By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Heading into tonight's game, the Canes sport a season-high three game winning streak after splitting a home-and-home series with the Florida Panthers, taking the back half at the RBC Center Saturday night by a 3-2 score. Tonight, the New York Rangers come to town for the first time this year, featuring all-world goalie Henrik Lundqvist, league-leading goal scorer Marian Gaborik, and...well, not much else.
The Rangers find themselves out of the playoffs despite an insane run for Lundqvist over the past few weeks, and coach John Tortorella (an incendiary type on a good day) has started to bench players who you normally wouldn't expect to be in the press box. Ales Kotalik is back in the lineup, but now in the crosshairs of Tortorella's ire is defenseman Wade Redden, who is down to his last chance to stay in the NHL and avoid being sent to the minors.
Can the Canes take advantage of a team in disarray? We'll find out soon enough...
1:45 1st: The Rangers have had a couple of great scoring chances early, and Cam Ward's needed to be sharp to start the game. Their best chance came just a second ago when Enver Lisin skated through the Canes' defense and gave himself an uncontested shot that Ward kicked out to the far corner.
3:45 1st: Redden must know he's under pressure, because he just took out a whole heap of frustrations on Eric Staal, shoving him to the ice for no apparent reason.
5:27 1st: A good offensive shift ends, like many probably will tonight, in the glove of Henrik Lundqvist. Even with traffic in front of the net, a point shot from Jay Harrison was tracked right into Lundqvist's basket and put an end to any hopes the Canes had of striking first.
7:10 1st: Eric Staal had a wide-open Sergei Samsonov parked at the near goalpost but his pass flew just in front of Samsonov and stole a great chance from a 3-on-2.
7:45 1st: And a few seconds later, the Rangers failed to convert a 2-on-1 of their own when Brandon Dubinsky's shot was swallowed by a sprawling Ward. The Canes need to be careful to not get caught in a pond hockey game, because it looks like the Rangers have the wheels spinning tonight.
10:10 1st: Evidently, Marc Staal has incriminating pictures of Colin Campbell, or the NHL has decided that their vaunted Point Of Emphasis to crack down on slashing fouls is no longer a point nor worth being emphasized. Staal slashed his brother's stick out of his hand with a two-handed karate chop and got nothing other than some hearty booing from the stands.
15:30 1st: Eric Staal sure has had his share of open looks so far tonight. At some point he needs to get on the board, but it's good that he at least isn't invisible to this point.
17:00 1st: Sure seems like there have been more than six shots apiece in the period. That's what the scoreboard says, but the shots that have made it through have been high-quality chances and weren't easy saves by any stretch.
17:30 1st: Another flurry in front of Lundqvist. The Rangers' defense hasn't been real inspiring so far, but Lundqvist keeps bailing his teammates out with highlight-reel stops.
End 1st: That was an entertaining period, even without a goal going into the net (or perhaps because no goals hit paydirt). Shots in the period ended 9-8 Rangers, but the scoring chances were pretty even and very numerous on both ends.
:46 2nd: Canes lead 1-0; Samsonov 6 (Sutter, Carson) Good to see that when Lundqvist finally lost track of a rebound the Canes were parked right there to take advantage. Brett Carson's point shot wasn't swallowed up by Lundqvist, and Brandon Sutter touched the puck to Sergei Samsonov behind the net who sped around and tucked the puck inside the far post before Lundqvist could get back around to stop it.
1:14 2nd: Rangers tie the game at 1; Gaborik 25 (Dubinsky, Roszival) And just like that, Marian Gaborik does what pretty much everyone expected him to do, an excuse-me 25th goal that Cam Ward would like to have back. Brandon Dubinsky corraled a puck at the bottom of the far circle and Ward stopped it, but for some reason he was drawn way out of his net and the puck bounced right to Gaborik, who had a wide open net to shoot at.
6:30 2nd: Andrew Alberts and Sean Avery get tangled up behind the play, and neither one of them seems all that interested in letting the other up for air. Avery kept Alberts' stick held under his arm and somehow managed to skate away without a holding-the-stick penalty, although I'm not quite sure how, and he earned a chorus of boos on his way to the bench.
8:30 2nd: After over a minute in the Rangers' zone, the Canes managed precisely zero shots. Not exactly a world-beating performance there, guys.
16:14 2nd: Wondering what happened to the blog? Not much, and that's what we've been watching happen for the last few minutes. No hits, no great saves, not many shots...kind of a boring game so far this period.
17:35 2nd: Wade Redden knocking the puck into his own net with no one around him would certainly qualify as newsworthy, not to mention earn him a bus ticket to the AHL, and it very nearly happened at the side of the net a few seconds ago. Wow.
End 2nd: I'm sure I'm jinxing things by saying this, but the Canes have yet to take a penalty and begin the third period on their third power play of the game. Shots in the period were dominated by the Canes, 12-6 to take a 20-15 lead overall.
1:21 3rd: Rangers lead 2-1; Dubinsky 4 (Gaborik, Prospal) Seconds after that power play ended, Vinny Prospal stole the puck at the Canes' blue line and started a 3-on-2 with his linemates. The Canes gave them all sorts of space, and a tic-tac-toe passing play found Brandon Dubinsky wide open at the front of the net to put the puck past Ward and give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.
3:03 3rd: Eric Staal's life tonight is a litany of missed chances. His most recent one was an uncontested shot from eight feet out, but like most of his opportunities tonight the puck didn't cooperate and Staal couldn't fire a one-timer, giving Lundqvist a chance to get over and make the save.
4:20 3rd: A goal-saving move from Brandon Sutter, deflecting a shot from Erik Christensen into the near corner with Ward again out of position.
5:44 3rd: This just in: Marian Gaborik ain't half bad, when he's healthy. Gaborik cut through the Canes' defense on a power play and came flying in on Ward, who somehow stopped a shot everyone in the building figured was headed for the back of the net.
7:22 3rd: Tim Gleason gets a nice ovation at a TV timeout after a Forslund Focus. Not bad for a guy who made most fans scratch their heads and wonder "Tim who?" when he was acquired three years ago.
9:30 3rd: Andrew Alberts makes friends all over the NHL by plastering Avery into the end boards behind Cam Ward to a loud burst of applause from the home crowd.
16:05 3rd: The Canes haven't generated much since the Dubinsky goal, but Brandon Sutter came within an inch or two of tying the game on the Canes' best shift of the period.
End 3rd: Late in the period, the Canes again failed to capitalize on open shots on Lundqvist, and the game was sealed when Marc Staal fired into the empty net with 32 seconds remaining in the game. The Canes' home winning streak is snapped at 3 and they fall to 1-1 on the current homestand.
Postgame: Everyone agreed, from the players to the coaching staff to the media, that it was a night of weird bounces for the Canes. Seemingly golden opportunities, like Staal's chance early in the third period, bounced on sticks or flew a couple inches in front of their target, leading to some serious frustration. These things happen when you're the worst team in hockey, but it doesn't make the result any easier to take.
Paul Maurice said after the game that he likes the way his team is coming around, with only the game at Florida sticking in his mind as a game in which the Canes didn't compete. He compared the intensity of tonight's game to a playoff atmosphere, and it sure seemed that way as the teams were skating all over the ice and there were only four penalties called in the game. It was entertaining, but didn't turn out the way the Canes had hoped.
Click for audio from Tim Gleason, Brandon Sutter and Cam Ward. Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Canes return to the ice Wednesday night as their homestand continues against the Montreal Canadiens in the final game before a two-game break for Christmas. We'll be back at it then, and hope you'll join us...
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
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