By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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When the schedule was announced, this game didn't seem like it would be all that special. Then the unthinkable happened: the two teams, both expected to be in the upper echelon of the NHL's Eastern Conference standings, instead sank to the bottom like a rock.
And then, in the span of two weeks, one of the teams hired the other's former coach, and picked up a goalie from the other team on waivers, and suddenly this became one of the more hyped games of the year.
Peter Laviolette makes his return to the RBC Center for the first time since he was fired last December, and Michael Leighton will get the start for the Flyers in their second and final visit to Raleigh this year, eleven days after being claimed on waivers by the Flyers who were in dire straits following an injury to starter Ray Emery. It's a weird circumstance for both Leighton and his former mates, but at least the Canes are familiar with the thinking of the opposing coaching staff and they might have some inside information on the opposing goaltender.
Of course, the opposing goaltender knows a thing or two about the home team too, so who knows? The mind games will be entertaining, at least.
Here goes part one of the Laviolette/Leighton Reunion Tour...
2:15 1st: Early press box comment: "Michael Leighton looks like Michael Leighton". Which is to say, he's leaving all sorts of rebounds just out of the reach of the Canes' forwards. If this keeps up, and the Flyers don't start playing even passable defense, it could spell good things.
7:00 1st: A good start for the Staal-on-the-wing experiment. The Staal-Jokinen-Dwyer line has created a bunch of chances so far, and they've been around the net on almost every shift.
7:28 1st: The Flyers' Oskars Bartulis heads to the sin bin on a call you don't see made all that often, blocking the path of Rod Brind'Amour to chase a puck down in the neutral zone. Nice to see that the rulebook still matters every now and then.
9:20 1st: Season in a nutshell. Jussi Jokinen beats Leighton and the puck, as we've seen many times in the past, gets behind him...but a split second before it rolls into the net, Leighton recovers to pull it out just as the puck is about to cross the goal line.
9:47 1st: Flyers lead 1-0; Richards 16 (Giroux) And in another season-in-a-nutshell moment, the play comes back the other way and Mike Richards collects his own rebound in the low slot in front of Ward, batting it into the net high over Ward's stick and giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead. It would be laughable if it weren't so predictable.
10:07 1st: Darroll Powe, by all appearances, gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead, but referee Wes McCauley ruled that Powe used his fist to bunt the puck into the net, so the goal didn't stnad. That's an awful break for a Flyers team that's been all over the Canes since the Leighton save.
12:24 1st: An awkward-looking play in the near corner of the Carolina zone. Joni Pitkanen and Claude Giroux engaged just outside the boards and Giroux appeared to lose his balance, slamming hard into the boards and looking generally dazed and confused. Giroux skated off the ice on his own, and while a scrum developed around Pitkanen it seemed obvious that both teams knew this was nothing more than a freak accident.
13:55 1st: Flyers lead 2-0; Carter 13 (Hartnell, Coburn) Like the Montreal game, Cam Ward's save percentage is abysmal tonight, and he looks no less shaky than he did on Wednesday. Jeff Carter slapped a shot from 40 feet out in the slot, a hard one for sure but a shot Ward should have stopped, but instead it found the back of the Canes' cage to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead. The Flyers have scored two goals on five shots.
19:00 1st: It's never a good sign when the one-minute-to-go announcement is cheered, but alas, that's what we've heard the last two games in this building. Yikes.
19:15 1st: Matt Cullen had a great chance to put the Canes on the board, but the puck was an inch too far for him to backhand a shot over Leighton's left pad and into the net. Leighton kicked the puck out by doing a split.
End 1st: Not quite as terrible as the first period on Wednesday, but that's damning with faint praise and the Canes are still on their heels in the defensive zone. Shots in the period were 11-9 Carolina.
1:50 2nd: This game cannot possibly get more frustrating. A perfectly-played offensive shift for the Whitney-Sutter-Ruutu line sees Sutter find Ruutu with a perfect pass across the slot that Ruutu double-clutches on and never fires a shot, then Whitney has about four cracks at the net and continuously fires off the side of the cage. I mean, seriously...
5:20 2nd: The Sutter line strikes again, but Sutter can't tuck home a wraparound at the far post. They're doing everything they can, and the effort is sure nice to see after the listless play we've seen for long stretches this year, but at some point the effort simply must translate to goals.
7:46 2nd: Samsonov gets a breakaway from the blue line on a power play...and fires the puck wide. The hit parade continues.
10:15 2nd: And at the other end, Ward withstands a furious flurry of point-blank shots from the Flyers when the Canes' defense looks like it is stuck in the middle of nowhere without a map. It never ends.
13:50 2nd: Whitney fires high on an empty net, probably the fourth or fifth the Canes have had tonight. It would be laughable if it weren't so darned sad.
17:19 2nd: The puck takes a weird bounce and Danny Briere manages an uncontested shot on Ward that's turned away in sterling fashion. I've been pretty critical of Ward tonight, so I'll give credit where it's due: after the first two goals, Ward has been solid and has done his job. It would be nice if the offense would do likewise.
End 2nd: You think the Canes aren't frustrated? Tom Kostopoulos and Scott Hartnell started chirping at each other in front of the Canes' bench at the end of the period, and it wouldn't be surprisingly to see the bad blood spill over into the third period. Shots in the second were 9-7 Philadelphia, meaning that the teams are even at 18 after two.
2:17 3rd: The Flyers' top line of Scott Hartnell, Danny Briere and Jeff Carter has been giving the Canes fits all night, and they've been nearly impossible to move off the puck. At the other end, Leighton has been the serviceable fill-in we remember all too well, but the Flyers have very obviously made their own luck tonight and the Canes have yet to match.
5:35 3rd: Twice so far this period, the Canes have blasted shots from 40 feet, first Nic Wallin from the high slot then Brandon Sutter from the top of the far circle, and both times the shots have gone wide of the net. I'd say it looks like That Kind Of Night, but we've seen way, way, way too many That Kind Of Nights this season to pull out the cliche one more time.
8:20 3rd: And again, Leighton loses track of a rebound, but the Canes are unable to capitalize despite having the puck in the crease with no one on the Flyers' defense able to fish it out. Paul Maurice will be looking for a convenient brick wall after tonight's game.
9:00 3rd: Flyers lead 3-0; Briere 12 (Timonen, Pronger) (pp) The beat goes on. Danny Briere gives the Flyers a 3-0 lead after the Canes failed to clear the zone twice in ten seconds or so. Inexcusable defense, but who's surprised? I'm not.
9:24 3rd: Canes on the board, Flyers lead 3-1; Jokinen 9 (Staal, Cullen) 24 seconds later, a wild play results in the Canes finally getting a crooked number on the scoreboard. Eric Staal didn't score the goal, but his relentless drive to the net enabled Jussi Jokinen's shot to get a favorable bounce off Kimmo Timonen's skate and trickle right past Leighton in a play we've seen from him more than once over the last few years.
13:20 3rd: A great play by Joni Pitkanen and Nic Wallin, who were both trailing the play but caught up to Simon Gagne just before Gagne got a shot off on a breakaway. Neither player took a penalty, making it that much sweeter.
14:23 3rd: Whitney set up Ruutu in the crease with a perfect pass, but Leighton made a fantastic save to deny his former teammate. It did come with a cost, though; Scott Hartnell was whistled for hooking Ruutu and the Canes were handed a power play.
15:58 3rd: Canes within one, Flyers lead 3-2; Sutter 9 (Pitkanen, C. Ward) (pp) That was as pretty a set play as you'll ever see. Joni Pitkanen had Eric Staal at the Philadelphia blue line and looked like he was trying to hit him with a pass, but Staal let the puck fly past him and it would have been icing...except that Brandon Sutter knew what he was doing, going inside-out on Braydon Coburn and taking the carom off the end boards into a one-timer that beat Leighton high to the stick side. Awesome play, and something the home fans haven't seen nearly enough of this year.
16:47 3rd: Canes tie it at 3! Jokinen 10 (Staal, Cullen) 16:47 3rd Earlier in the season, the Canes' bugaboo (usually with Leighton in net) was giving up two goals in less than a minute. Guess what the Flyers just did? A Staal pass to Jokinen at the doorstep of the crease found Jokinen's skate, but instead of kicking it into the net he kicked it to his stick then swatted it in, making it a legal play and tying the game. There's been far too little of that this year in this building, and when it's happened it's always been the opposition doing the honors.
18:45 3rd: Powe does his best to give the Flyers the lead, but when Ward kicked the rebound right to him Powe shot it wide. Maybe the tide is turning?
19:00 3rd: And now Jeff Carter heads to the box for high-sticking. The Canes have a power play with a minute left. Can the impossible happen?
End 3rd: It hasn't happened yet, but there's still a minute of 4-on-3 to go. It's certainly possible. Shots in the third were 20-11 Canes, giving them a lead of 38-29 overall. Here we go...
2:11 OT: Ward with an incredible save on Richards, who had all day and an open net to shoot at from the far post. Highway robbery by Ward's glove, and we stay tied.
3:25 OT: Another robbery, this time on Scott Hartnell. Ward has been on fire since the first period, and the Canes greatly appreciate it.
End OT: Flyers owned OT, but Cam Ward did too. Shots in overtime were 7-2 Flyers, and the Canes led 40-36 overall, but Peter Laviolette won't be thrilled with his return to the RBC Center, the result of the shootout notwithstanding. Head over to Twitter for the live shootout play by play...
Postgame: A good effort falls just short as the Flyers beat the Canes 2-0 in the shootout to win the game 4-3. It was as upbeat a locker room as I've seen after a loss this season, which is of little consolation to a team that's still desperate for points, but everyone I talked to was of the opinion that the Canes played a complete game, with the possible exception of the minutes immediately following the momentum-swinging Richards goal in the first period.
Paul Maurice was happy with how his lines played together, and I can't say I disagree; the Sutter line was everywhere, and when Matt Cullen was put on the Jokinen line in the third period that line really took off, accounting for two of the three goals. It's still an open question whether or not the Staal-as-winger experiment will be a long-term solution, but the very early returns at least suggest optimism.
Click for audio from Eric Staal, Jussi Jokinen and Tuomo Ruutu. Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Canes head to Washington for a Monday night matchup with the Caps, then they're back here for the traditional New Year's Eve game against the Rangers. I'll be at the in-laws' next week so I won't be here for Thursday's game, but I'll hopefully be tweeting it so you can feel free to join in over there. We'll see you back here for a game against the Ottawa Senators on January 5th, so have a great New Year and come back as we get back in a groove. A very early happy 2010 to you and yours!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
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