Phoenix on Saturday night against a Coyotes team that has lost 5 straight and will have the opportunity to salvage a key road trip that got off to a brutal start. The team showed character and drive to step up and take two points from a team the caliber of the Sharks. Let's hope that Staal's injury is not serious (John Forsland commented during the broadcast that Staal wanted to come out for the third, but the team sat him as a precaution) and the Hurricanes can harness a little momentum and bring it back home to Carolina.
-m
But the Canes played a gritty hard nosed road game, keeping things simple and coming away with an unlikely 4-3 shoot out win over one of the NHL's top teams. The Canes came back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 in the second period, and played the entire third period without Eric Staal ("lower body injury") to force overtime. After a scoreless five minutes of overtime, Tuomo Ruutu and Sergei Samsonov tallied for the Hurricanes while Michael Leighton stopped 2 of 3 from the Sharks. A tremendous win for the Canes, picking up 2 points to stay just one point behind the Florida Panthers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern conference.
The Sharks led 1-0 after the first period on a goal by Ryane Clowe at the 12:33 mark.
It was a hard fought first period from both teams as the Sharks came out strong, and the Hurricanes tried to keep things simple and clamp down on defense. Leighton was challenged early but stood his ground well, showing little rust from more than month of bench time. The Canes seemed to get their legs around the 10 minute mark of the first, and even though they trailed heading into the first intermission, the men in the white sweaters had to feel good about their overall effort.
San Jose grabbed the momentum early in the second on a goal by Alexi Semenov at the 3:10 mark. It was Semenov's first goal in 46 games - deflecting off Anton Babchuk at the top of the circle and catching Leighton leaning the wrong way. Things did not look too good for the road team at this point. But Matt Cullen got the scoring started on a penalty shot 5 minutes into the period to give the Cane's life. Marc-Edouard Vlasic extended Sharks' lead to 3-1 with a power play goal less than 3 minutes later. Still the Canes would not go away. At the 14:50 mark of the second, Sergei Samsonov found the back of the net off of a great hustle play and beautiful feed from Petruzalek to make it a game again heading into the third. The assist was Petruzalek's first NHL point.
Both teams played it pretty close to the vest early in the third, with the Canes shuffling lines to make up for the loss of Staal. Seven and half minutes into the third Matt Cullen struck again, this time with a dazzling feed to Ray Whitney. Whitney tied the score with his 17th goal of the season.
From there both teams had chances, with Sharks' goalie Evgeni Nabakov making at least 3 stellar saves and the Canes defense playing strong in front of Leighton with several key blocked shots, helping keep the high powered San Jose offense off the board in the period.
Overall a gritty, hard fought team win. One that was sorely needed after the point given away in Vancouver. On this night the Cane's secured that point and then were able to steal a 2nd point in the shootout. Now they head into Phoenix on Saturday night against a Coyotes team that has lost 5 straight and will have the opportunity to salvage a key road trip that got off to a brutal start. The team showed character and drive to step up and take two points from a team the caliber of the Sharks. Let's hope that Staal's injury is not serious (John Forsland commented during the broadcast that Staal wanted to come out for the third, but the team sat him as a precaution) and the Hurricanes can harness a little momentum and bring it back home to Carolina.
-m
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