The Canes return to home ice for the first time in 2009 the night after a listless loss to the Predators in Nashville. Another Western Conference opponent awaits them, as the Colorado Avalanche make their only appearance in Raleigh this season. The Canes visited Colorado in mid-October and were summarily dispensed as part of their fourteen-game losing streak; that's well in the past, but the Canes are still well in arrears of everyone in the NHL with only 29 points.
For the Canes, the lineup remains the same, with Eric Staal out of town after the passing of his wife's sister and Sergei Samsonov, Erik Cole and Chad LaRose all on the shelf with injuries. That means we'll get our first good look at the likes of Jerome Samson and second or third peeks at Zach Boychuk and Jiri Tlusty.
Not many in the house tonight, so it will be an, um, intimate setting for the first home game of 2010...
3:50 1st: The Canes have looked passable killing off a Jiri Tlusty tripping penalty, but the Avs are getting all sorts of good chances on Ward. It's obvious, though, wthich team had a night to prepare and which team played last night.
3:58 1st: Darcy Tucker didn't forget who caused him to suffer a concussion back in October. Tucker and Tuomo Ruutu went at it in a pretty good bout off a faceoff late in the power play, and you'd probably give it to Ruutu on points. It was a little surreal to see one of the Canes' best players in a fight, but the circumstances were understandable.
5:01 1st: And now Cody McLeod gets two minutes for plastering Aaron Ward behind the Canes' net after lining him up from the blue line. Methinks this could be more chippy than your run-of-the-mill cross-conference game.
5:30 1st: Canes lead 1-0; Whitney 12 (Cullen, Brind'Amour) Don't let the two assists fool you. Ray Whitney created that goal all by his lonesome. Out of a near-side scrum, Rod Brind'Amour somehow fed Matt Cullen at the side of the near faceoff circle, and Cullen found an unchecked Ray Whitney in the high slot. Whitney danced around a defenseman, made two dekes to draw Avs goalie Peter Budaj out of the net, and backhanded the puck into the open net. Can't ask for a prettier goal than that.
6:55 1st: Nearly 2-0 if not for Joni Pitkanen misfiring on a 2-on-1 while shorthanded. Almost the entire period has been played with at least one man in the penalty box, so the officials are keeping the teams on a very short leash tonight.
9:20 1st: Whitney about had his second of the night, but the puck handcuffed him and he only got a weak shot off on an open net. The hesitation allowed Budaj to get over and make the save.
13:36 1st: Every stoppage in front of Ward is resulting in a scrum. It's a very physical, chippy game out there, and conventional wisdom says that plays into the Avs' hands, since they didn't play last night and the Canes did.
17:45 1st: Cam Ward is on his game tonight. The Avs have been peppering him fron in close, and Ward's stopped them every time so far, including about four shots from Chris Stewart deep in the slot and just outside the crease.
17:58 1st: A series of penalties result in the Avs' receiving a four-on-three for 26 seconds, then a regular power play after that. The fans are not happy, and Dean Morton is having a long conversation with Paul Maurice who is loudly expressing his displeasure with the situation.
18:57 1st: And now Tom Kostopoulos and Ryan Wilson go at it after a short disagreement in the far corner of the Canes' zone. This game just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
End 1st: Somewhat surprisingly, no interactions with the teams on the way off the ice. That's as wild a period as we've seen all year. The Canes lead 1-0 despite being outshot 14-8 in the period. I think everyone needs to catch their breath.
:37 2nd: Canes lead 2-0; Whitney 13 (Cullen, A. Ward) The Wizard is on fire tonight. Matt Cullen foudn Whitney with a disguised pass at center, and Whitney skated in one-on-one down the near side. Whitney wound up and faked a shot, causing Budaj to drop down and giving Whitney an open corner to shoot at. He found the corner, over Budaj's glove-side shoulder, and gave the Canes a two-goal lead.
:41 2nd: And off the ensuing faceoff, Tim Gleason and Chris Stewart get into an altercation for the second time tonight, this one resulting in fighting majors. I don't think anyone in the building was surprised.
5:00 2nd: One too many passes for Whitney's bid for his third point. The Canes had a slow-developing 3-on-2 in the Avs' zone and Whitney didn't take the shot, instead opting for a cross-crease pass attempt to Zach Boychuk that was intercepted before it hit the target.
8:30 2nd: A nice round of applause for Niclas Wallin, who was saluted on the scoreboard for playing his 500th career game (both in the NHL and with the Canes) on December 26th against Philadelphia.
12:45 2nd: With Ruutu out, the Canes have done some line juggling, and how's this for a youth-movement line: Dwyer centering Tlusty and Samson.
15:39 2nd: And for the Avalanche's part, they aren't immune to the freak-injury bug either. Defenseman Adam Foote caught a rut with his skate behind the Carolina net and limped off the ice to the locker room. Between that and Ruutu's injury, it's been a strange night in more than one way.
17:09 2nd: Not to jinx it (and you know darned well that this will), but there hasn't been a penalty since the Gleason/Stewart fight less than a minute into the period.
17:50 2nd: Clockwork. The Avs' Paul Stastny heads to the box for hooking.
End 2nd: Nothing doing on the Canes' power play, and they head to the dressing room up by two. Shots in the period were 8-5 Canes, who ate into the Avs' advantage and cut the overall deficit to 19-16.
4:03 3rd: The Avs get their sixth power play of the night on a very questionable tripping penalty to Rod Brind'Amour, who looked like he simply shoved Cody McLeod to the ice and somehow earned a tripping penalty. Go figure.
6:20 3rd: Penalty killed, but the Avs are buzzing. Cam Ward's been on top of things tonight, a nice bounceback game after an iffy outing last night in Nashville.
8:52 3rd: How the Avs didn't score there, I'll never know. Wojtek Wolski was the recipient of a Paul Stastny pass in the far circle with Ward out of position, but Jussi Jokinen saved the day by sweeping Wolski's feet out from under him and directing the puck into the near corner. Ward hasn't had much help tonight, but he got a great big hand from Jokinen there.
12:15 3rd: You'd rather be lucky than good, right Cam? Stastny hit the far post...from two feet away. He'll be seeing that in his nightmares for the rest of the year. Sometimes the breaks have to fall your way, and they sure are for Ward tonight.
17:31 3rd: The Canes are on the power play with two and a half minutes left. Barring a miracle, the Canes will earn their first home win of 2010 in their first home game of the new year.
19:44 3rd: Ward's bid for a shutout was ended by Brandon Yip with just sixteen seconds remaining. Tough way to lose it, and the Canes remain one of three teams (LA and Pittsburgh) that hasn't posted a shutout this year.
End 3rd: Not what the Canes wanted to see at the end of the game, but they'll take two points out of a matchup they easily could have folded over and taken zero from. Shots in the third were 11-4 Avalanche, who led overall 30-20 despite losing the game.
Postgame: There was a good bit of optimism in the Canes' dressing room. They came closer to a shutout than they have all year, and while Ward didn't earn the goose egg he sure made a statement that he is fully healed from his injury. Paul Maurice has mentioned in the past that the team expects Ward to be a special goaltender on any given night, and he sure rose to the occasion tonight after a rough outing in Nashville.
Click for audio from Cam Ward and Ray Whitney. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Canes are back in familiar surroundings Sunday afternoon for the annual Military Appreciation Night against the Ottawa Senators at 5:00. Hope you'll join us for what's always an emotional and touching day honoring our servicemen and women. We'll see you then...
Friday, January 8, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment