By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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When last we saw the Tampa Bay Lightning in this building, the Canes were earning their first win of the season, in a shootout in early October.
Needless to say, no one expected the season to fly off the rails the way that it has, but the Canes enter tonight's game with a pair of players who will return from injuries. Sergei Samsonov is back, as is tonight's bobblehead honoree, Chad LaRose. That means two roster spots needed to open up to accommodate the returning players, and Drayson Bowman and Zach Boychuk have been returned to Albany. Patrick Dwyer and Jiri Tlusty are still here, but at least the players the Canes expected to be on their roster are slowly returning to spots in the lineup.
For the Lightning, goaltender Mike Smith suffered an injury a few nights ago and will be on the shelf for a while, so we'll see Antero Niittymaki tonight, unfortunately for my spell checker. Yet again, Cam Ward gets the call for the Canes, his 16th straight start.
Here we go...
2:30 1st: As if there was any clue that Chad LaRose is a rather popular player, he got a rousing ovation on his first shift of the game and it nearly resulted in a goal. Niittymaki failed to cover the puck and LaRose had the puck on his stick at the top of the crease, but the Lightning defense did a good job collapsing and not allowing LaRose to take a shot.
4:00 1st: Bad defensive breakdown by the Canes (we've heard that before, haven't we?) lets Alex Tanguay get in behind the defense and he just barely missed putting the Lightning up 1-0, as he deked Ward out of position but shot it an inch wide of the near post.
6:20 1st: Sweet give-and-go between Brandon Sutter and Jiri Tlusty results in...well, nothing of consequence after Sutter shot the puck high over the net. Nice setup, though.
8:15 1st: OK, I know the Lightning aren't quite the juggernaut that won the 2004 Stanley Cup, but seriously, when you have three guys below the circles in the defensive zone it can't lead to good things. Yet that's what we just saw, and the Canes nearly took advantage of the situation, with two unchecked players at the top of the circles and only a well-timed shot block kept Jussi Jokinen from one-timing a pass into the net.
11:07 1st: Lightning lead 1-0; Malone 20 (Foster, Veilleux) We've seen this play before. An innocent-looking shot from the right point by Kurtis Foster isn't handled by Ward, and it sits in the blue paint until Ryan Malone is the first to get a handle on it, shoveling it through Ward's five-hole to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.
15:20 1st: Marty St. Louis misses a wide-open net after picking himself up off the ice and being nowhere near anybody. Don't see that too often, or as overheard in the press box, "how does he miss that one?"
End 1st: The Canes came close late in the period on a Tom Kostopoulos wraparound attempt, but nothing doing even though they worked with a late power play after an Alex Tanguay tripping penalty. Shots in the first were seven apiece.
2:15 2nd: Great play by Brett Carson just as a Carolina power play expired. Steven Stamkos had a partial breakaway from the red line in, but Carson recovered and tied up Stamkos' stick just as he was about to take a shot. He still got a shot off, but it was just less dangerous than it could have been.
4:55 2nd: Ouch. The Canes defense lost track of Brandon Bochenski along the goal line, and he got two good chances on Ward with no one anywhere nearby.
8:35 2nd: Another good defensive play as Joni Pitkanen races back to catch up with Steve Downie and deny him a shot at an open net with Ward moving and out of position. Say this for the Canes' defense: they've largely done their job for most of this game.
14:00 2nd: For the better part of three minutes, the Lightning have looked like they're on a power play. Problem is, the Canes have no one in the penalty box. Ward's come up big, but everyone else on the ice is chasing their tails and generally looking terrible in so doing.
15:30 2nd: The Canes' best chance of the night was an open net that Eric Staal somehow completely missed. That's the answer to the St. Louis miss in the first period. Since the ridiculous stretch of Lightning pressure, the Canes have done their part to answer back.
16:28 2nd: Canes tie it at 1; Cullen 9 (Staal, Carson) Both goals tonight have been garbage goals, and the latest one tied the game for the Canes. Brett Carson's point shot was deflected to Eric Staal on the near side behind the net, and Staal tried a wraparound that was stopped but not covered by Niittymaki. Matt Cullen cleaned up the trash, firing home a backhand past Niittymaki before he realized where the puck was.
18:55 2nd: Lightning retake a 2-1 lead; Lecavalier 14 (Meszaros, Halpern) (pp) So much for the lead. The Lightning had some great movement on a power play, culminating in a rebound that ping-ponged around the low slot until Vinny Lecavalier kicked the puck to his stick and fired a fraction of a second later, a good goal because the puck hit his stick before entering the net. Not really a good goal for the Canes, though, and the penalty kill was a bit lacking before the goal.
End 2nd: Not really a surprise that the Canes enter the third period down by a goal when they give up fourteen shots to the Lightning, and it could have been worse if not for some great goaltending by Cam Ward. We'll see if the Canes can regroup in the third. Shots were 14-9 Lightning in the period, 21-16 overall.
4:07 3rd: Canes tie it at 2; LaRose 2 (Gleason) The bobblehead comes through for the Canes. It looked like one of Joni Pitkanen's patented stretch passes, but instead it was Tim Gleason making the long pass from the Canes' blue line. LaRose didn't get the puck directly on his stick, but it bounced off a Lightning stick and right to him and he got a breakaway out of it. He drew Niittymaki down with a pair of dekes and guided the puck into the net on his backhand, earning the loudest ovation of the night.
8:00 3rd: The boobirds are out late in a Canes power play. Can't really blame them; the puck is all over the place and no one can keep the puck in the zone for more than a few seconds. Not really a sterling illustration of what to do with the man advantage.
9:11 3rd: Lightning take a 3-2 lead; Downie 11 (St. Louis, Smaby) Yet again, so much for the lead. The Canes' defense was caught flat-footed by a St. Louis acceleration, and after skating around Nic Wallin he centered from the goal line to Steve Downie in the far circle, who had an easy tap-in.
10:42 3rd: An incredible sequence of saves by Niittymaki to keep the puck out on two consecutive chances (including another for LaRose) for the Canes, then some pushing and shoving behind the net that didn't result in any penalties.
16:15 3rd: St. Louis nearly had his second of the night, on a wraparound where everyone but Cam Ward lost sight of him, but fortunately for the Canes the goaltender kept St. Louis in his sight and denied the wraparound with a right pad save.
End 3rd: More of the same late, as the Canes couldn't buy an opportunity in the offensive zone and the Lightning really locked down the neutral zone even after Cam Ward was pulled. Shots in the third were 11-6 Lightning, who led for the game 32-22.
Postgame: Matt Cullen was strong in his praise of LaRose's game, but that was about the only thing that made the Canes happy. It was another rough outing for the team, and they know they're letting things quickly slip away but they are at a loss for what to do to fix the problems. Paul Maurice said that the Canes expected more from their power play, which is an understatement after the man advantage looked uninspired at best and outplayed at worst.
Click for audio from Matt Cullen and Chad LaRose. Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Canes hit the road for two starting Thursday in Atlanta, then they're back here for a matinee Sunday against the Boston Bruins. We'll be here; hope you will as well.
Monday, January 18, 2010
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