By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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The Canes continue the home cookin' before the State Fair road trip, welcoming the world-traveling Florida Panthers to the RBC Center tonight. The Panthers return to the States after splitting a pair with the Chicago Blackhawks in Helsinki last weekend, so the Canes will hope to capitalize on what could be some tired Panthers legs, especially in the early going.
Paul Maurice's pronouncements to the contrary, Joni Pitkanen's knee is not fine, and he will miss his second game of the season tonight. Jay Harrison will be back in the Canes' lineup in Pitkanen's place, paired with Andrew Alberts on the third pairing. For the Panthers, there are no significant injuries, but there's still a big hole in their lineup, with Jay Bouwmeester gone to Calgary as a free agent. Tonight will be our first look at the new-look Panthers, and it's still an open question what kind of team they will be without their #1 defenseman from last year; they obviously have some skill in splitting a pair with a Western Conference power, but the Canes will need to take advantage of the ridiculous amounts of mileage the Panthers have racked up lately to put two more points in the can against another division opponent.
It's Hockey Fights Cancer night at the RBC, meaning (among other things) some really stylish pink ties behind the bench and Julie Walker, wife of Scott and cervical cancer survivor, sounding the siren tonight. It's always nice to see the NHL do this every year. (Incidentally, the Canes are wearing their black third jerseys for the first time this year as well.)
And away we go...
:29 1st: It didn't take long for the Panthers to put a scoring chance together. Nathan Horton was left alone behind the Canes' net and skated unmolested out to the bottom of the near circle. A really dangerous play, but Cam Ward was up to the task and kept the game scoreless.
1:45 1st: The Canes get their first good chance, with Chad LaRose's attempt to stuff the puck into the net snuffed out by Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun's pads.
4:15 1st: While on a power play, some relentless backchecking by Joe Corvo broke up what would have been an almost sure goal by Rostislav Olesz. Olesz intercepted a pass and skated in on a breakaway, drawing Cam Ward to the ice while keeping the puck on his stick, but a split second before Olesz could tap the puck into the open net Corvo tugged Olesz's stick and prevented him from getting a shot off, while avoiding taking a hooking penalty. Heck of a play by Corvo, and given the timing a really key move to make.
7:00 1st: Carolina leads 1-0; Kostopoulos 1 (unassisted) (sh) Last year, it took the Hurricanes until January to score a shorthanded goal. This year, Tom Kostopoulos gets the Canes in the shorty column only four games in. Kostopolous swiped the puck from Bryan McCabe in the slot and stickhandled around Vokoun, who made the initial save but couldn't keep Kostopoulos from poking the puck into the net on the second opportunity.
10:20 1st: Carolina leads 2-0; Ruutu 1 (Samsonov, Gleason) For the first time this year, the Canes are playing with a two-goal lead. Tuomo Ruutu somehow got behind the Panthers' defense and Sergei Samsonov found him sneaking up the ice with a perfectly placed pass that gave Ruutu a breakaway from the red line. Ruutu made no mistake, taking a bullet of a top-shelf wrister from the high slot that went high over Vokoun's stick and gave the Canes a 2-0 lead.
14:09 1st: On a two-man advantage, the Canes caught a huge break when Dennis Seidenberg's stick broke, leaving the Panthers down to only two defenders with sticks. The Panthers managed to get the puck out of the zone, but just barely, denying the Canes a golden opportunity while up by two men.
17:05 1st: Carolina leads 3-0; Jokinen 2 (unassisted) Something tells me this might not be the Panthers' night. Vokoun got his wires crossed with Dmitry Kulikov behind the Panthers' net on a dump-in, and Jussi Jokinen was the lucky beneficiary of a puck on a silver platter and a wide-open net, corraling it and tapping it home with no real competition to put the Canes up by 3. This is the best the Canes have looked to this point in the season, and it's an impressive show of force by the Canes forcing turnovers and carrying the play for long stretches.
End 1st: Late in the period, David Booth and Stephen Weiss both had uncontested shots on Ward, but Booth's was stopped and Weiss' trickled just wide of the net. The Canes have looked every bit the part of a team that's up by three goals, outshooting the Panthers 16-6 in the period.
3:40 2nd: The Canes got their chance with a two-man advantage; now it's the Panthers' turn as Matt Cullen goes to the box with an accidental slash on Steve Reinprecht in front of the Panthers bench...
4:22 2nd: ...and the Canes kill the two-man portion of the power play with some solid glove work by Cam Ward and great pressure to the puck by his non-brother Aaron.
5:45 2nd: Canes dodge a bullet as a redirection at the side of the net bounces off Michael Frolik's pads and just wide of the net, on a side where Ward hadn't gotten back to yet. It's a rather small crowd tonight, but they gave their team a loud ovation after killing off both penalties.
6:32 2nd: It would be appropriate if Scott Walker scored a goal on Hockey Fights Cancer night, and he sure came close with about five whacks at the puck from just outside the crease. Vokoun had to work to cover the puck, because Walker wasn't giving any quarter in front of the net.
8:50 2nd: Great save by Ward on Frolik near the end of a four-on-four, with Frolik bearing down on a partial breakaway and Andrew Alberts racing back to cover the shooter. Frolik still managed to get a snap shot off, but it was blockered down by Ward, who hasn't really been tested much tonight but has been up to the task when needed.
10:55 2nd: Just in case you forgot that Tim Conboy is in the lineup for this game, Dmitry Kulikov will politely remind you of his presence after he was destroyed in front of the far boards by a thundering hip check.
11:45 2nd: You get the feeling that the Panthers will need to get a break to get on the scoreboard, and they almost got it on a friendly bounce off Aaron Ward's skate in the crease. Ward recovered in time to swipe the puck out of harm's way before it got to the goal line.
12:40 2nd: You can forgive Eric Staal if he is already getting tired of seeing Keith Ballard. The Panthers' defenseman is playing extra chippy with the Canes' superstar, standing him up at the blue line then, on the same shift, knocking him to the ice at the conclusion of a play.
13:30 2nd: Carolina leads 4-0; Whitney 1 (Wallin, Cullen) The Canes are two-for-two on breakaways tonight. A heads-up play by Nic Wallin at the Canes' blue line found Whitney behind the Panthers' defense, and Wallin's pass made no mistake in springing Whitney for a breakaway from the blue line. Kulikov was headed for a penalty and perhaps a penalty shot on the play, but Whitney didn't mind, sliding the puck through Vokoun's five-hole and giving the Canes a four-goal lead.
16:41 2nd: Carolina leads 4-1; Matthias 1 (Leopold, Koistinen) The good fortune ran out for Ward as he couldn't cover the puck out of a scrum in front of the net and Shawn Matthias took advantage, firing home a shot high to Ward's glove side after multiple rebounds to pull the Panthers to within three.
19:25 2nd: Cam Ward made his money for the night on two spectacular saves, robbing Stephen Weiss on an acrobatic windmill kick save then denying Weiss again from the opposite side with a quick glove save to keep the Canes up by 3.
End 2nd: The Canes were gripping their sticks a bit too tightly after Matthias' goal, giving the Panthers too much room to work with in the offensive zone. They can't get complacent, even up by three goals, because the Panthers have some firepower and they can't expect Ward to keep bailing them out. Shots in the period were 15-9 Panthers, and the Canes lead overall 25-22.
1:32 3rd: Carolina leads 5-1; Cullen 1 (Ruutu) Tomas Vokoun's night is done after giving up a laser beam of a shot to Matt Cullen. Cullen's shot off a Tuomo Ruutu pass from the top of the left circle blasted past Vokoun and ricocheted off the far post into the net to re-establish a four-goal lead. With Vokoun pulled, the Panthers turn to Alexander Salak, who makes his NHL debut in mop-up duty tonight.
6:50 3rd: You get a sense that the Canes will need to play the rest of this game with their heads on swivels. The Panthers are all but down and out, and they'll be coming with everything they have to make the final thirteen minutes as unpleasant for the Canes as they possibly can.
8:15 3rd: Niclas Wallin came perilously close to giving the Panthers a penalty shot, as he gloved the puck out of harm's way while standing in the crease with the Panthers swarming all around the net. The officials ruled that Wallin did not close his hand on the puck, which would have resulted in an automatic penalty shot for the Panthers.
11:00 3rd: It's well past the time in his career when Nic Wallin would have these types of games on a regular basis, but he's had a solid game on the Canes blue line tonight. He's had contributions on both ends, both setting up the Whitney goal and some impressive defensive contributions as well. Not coincidentally, he is a plus-three tonight.
12:45 3rd: Bryan Allen is thanking whoever invented padding right now, after he took a Staal slap shot right off the lower leg with no apparent ill effects.
16:00 3rd: Canes take a 7-1 lead; Brind'Amour 1 (Jokinen, Walker) 15:14, Harrison 1 (Jokinen, Brind'Amour) 15:33 Leave it to the Canes to score twice while I'm in the elevator on the way downstairs for the postgame press avail. Rod Brind'Amour and Jay Harrison both beat Salak high to the glove side from the top of the near circle, putting the Canes up by six.
17:48 3rd: Florida pulls to within 7-2; Frolik 2 (McCabe, Reinprecht) The definition of a meaningless goal, as Frolik cleans up a rebound just as a Samsonov tripping penalty expired. It did keep the Canes' perfect penalty-killing night intact, though.
End 3rd: Sorry for the disjointed posts...it was a wild last couple of minutes. Shots in the 3rd were 8-5 Canes, who held a final advantage of 33-27.
Postgame: The story in the first two games of the season was the penalty kill, and the story in the second two is also the penalty kill. Fortunately for the Canes, the penalty kill in the last two games has been impressive, killing 13 of 14 penalties in the last two games including a perfect 6 for 6 tonight. It's shown on the scoreboard, and Matt Cullen said in the locker room that the team has really rallied around the shorthanded play, building off the momentum that they take from their penalty killers and turning it into even-strength play.
It was evident that the Canes caught a break with the Panthers still returning from their European road trip, but as they'll tell you to a man two points in October mean exactly the same as two points in March. It's hard not to look good when you score seven times, but the Canes really stood out with their play tonight. Now they need to take that momentum into Tampa, as the Lightning will look to exact revenge for their shootout loss Tuesday when the Canes come to town tomorrow night.
Click for locker room audio from Matt Cullen, Tom Kostopoulos and Jussi Jokinen. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.
After the Canes head to Tampa, they'll be back at the RBC to face the defending Stanley Cup champions when the Penguins come to town Wednesday. We'll be back then as well, and we hope you will too.
Friday, October 9, 2009
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