By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Two weeks ago Friday, the Toronto Maple Leafs came to town tied with the Hurricanes for last place in the NHL, and the loser of the game was guaranteed to wake up the next morning in 30th place in the league standings.
Tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs come to town tied with the Hurricanes for last place in the NHL, and the loser of the game is guaranteed to wake up the next morning in 30th place in the league standings.
It's nice when life gives you a do-over, isn't it?
The Hurricanes return home from a one-game road trip Tuesday to Montreal to face a Leafs squad that was busy losing to the Ottawa Senators the same night. Neither team has played since, and the Canes enter tonight's game still without some key parts of the machine. Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Scott Walker and Joni Pitkanen remain on the shelf, and now Michael Leighton (groin) can be added to the roll call of the injured after leaving Tuesday's game in the second period. Manny Legace will start tonight, to be backed up by Justin Peters, he of zero career NHL games.
In other words, no one's sure what to expect tonight, so we'll just enjoy it while we can...at this point, you have to find amusement in mundane things, don't you?
Here we go...
1:01 1st: Leafs lead 1-0; Stajan 5 (unassisted) The scoreboard has already started advertising the next Canes' college night. That doesn't mean good things for the home team. Joe Corvo was unable to clear the puck, bobbling it and giving it directly to Matt Stajan, who beat Manny Legace to give the Leafs the lead. That's the second time in recent history Corvo has turned the puck over and immediately led to a goal; these things don't sit well with the home fans, especially early in the game.
4:20 1st: Corvo tried to make up for his gaffe as a power play expired, firing a puck to the front of the net where three Canes were camped out, but the puck got stuck in all of their skates and the Leafs were able to clear without a problem.
6:00 1st: The first sustained applause of the night from the home crowd as the Canes did yeoman's work killing a Bryan Rodney hooking penalty, and the Canes had the best chance of the power play for either team as Tom Kostopoulos' shot bounced off the pads of Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson and right to Matt Cullen in the high slot, who whiffed on what would have been a near-certain goal.
8:25 1st: We're not even halfway into the first period yet, and Manny Leace has already earned his battle stripes tonight. A couple of bang-bang stops on Phil Kessel and Alexei Ponikarovsky kept it a one-goal game, on a play where the two Leafs snipers inexplicably got behind the Canes' defense while no one in red seemed to notice.
9:15 1st: Andrew Alberts beats Gustavsson but not the near-side post on the Canes' best shift of the night. Here's hoping that isn't a harbinger of things to come.
11:30 1st: Brandon Sutter sees Christmas a few weeks early in front of the Leafs' goal, and centers to Ray Whitney who's unchecked fifteen feet from the net...but the puck goes behind Whitney, and despite his best efforts he doesn't manage to get a shot off. That's indicative of how the Canes have played the first period to this point, unfortunately for the home crowd.
14:21 1st: Leafs lead by 2; Stempniak 5 (Kulemin, Mitchell) And, fittingly, after about five minutes where the Canes had scoring chance after scoring chance but couldn't convert, they find themselves down by two after Lee Stempniak takes a harmless-looking laser beam of a shot from the top of the near circle and beats Legace high to the stick side. Legace can't really blame anyone for that shot, as it was a perfectly-placed shot that beat the goaltender even though he (appropriately) came out to challenge the shooter. Not much anyone could do about that.
18:26 1st: Leafs lead 3-0; Grabovski 4 (Blake, Hagman) The Canes' defense has seen better days. Bryan Rodney turned the puck overin the low slot right to Jason Blake, who fired a quick shot that Legace kicked out...right to Mikhail Grabovski, who fired it home into an empty cage. It's the Leafs' second three-goal lead of the season, and they're in complete control of the game to this stage.
End 1st: The Canes were serenaded off the ice with some mild booing from the crowd. Given how they played in that period, they can be glad it wasn't louder. Shots in the first were 17-11 Leafs, who look every part of a team that's up by three goals after one.
2:05 2nd: Tom Kostopoulos came within a few inches of his second shorthanded goal of the season, as he and Matt Cullen drove the net hard and forced Gustavsson to the ice, giving Kostopoulos plenty of real estate with which to operate. He was never able to corral the puck, though, allowing the Leafs to clear the zone with no harm done.
4:55 2nd: The Canes come within an inch of converting on their second power play of the night, but Brandon Sutter's tip in front of Gustavsson just grazes the outside of the far post and keeps the game scoreless.
9:18 2nd: If it seems like we haven't said a lot, that's because there's not been much to say. The Canes look inept, the Leafs look only slightly less so, and we're halfway to the end of this game. Next?
14:25 2nd: Seriously...can I have something to write about? Anything? This looks like a scrimmage at your local rink at 6 AM rather than an NHL game. No passion, no interest from either side, and not much for the paying customers to get excited about. Yawn.
16:47 2nd: Canes get on the board; Yelle 1 (LaRose, Ward) That's the definition of a dirty goal right there. Gustavsson stopped Chad LaRose's shot from the low slot, but the puck got behind him and he never realized it, and the puck lay in the crease for a couple of seconds before Stephane Yelle raced down from the near point and pool-cued the puck into the net before Gustavsson realized he didn't have the puck. At this point the Canes will take what they can get...
17:30 2nd: Canes pull to within 1; Cullen 4 (Ruutu, Jokinen) ...and they got another one less than a minute later. The puck was nearly lost again by Gustavsson, who looks obviously frazzled (and caused his coach, Ron Wilson, to call timeout after the goal) and Tuomo Ruutu cleaned up the garbage, skating behind the net and dishing it off to Matt Cullen. Cullen's shot from a shallow angle made it over Gustavsson's glove and barely hit the top shelf of the net, pulling the Canes to within 3-2 and, amazingly, giving them hope in a game they had no interest in for the better part of forty minutes.
End 2nd: Good end to the period. Can't say the same for the first 15 minutes of the period, but somehow the Canes managed a 17-4 shot differential in the second, giving them a fighting chance in a game they looked completely lost in for most of it. Shots in the game are 28-21 Carolina.
1:33 3rd: Gustavsson came up big with a huge glove save on Sergei Samsonov, who had a cannon blast off a one-time at the top of the near circle. Nice shot, better save.
3:25 3rd: Erik Cole takes exception with Ian White's low check as Cole entered the zone and the two get into a fight in front of the Toronto goal. Unquestioned decision to White, made worse by Cole's taking a cross-checking penalty to boot...
3:43 3rd: Leafs lead 4-2; Ponikarovsky 8 (Kaberle, Gustavsson) ...which leads to the Leafs re-establishing a two-goal lead. Tomas Kaberle started a breakout with a pass to Alexei Ponikarovsky in front of the Canes' bench, and Ponikarovsky skated right past Joe Corvo (not exactly a banner night for #77) and backhanded a shot over Legace's glove befoer the goaltender had a chance to react. Not really a shining exhibit of penalty killing...
8:08 3rd: Canes pull back to within one; Gleason 3 (Cullen, Ruutu) Not much to dissect here. Cullen feeds Tim Gleason at the left point, Gleason gets it all on the one timer, and it blasts past Gustavsson. Easy enough to understand, right?
8:51 3rd: Gut check time for the Canes' power play. Tom Kostopoulos is cut by an Ian White high-stick, giving the Canes a four-minute power play that they desperately need to convert on...
11:56 3rd: Canes tie it at 4; Gleason 4 (Sutter, Ruutu) Brandon Sutter might need to avail himself to the services of a local real estate agent. He sees the ice better than just about anyone on the Canes' roster, and a beautiful setup to Tim Gleason gives the defenseman his second of the night and ties the game for the Hurricanes. Sutter parked himself in the far corner and drew two Leafs to him, allowing Gleason to sneak down from the left point and one-time home an untouched pass from Sutter across the low slot. They don't get much better than that.
16:10 3rd: LaRose nearly puts the Canes ahead as he had an uncontested breakaway on Gustavsson, but the puck bounced on him just enough that he couldn't get a shot off.
End 3rd: OK, so I missed a bit of stuff. (Clearly.) With 30 seconds to go, the referee sets a screen behind the Canes' net and Nic Wallin is the unlucky goat, as he's unable to get around and stop Ian White's attempt at giving the Leafs the lead off a turnover. The fans head for the exits, but with just 2.9 seconds to go Erik Cole ties the game off a rebound of a Tuomo Ruutu shot, Ruutu's fourth point of the game.
And then...
Postgame: ...Ruutu gives the Canes the win by scoring first in the shootout, and the Canes win the shootout 2-0 behind goals from Ruutu and Jussi Jokinen, beating the Leafs 6-5 in one of the most unlikely results you'll ever see in the NHL. The Canes' four straight overtime games is a franchise record, and they now have points in four straight games, pulling them out of the standings basement and giving them some momentum headed into a Saturday showdown with Tampa Bay at the RBC Center.
Click for postgame audio from Tuomo Ruutu, Tim Gleason and Erik Cole. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.
We'll be back Saturday night as the Lightning come to town, but now we're headed to the Sunset Grille to hang out with Tripp Tracy. Join us, won't you?
Thursday, November 19, 2009
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