By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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It's been a busy few days for the Carolina Hurricanes. First, they get the news that franchise goaltender Cam Ward will be shelved for an indeterminate length of time with a bad back, then replacement Justin Peters marches in and wins his first game by only allowing one goal to the New York Islanders. Stalwart defenseman Niclas Wallin, the longest-tenured Hurricanes defenseman and one of only three players remaining from the 2002 Stanley Cup Final team, was traded to San Jose on Sunday, signalling that the long-anticipated rebuilding project has indeed begun.
Today, with owner Peter Karmanos in town for one of his regular visits to Raleigh, the Canes announced that they will begin next season by facing the Minnesota Wild in a pair of games in Helsinki, Finland, next October. Finland, of course, is the home country of the Canes' Joni Pitkanen, Jussi Jokinen and Tuomo Ruutu, who returns to the lineup tonight after a monthlong absence with a shoulder injury...
...on the night where the Canes are giving away a Ruutu bobblehead doll. Gotta love coincidences.
Aside from Ruutu's return, the lineup remains the same as the group that beat the Islanders 3-1 on Saturday. Zach Boychuk was returned to Albany after Saturday's game to make room for Ruutu.
The Canes go for three in a row tonight against an old rival. Can they get the homestand off on the right foot? We're about to find out...
6:16 1st: Not much in the way of action up until Tim Gleason and Gregory Campbell decided they'd had enough of each other and went at it just outside the Carolina blue line. Chalk up a win for Gleason, who got a few haymakers in on Campbell and added another lick after wrestling Campbell to the ice. Nice fight, and the already amped crowd (those bobblehead dolls do strange things to fans) was even louder as a result.
8:42 1st: Weird bounce that almost went in for the Panthers. Stephen Weiss tried to find Cory Stillman with a centering pass deep in Canes territory, and while the pass was off the mark of Stillman's stick it caromed off both of his skates and right in on Manny Legace, who was surprised but made the save.
15:30 1st: Some really good puck movement on the Canes' first power play of the night, but nothing doing when it comes to actually putting goals on the board.
15:49 1st: Brandon Sutter is playing his 100th NHL game tonight. It sure seems like he hasn't been here that long...
17:01 1st: Steven Goertzen and Bryan Allen get into the second set of fisticuffs of the evening, with both guys landing some pretty solid fists and Allen losing his jersey in the process. The home fans have sure gotten their money's worth if they expected a physical game tonight.
18:37 1st: Hate to complain when you drew a penalty, but Eric Staal, shoot the puck. Don't make a second pass from five feet outside the goal when you have a 1-0 lead sitting on your stick. That is all.
End 1st: I know we're picking nits here, but the Canes simply have to take more shots and quit overpassing the puck. Staal's brain cramp was a symptom of a bigger problem in that period. The Canes should be owning the shot board, but instead they're only up 9-8, indicative of some serious reluctance to shoot the puck.
3:16 2nd: Highway robbery by Tomas Vokoun on Ray Whitney. Wow...not sure how he stopped that. A perfect cross-crease pass from Rod Brind'Amour was placed just right on Whitney's backhand, but his attempt to tip the puck in was stopped by a cringe-inducing Vokoun split to keep it scoreless.
3:45 2nd: Tim Gleason's night is likely done after taking a puck to the face on a deflected clearing attempt. He skated off the ice under his own power, but high-tailed it to the locker room in obvious pain.
5:13 2nd: Another Vokoun robbery, this one on Staal, on a power play. Staal did everything he could to beat Vokoun's pad, but the goaltender scrambled to make a rather incredible save.
5:28 2nd: Canes lead 1-0; Jokinen 21 (Staal, Cullen) (pp) Vokoun's luck ran out on a great setup by Matt Cullen. A point shot bounced high in the air and everyone, including Vokoun, lost track of the puck but Cullen found it and started a tic-tac-toe passing play with Staal at the pivot point just outside the right side of the crease. Staal touched a pass to Jokinen at the bottom of the near circle, who didn't miss firing it home to put the Canes on top.
9:36 2nd: Panthers tie it at 1; Stillman 11 (Weiss, McCabe) The Canes dodged disaster a couple of times on the sequence, but their luck ran out as old friend Cory Stillman lit the lamp to tie the game. Bryan McCabe's point shot pinballed around the low slot before Stephen Weiss jumped on it, finding Stillman with a perfect pass for him to thread the needle into a very small opening to put the Panthers on the board.
13:00 2nd: Canes lead 2-1; Pitkanen 4 (Whitney, A. Ward) I was in the middle of writing a screed about how the Canes absolutely will not shoot the puck, instead electing to overpass the puck until a scoring chance fizzles out when, lo and behold, Joni Pitkanen actually shoots the puck and beats Vokoun high to the blocker side. See what happens when you shoot? Nice goal, nice pass from Whitney, but that's one that Vokoun will want back.
16:35 2nd: Tom Kostopoulos nearly gave the Canes a 3-1 lead, on another pinball puck that Vokoun had trouble handling, but he wasn't able to corral the rebound and shovel it home in time. Vokoun's really having trouble covering the puck tonight, and it's cost him once already.
17:30 2nd: Glove save and a beauty from Manny Legace, who hasn't had much to do this period as the Canes have tilted the ice toward Vokoun, but he just came up with a flashy glove save to rival any of the ten-bell saves his counterpart at the other end has made so far tonight.
End 2nd: I never mentioned this, but Tim Gleason is back on the ice. In fact, he didn't miss a shift in the second period. Again, shows what I know. Shots in the period were heavily in favor of the Canes, as they outshot the Panthers 13-7.
3:11 3rd: Canes lead 3-1; Cullen 12 (Gleason, Pitkanen) They don't make toedrags much better than the one Matt Cullen just pulled off. Using Tom Kostopoulos on the off wing as a foil, Cullen dragged the puck around a Florida defenseman and got Vokoun to open his legs, then wristed a shot home through the five-hole to give the Canes a two goal lead. And yes, that's Tim Gleason, he of the twelve stitches on his face, with the primary assist. Wow.
6:29 3rd: Manny Legace just earned a paycheck from every man in the building. Legace tried to make a save and did so, but he pulled his groin in doing so and fell over on his back in some serious pain. Even more amazing than making the save under those circumstances is that he stayed in the game after being tended to by Pete Friesen. I have no idea how he's still in the net. That made me hurt.
12:00 3rd: The Canes are in a bit of a strange spot here. They're usually well into their shutdown trap game with a two goal lead this late, but they're still bringing some pressure on Vokoun. That said, though, neither team is getting any real high-quality scoring chances, which plays perfectly into the Canes' hands.
15:50 3rd: Great setup from Whitney to Staal, but a better defensive play to knock the puck offline and keep Staal from having a tap-in to give the Canes a 4-1 lead.
18:00 3rd: The Canes are doing everything they can to take a three-goal lead, including drawing Vokoun out of the net and knocking him down to the ice, but nothing doing...
18:46 3rd: Canes lead 4-1; Ruutu 12 (Cullen, Pitkanen) (en) ...until Mr. Bobblehead Tuomo Ruutu hits the empty net to finally give the Canes a three-goal cushion.
End 3rd: Things got quite testy in front of Vokoun as the horn sounded, although no penalties were issued (the only one was a tripping penalty to Stephane Yelle that occurred with about five seconds left) and the Panthers left the ice to a chorus of boos. Shots in the third were 8-5 Hurricanes, who led overall 30-20.
Postgame: The Canes were a team on a mission tonight, and the locker room was quite jovial as they celebrated their second three-game winning streak of the season. Jussi Jokinen talked at length about how much fun it's been to play with Eric Staal, and Tuomo Ruutu was elated to finally get back in the lineup after missing a month.
Click for audio from Jokinen, Ruutu and Tim Gleason. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Canes are back at home on Thursday night as the Buffalo Sabres come to town. You know how much fun those games can be, so if you won't be at the arena, join us here for what promises to be a wild affair.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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