By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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The schedule says this is just another game, number 81 out of 1,230 on the NHL docket to be played before the end of the season in early April.
The players say this is just another game, that every game has two points on the line and that they need to do whatever they can to get those two points no matter the opponent.
So is this just another game? Don't think so.
The Pittsburgh Penguins come to town for the first time this year, and it's our first look at the team since they blew the doors off the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final last year, outscoring the Canes 20-9 en route to a four-game sweep of the Canes and an eventual Stanley Cup. It was a humbling series for the Canes, who were gassed after winning two thrilling seven-game series in the first two rounds and didn't put up much of a fight for the Penguins in the third.
Tonight will be our first look at a rebuilt Penguins blue line. Their top shutdown pair from last year, Rob Scuderi (LA) and Hal Gill (Montreal), have moved onto greener pastures, and the replacements (Alex Goligoski, Mark Eaton, Jay McKee) don't exactly inspire a ton of confidence. That said, the Canes still have to contend with a couple of guys named Crosby and Malkin, who simply ate Carolina's defense alive in last year's playoffs and who have led the Penguins to a 5-1 record so far this season.
These games never fail to entertain, and by the end of the night we should have a good idea of just how well the Canes stack up against the NHL's elite.
By the way, for the sake of argument later: Taylor is in the building tonight. Last year when he was here, the Canes went something like 1-43984. Here's hoping the Canes can, um, improve on that record tonight. (And if they don't, you know who to blame.)
Here we go...
Pregame (TZ): Brian where on earth are the people? This is Pittsburgh for crying out loud. Oh yeah, its hockey in Raleigh in October. So what am I doing here? (BL: No idea. I was wondering the same thing, in fact.)
4:52 1st: The Hurricanes own the ice so far tonight, outshooting the Pens 6-1 but with nothing to show for it. Gotta hope that some of these chances start dropping for them, because you know that the Penguins will wake up offensively before too much longer.
7:20 1st: The Pens woke up, and nearly put one past Cam Ward. Canes are getting beat along the boards in their defensive zone. Time to hunker down.
9:31 1st: A solid cycling shift by the Penguins' fourth line gives the Canes fits and nearly gives the Penguins the lead. Ward covered for a much-needed whistle, but it's about time for the defense to show up.
10:05 1st: Brooks Orpik trips Tuomo Ruutu behind the Penguins' net, with no call because Orpik got the puck before he hit Ruutu...but it didn't stop the home fans from booing one of their favorite scapegoats.
12:10 1st: Canes keep trying the cross-ice pass, and it keeps not working. Either it gets blocked, or it's out of the receiving player's reach, or something. It seems like they're trying the same play over and over again...time to mix it up a bit.
13:35 1st: Ruutu just freight-trained Kris Letang in the far corner. That got the crowd into it, and gave the Canes some solid offensive pressure for the first time since early in the game...
14:24 1st: Penguins lead 1-0; Rupp 1 (Malkin, Goligoski) ...but the Penguins quickly take advantage of a Chad LaRose miscue in the neutral zone. LaRose got caught and the puck bounced straight to Evgeni Malkin, who fed Michael Rupp to start a two-on-one. Rupp used Malkin as a decoy and drew Ward down, firing a perfectly-placed backhand high over Ward's glove into the net to give the Penguins the lead.
16:45 1st (TZ): That's the difference between the Pens organ-eye-zation and everyone else. You better capitalize in their zone or they will cut your heart out quickly. (BL: This is your fault.)
End 1st: After a good early start, the Canes looked deflated after the Rupp goal. The Penguins, on the other hand, looked energized and nearly potted a second with under a minute to go. Despite being outshot 7-1 through eight minutes, the Penguins eventually outshot the Canes 9-8 in the period, reflecting how thoroughly they outplayed Carolina late in the period.
2:26 2nd: Near-disaster for the Canes as the puck jumps over Jay Harrison's stick and gives Tyler Kennedy a breakaway from the red line in. Ward made a big save, but those are the types of breaks that went against the Canes in every game last year in the EC final.
4:27 2nd: 2-0 Penguins; Malkin 3 (Dupuis, Kunitz) Not much Cam could do there. Pascal Dupuis played catch with Evgeni Malkin and Malkin fired a one-timer high over Ward's glove where there was no more than an inch of daylight. Frustrating, yet completely believable.
6:26 2nd: Yet again, the Canes come close, but a great defensive play by Sergei Gonchar prevents Eric Staal from firing home a shot into an empty net with Fleury out to lunch at the side of the net.
6:26 2nd (TZ): Unless Cam stands on his head the Canes aren't going to beat Pittsburgh. Not tonight. Not ever. Ruth and Gehrig, I mean Malkin and Crosby are too talented. Sorry but you know its true. We're going to look back 20 years from now and say that we saw one of the best combinations in the history of hockey. (BL: Ruth and Gehrig coming from a Sox fan? It's gonna be a long night, puckheads.)
8:47 2nd: Rod Brind'Amour and Sidney Crosby start giving each other what for in front of the Canes' net, and Crosby throws a punch at Brind'Amour, giving the Canes the first power play of the game.
8:59 2nd: A mere eleven seconds after the Canes power play starts, it ends abruptly on a Tuomo Ruutu hooking penalty just after Staal shot the puck a couple of inches wide of Fleury, the Canes' first good scoring chance of the period and the first one since early in the first period.
11:09 2nd: Sarah Palin just won a gift card to Harris Teeter. Seriously. And if it's not her, it's her twin, and I am not joking when I say that.
16:51 2nd: The Canes finally get a nearly-full power play, and proceed to do nothing with it. Now Stephane Yelle heads to the penalty box for two minutes or less for high-sticking Malkin. It just keeps getting better.
19:10 2nd: Marc-Andre Fleury hasn't been asked to do much tonight, but he's been in good control of the puck and hasn't had any misadventures save the one scoring chance earlier in the 2nd. His defensemen have been very active in front of the net, helping his cause.
End 2nd: Second verse, same as the first. No real surprise that the Canes are trailing, but this game pretty much looks like it's going to the script that was followed last year in the playoffs. Shots were 14-10 Penguins in the 2nd, for an overall lead of 23-18.
:45 3rd: Yelled from the upper deck to no one in particular: "Wake up, boys! Stop playing like a bunch of girls!" Minus the over-the-top hyperbole, I think he might be on the right path. The Canes look disinterested, to say the least, but then again the Penguins make teams look like this.
3:00 3rd: Tom Kostopoulos swung and missed on a wide-open net as a rebound bounced off Fleury's pads and right to him. If it wasn't for bad luck...
4:25 3rd: Canes trail 2-1; Whitney 3 (Ruutu, Corvo) Finally, a break goes the Canes' way. Tuomo Ruutu took a harmless-looking shot off the near boards and it was redirected by Ray Whitney right on goal. Fleury got most of it, but the puck had just enough momentum to squeak through his pads and into the net, pulling the Canes to within a goal.
5:29 3rd: The game should be 3-1 now. There is no earthly way that Cam Ward should have made a save on Bill Guerin. The Canes left Guerin completely unmarked at the near post and somehow Ward sprawled to make an incredible glove save that left even referee Francois St.-Laurent giving Ward some kudos. Go look it up on NHL.com after the game; that will be a candidate for the save of the year even in April.
TZ: That was incredible. Cam Ward is like Pedro was in the late 90's. Nobody is better. There's your SOX reference. (BL: You're so predictable.)
10:04 3rd: Canes tie the game at 2; Whitney 3 (Gleason, Ruutu) The Wizard has his second of the night on a gorgeous tip of a Tim Gleason point shot. Tuomo Ruutu took the original shot from the far boards, and the puck bounced off Fleury's pads to Gleason. Gleason's low wrister was tipped upstairs by Whitney over Fleury's glove, and the Canes capitalize on Ward's incredible save to knot the game at 2.
13:04 3rd (TZ): I love the Wizard. If the Canes pull this off it would be a big momentum builder. (BL: Yes it would, and they are playing some inspired hockey right now. This is the best they've looked all game, and they're toying with the Pens in the offensive zone at the moment. This is incredible to watch...and now they've drawn a penalty.)
14:10 3rd: Eric Staal shot the puck high with Fleury down. Shame...that was Staal's best chance of the night.
16:19 3rd: The Canes will be killing a penalty for over half of the remaining time in the game (at least, they hope they will be killing a penalty for that long). Aaron Ward is the guilty party, high-sticking Kris Letang along the near boards.
17:05 3rd: One too many passes for the Penguins. Malkin could have scored, but he passed the puck instead, giving Ward enough time to get over and stop the shot.
End 3rd: The Penguins got a ton of pressure late in the period off the power play, but nothing doing thanks to some solid defensive work. Whitney had a chance for the hat trick, but his shot was blocked. Shots in the third were 11-10 Penguins, who led overall 34-28.
:38 OT: Ward with highway robbery courtesy of the glove on Malkin. Wow.
TZ: Why does every game I come to go to overtime? Do they know how sleep deprived I am?
The Canes rallying down 0-2 to the champs, and worst case getting a point, is a real positive.
2:22 OT: The Penguins have shot themselves in the foot twice going offside on odd-man rushes...
End OT: Off to a shootout. Shots in overtime were 4-0 Penguins, and it's a wonder the Canes even made it to the shootout.
Shootout: It went to six rounds (and was covered exclusively on Twitter), but Chris Kunitz snuck the sixth Pittsburgh shot through Cam Ward's five-hole to give the Penguins the victory 3-2.
Postgame: Paul Maurice said that this was the Canes' most complete effort of the year, and I can't disagree. It might not have been the prettiest game, but it says a lot about the Canes' resiliency that they were able to battle back from being down 2-0 to the defending Stanley Cup champions and gain a point out of it. They'd like to have two, but given the circumstances they'll take one with no complaints.
Ray Whitney's first goal gave him 100 for his Canes career, the most goals he's scored with one franchise in his career. He made a great point about having some good linemates to help feed him the puck, but his strength is clearly in playmaking and it says a lot that he's been able to hit the century mark in four-plus seasons in Raleigh.
Click for audio from Jussi Jokinen, Cam Ward and the aforementioned Ray Whitney. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Live Blog is off for the next couple of weeks, as the Canes hit the road for four straight to avoid the State Fair. The team next skates on Saturday in New Jersey, and they return home Wednesday, October 28 to face the St. Louis Blues. We'll be back then, and probably chime in with a few columns in the meantime. Don't forget the podcast, which will feature Predators' play-by-play man Pete Weber next Monday and the one and only Tripp Tracy the week after that. 'Til then, we bid you adieu...
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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