By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Last year, these two teams met in the Eastern Conference semifinals. This year, both find themselves on the outside of the playoff invitation list, so to say that this game pairs a couple of underachieving teams is an understatement.
Today marks Eric Staal's first home game as captain of the Hurricanes, and it's not much to suggest that the captaincy change has paid dividends for both Staal and now-alternate captain Rod Brind'Amour. Both players scored yesterday in Philadelphia, and Staal has four in his past two games after a hat trick Thursday night against Atlanta.
Justin Peters has been recalled for today's game as Manny Legace is out with pink eye, and the Bruins will be without passer extraordinaire Marc Savard. Lines for the Canes remain the same as yesterday's game.
Here we go...
6:00 1st: Not much going on so far. A couple of good Cam Ward saves on decent Boston shots, but the Canes have yet to take a shot of their own.
7:25 1st: The Canes got caught looking around in their own zone, and Dennis Wideman was set up for a wide-open one timer in the near circle that Ward had to be quick to kick out.
7:50 1st: Canes lead 1-0; Whitney 16 (Jokinen) And at the other end, the Canes score one of the easier goals they'll ever score. A terrible giveaway along the far boards prompted Jussi Jokinen to draw Tim Thomas down, and with Thomas down Jokinen dished to Ray Whitney who had a wide open net to tuck the puck in. It took a little effort though, because Whitney didn't have a ton of space with which to work.
11:05 1st: Referee Dan O'Rourke probably didn't expect to be assisting the Bruins on the penalty kill, but he couldn't get out of the way of the puck and was the recipient of a Rod Brind'Amour body check into the boards.
11:55 1st: Thomas is coming way out of his net to play the puck and it looks like he's fighting it a bit. The Canes have experience in getting pucks past him, and it looks like they may have ample opportunities to do it again today.
16:25 1st: A turnover right in front of the Canes' crease could have been disastrous, but Blake Wheeler's attempt to convert the turnover was steered aside by Cam Ward with little difficulty. It helped that Wheeler was on his backhand and couldn't get much on the shot, but those are turnovers that just can't happen deep in your own zone.
19:25 1st: Joni Pitkanen will be recording a public service announcement about the benefits of wearing a face shield after today's game. A double-deflected puck jumped off Patrice Bergeron's stick and clocked Pitkanen in the shield, but he didn't miss a shift and was back out before the end of the period.
End 1st: Not a bad period after the sluggish start, but it's very obvious that Thomas is really fighting the puck. The Canes will need to take advantage of the opportunities that they're sure to have as the game goes on. Shots in the period were 10-8 for the Canes.
3:44 2nd: Jiri Tlusty earned his teammates a power play, but not without some pretty hefty soreness. Patrice Bergeron tripped Tlusty in the far circle while Tlusty was at full speed, and Tlusty went hard into the boards behind Thomas. He skated off on his own, but a few seconds later he headed back to the locker room.
4:26 2nd: Canes lead 2-0; Staal 15 (Jokinen, Pitkanen) (pp) Tlusty's effort wasn't in vain, as Eric Staal continues his torrid streak with five goals in the last three games. A great behind-the-back pass from Jokinen to the far circle was one-timed home by Staal, and Jokinen was hooked on the play, handing the Canes another power play after the goal.
6:29 2nd: Canes lead 3-0; Jokinen 15 (Pitkanen, Cullen) Three seconds after the Matt Hunwick hooking penalty expired, Jussi Jokinen fired home a laser from the near circle to put the Canes up by three. The Canes' power play has been fantastic, and their puck movement has been great all over the ice. Claude Julien noticed as well and called his timeout, and he lit up his team on the bench with some very bad words.
9:05 2nd: A fantastic play by Tim Gleason to deny Michael Ryder a good scoring chance on a partial breakaway by hooking Ryder's stick but not his body. Would have been really easy to take a penalty there, but Gleason managed to break up the play without putting his team down by two men (they were already killing a penalty).
11:02 2nd: Canes lead 4-0; Sutter 12 (Whitney, Wallin) Sutter gets credit for the goal, but it was Whitney's play all the way. He started an end-to-end rush in the Canes' defensive zone, skated through center, undressed two Bruins defensemen including Zdeno Chara (who is over a foot taller), and set up Sutter for a tap-in at the far post. Thomas' night was done, as Julien pulled him for Tuukka Rask after the goal.
12:08 2nd: The Bruins came close to finally denting the scoreboard but even though the puck got past Ward, Joni Pitkanen saved the day by sweeping the puck out of the goal mouth just before it completely crossed the red line. A replay confirmed the save, which shows that when things are going your way, they're really going your way.
End 2nd: Missed a good chunk of it dealing with a screw that popped out of my glasses, but at least there weren't any scoring plays on either side. Not sure how this happened, but shots in the period were 9-7 Bruins...that means the Canes scored three times on seven shots. No wonder Julien was less than pleased.
:15 3rd: Canes lead 5-0; LaRose 3 (Sutter) See, that's why he has a Harris Teeter sub named after him. Brandon Sutter stole the puck at center ice off the opening faceoff of the period, and LaRose got behind the Bruins' defense (sound familiar?) to put himself in perfect position to receive Sutter's pass and tip it under Rask's stick for a five-goal lead.
8:56 3rd: Bruins on the board, down 5-1; Krejci 9 (Wheeler, Morris) (pp) Cam Ward won't set the franchise record for wins with a shutout, but it wasn't his fault that David Krejci was left unchecked at the bottom of the circle on a power play. Blake Wheeler's shot rebounded off Ward's pads and right to Krejci, who wristed an easy shot into the net to finally put the B's on the scoreboard.
15:15 3rd: Joni Pitkanen was flattened along the near boards as the B's try to get something going physically since nothing else has worked today. I'm kind of surprised that the Bruins haven't really started forcing the issue along the boards, but the Canes certainly appreciate the generosity.
End 3rd: This one really wasn't much in doubt after the Canes blew the doors off the building with their second-period rally, but it was still nice to see Cam Ward earn his franchise-record win in relatively easy fashion. Shots in the third were 11-3 Bruins as the visitors tried to throw everything possible at the Canes, and they led overall 28-20.
Postgame: The locker room was obviously thrilled for Ward's record-setting win, but all anyone could talk about was Whitney's move to undress Chara in the second period to set up Sutter's goal. Seriously, you'll see it on SportsCenter tonight, no question. With the win, the Canes are finally out of the NHL cellar after almost three months of continuous occupancy, and the Edmonton Oilers now own residence in the basement.
In the press conference, Paul Maurice said that Joe Corvo's rehab is progressing faster than they had hoped it would, and he left the possibility open to his return sometime in the next two weeks, perhaps as soon as this weekend.
Click for audio from Brandon Sutter, Cam Ward and Ray Whitney. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Canes head to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday before they come home Thursday to face the other New York team as the Islanders come to town. We'll be back then; hope you will be as well. Don't forget the call-in podcast tomorrow night at 7 with Canes Country on blogtalkradio.com!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
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