By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Nothing like a road trip to New York in February, eh?
The Canes enter Nassau Coliseum tonight for their fourth game in six nights and their second straight game. After dropping the Buffalo Sabres last night, the Canes made the short flight to Long Island for what will be a memorable game for one Justin Peters. On his third recall of the season, Peters will see his first action in the NHL as he makes his first career start against the Islanders tonight.
The downside, of course, is that Peters wouldn't have received a recall if not for an injury to Cam Ward, and it's not good news for the Canes' #1 goaltender. Ward has returned to Raleigh after suffering a back injury during the western Canada swing early in the week, and his season could be over as a result. We'll see what happens as things develop, but we're likely looking at a Legace-Peters tandem for the rest of the season.
As for the arena, I'll be honest: I wasn't expecting much. Much has been made of the age of the Nassau Coliseum and it certainly looks like the nearly 40-year-old building that it is, but it's a very intimate arena that certainly isn't a complete disaster. That said, however, I'm sitting about ten feet from Canes radio broadcaster Chuck Kaiton, which says something about the era in which the arena wasn't designed. Media accommodation certainly wasn't high on the list.
We'll see soon whether Justin Peters can remain undefeated in his NHL career after tonight's game...
3:30 1st: The Islanders are really doing their best to make Peters feel uncomfortable in the first few minutes. They've been controlling the play for most of the first few minutes, and the defense has done a good job of letting Peters see the puck to give him a chance to make a save.
5:00 1st: Now there's something you don't see every day. The Isles played the puck with a high stick, but instead of touching it (and earning a whistle) Jon Sim let it sit just outside the blue line and burned about four seconds off the clock before the officials blew the plane dead. Reminded me of a punt where the kicking team surrounds the ball downfield but never touches it.
7:45 1st: The Isles are really doing their best to set up and redirect shots just outside the crease, a good plan for success against a goaltender who's just getting his feet wet in the NHL. No luck yet, but the Isles are outshooting the Canes 6-2 and it seems like more of a deficit than that.
11:15 1st: Freddy Meyer bailed out his goaltender in a big way. Rick DiPietro lost track of a puck and it was close to bouncing in the net, but Meyer cleared it out of the zone with his glove. Dangerous play, though, because Meyer was in the crease and closing a glove on the puck in the crease results in a penalty shot.
14:32 1st: Canes lead 1-0; Jokinen 20 (Pitkanen, Staal) Go figure: the Canes started pouring on the speed through the neutral zone and it led to a goal. Joni Pitkanen had no one near him along the far wall and centered to Jussi Jokinen who was crashing the net in front of a pair of Isles defenders. Jokinen tipped the puck home through DiPietro's legs to put the Canes up by one.
16:40 1st: Bizarre sequence at the near post of the Canes' net. John Tavares was camped out by the post and Peters thought he had covered the puck, but fortunately for him Tavares was unable to elevate the puck over his shoulder when it popped free under Peters' pads.
19:35 1st: Awful play by Sergei Samsonov. In his attempt to create a play with Blake Comeau draped all over him, he not only forced himself into a turnover, but then hooked Comeau on his way out of the zone. Not a stunning series of events there.
End 1st: The Canes had some stretches where they looked pretty good, and then they had others that made you wonder if they missed their flight from Buffalo. Shots were 11-8 Islanders, but it sure seemed like the Isles had the vast majority of the good opportunities.
1:42 2nd: Peters was the beneficiary of some serious beginners' luck with a quick whistle from referee Eric Furlatt. Peters had covered the puck but Matt Moulson dug it out from under his glove and poked it into the net. Furlatt initially looked like he was signaling goal, but then waved the goal off saying (correctly) that the whistle had blown and the play was dead. Bad luck for the Isles, who probably should have been awarded a goal but remained scoreless.
7:45 2nd: Rod Brind'Amour had a two-goal lead on his stick in the far circle but double-clutched instead of one-timing on a power play, and as a result DiPietro was able to get over and make a tough save to keep it a one-goal game. If Brind'Amour fires that puck cleanly on the pass, the Canes are up 2-0.
9:12 2nd: Eric Staal is lucky he wasn't hurt on a really dumb play by Mark Streit, who took about four forearm shivers to the back of Staal's head, the last of which drove Staal's head into the boards and earned Streit a roughing penalty.
9:25 2nd: Isles tie it at 1; Nielsen 8 (Comeau) (sh) And there's your first-game jitters from Justin Peters, who to this point has been solid. Peters lost the puck behind his net, and Blake Comeau picked up the garbage, centering to Frans Nielsen who fired it home high to Peters' glove side. Not quite a thinking play there, but we'll give Peters a pass since he's been facing a barrage in this period.
12:14 2nd: OK, we can officially forgive Peters for his puck-handling misadventures. An unbelievable save on Jon Sim kept the game tied; Sim had a wide open net to shoot at, but Peters somehow swiped his arm out in a snow-angel fashion and kept the puck out of the net. I don't think the fans in attendance believed what they saw, because I sure didn't.
15:36 2nd: Canes lead 2-1; Dwyer 5 (Sutter, Boychuk) Gotta be honest...I missed this one because I was, ahem, disposed in the mens' room. I hear it was a goal, though, and the scoreboard certainly seems to indicate so.
End 2nd: Things got a bit testy behind the Canes' net after the horn, as the Canes felt the Isles were taking a few too many liberties with Peters by crashing the net late in the period. Nothing came of it, though, and the Canes headed to the locker room up by a goal again. Shots in the period were 13-9 Islanders, who extended their lead overall to 24-17.
1:14 3rd: Peters has certainly done his part tonight. The most recent robbery was a Frans Nielsen breakaway created after a lazy pass from Andrew Alberts to no one in particular was intercepted and fired ahead to Nielsen, who had a breakaway from the blue line in. Nielsen deked to his forehand, but his low attempt was rebuffed in nice fashion by Peters.
7:35 3rd: The boobirds are coming out on an Isles power play, as the fans are getting a bit restless with the Isles' inability to generate anything at all with the man advantage. (Say, sound familiar?)
10:08 3rd: The Isles have gone offside on four straight possessions, and I'm surprised the fans haven't been harder on them than they have been. Once is understandable, but four times in under two minutes? Yeesh.
12:12 3rd: DiPietro was way out of his net to play a puck, along the boards outside the near circle, and Tom Kostopoulos steamrolled him as DiPietro somehow managed to send the puck around behind the net. The fans weren't happy that Kostopoulos wasn't given a goalie-interference penalty, but really, when a goalie comes that far out to play the puck, it's hard for anyone to argue that he isn't fair game.
16:00 3rd: The Canes are really having trouble getting the puck deep in the zone, and the Isles are throwing everything they can at Justin Peters, who will need to earn it if he's to get his first win in his first NHL game.
End 3rd: And he did indeed. Joni Pitkanen salted it away with an empty-netter in all but name, as DiPietro hadn't made it to the bench for the sixth attacker yet and Pitkanen nailed the empty cage to make it a 3-1 final. Shots in the third period were 11-8 Islanders, who outshot the Canes 35-25. If not for that puck-handling miscue behind the net, Peters' first win would have been a shutout, and he certainly earned any and all accolades tonight.
Postgame: Paul Maurice said that the first game for a goaltender is much more difficult than the first game at any other position, since you're on the ice the entire game and can't be worked in on the fourth line at any point. That makes Peters' win all the more impressive; he was the best player on the ice for either team, and it certainly looks like the Canes have a keeper if this game is any indication. A very, very impressive debut that makes the injury to Cam Ward, while not minor, certainly a bit more tolerable.
Everyone in the locker room was effusive in their praise for Peters, none moreso than Maurice, who was as happy as I've ever seen him after a game. He'd have gone on all night, but the Canes have a flight to catch, and I can assure you they're extremely happy to be sleeping in their own beds tonight after a long, long week.
Click for audio from Jussi Jokinen, Patrick Dwyer and the man of the hour, Justin Peters. Maurice's press avail is attached.
Back to work in the friendly confines of the RBC Center on Tuesday night when the Florida Panthers come to town. If you can't make it to the game, join us and we'll keep you updated.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
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