By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Ah, Buffalo. The only city that can make my hometown of Cleveland feel good about itself.
The Canes host the Sabres for the first time this season tonight, and while the players have generally moved on from the animosity that marked their 2006 Eastern Conference Final matchup the fans sure haven't forgotten. Sabres games always bring out the best in the RBC crowd, and we expect no less tonight.
Matt Cullen has been the target of some persistent trade rumors, culminating in a report overnight that Jim Rutherford plans to trade Cullen before the Olympics. The NHL roster freeze goes into effect tomorrow at 3pm, so Rutherford will have to move quickly. A trade does not appear to be imminent, as Cullen will be in the lineup for tonight's game. There are no other roster changes for the Canes, with Manny Legace in net again; Justin Peters is projected to start Saturday's game against New Jersey.
The Canes go for 4 in a row tonight, and here we go...
2:13 1st: Sabres lead 1-0; Roy 15 (MacArthur) Might as well add a second assist to Andrew Alberts on that one. An ill-fated clearing attempt bounced right onto the stick of Clarke MacArthur in the far circle. MacArthur centered to Derek Roy, who was being checked by Eric Staal and didn't get a clean shot off, but it was enough to wiggle through Manny Legace's pads and into the net.
4:55 1st: It seems pretty obvious that the Sabres have a game plan: pressure the puck carrier, no matter where or who he is. They've been all over the Canes defensively thus far and the Canes have no counter for it.
6:40 1st: And it should have been 2-0 there. The Canes have been victimized by some terrible turnovers in the early going, and MacArthur wound up with the puck on his stick and no one anywhere near him in the slot. He had all day to outwait Manny Legace, but Legace somehow scrambled to make the save and keep it a one-goal game.
14:01 1st: Sabres lead 2-0; Hecht 13 (Connolly, Montador) For all the trouble the Canes have had in their own zone tonight, it's a simple case of bad luck that has them down 2-0. Tim Connolly's shot attempt glanced off Legace's stick and right to Jochen Hecht along the far boards, and Hecht took a lazy shot that had no chance to go in until it took a strange bounce off Steven Goertzen's leg and past Legace to give the Sabres a two-goal lead.
16:29 1st: Canes on the board, down 2-1; Sutter 14 (Samsonov, Ruutu) Now that's a play you might never see again. Sergei Samsonov's shot from the point was blocked in the low slot by Andrej Sekera, but Brandon Sutter fished the puck out from underneath Sekera and took advantage of the Sabres' failure to recognize the situation, firing home a shot from seven feet over Ryan Miller's blocker.
19:58 1st: Canes tie it at 2; Whitney 17 (Jokinen, Pitkanen) This team has something for goals with a second left on the clock. Ray Whitney was on the receiving end of a nice touch pass from Jussi Jokinen in his usual spot at the bottom of the circle, and Whitney beat the clock by 1.1 seconds to tie the game. Unreal.
End 1st: The Canes looked for long stretches like a team that was going to get absolutely manhandled by the Sabres, then they go out and score two goals in the final 3:30 of the period. Go figure. Shots were 13 apiece, but the Sabres had a significant lead until the Canes went on a tear late in the period.
5:20 2nd: Lots of up-and-down action to start the period, with the Canes looking like they didn't leave their legs in the dressing room and the Sabres generating a ton of pressure in the offensive zone. Only thing that's a bit strange? The crowd, which was really into it early in the game, seems to have died a bit in the second period.
9:55 2nd: Canes lead 3-2; Yelle 4 (Sutter) This is a really bizarre game sometimes. Not ten seconds earlier, the Canes somehow failed to score on a three on none. That's right, a THREE ON NONE. So, of course, what happens on the Canes' next rush up the ice? Stephane Yelle, he of three goals on the season, wires a wrister high to Miller's blocker side to give the Canes a 3-2 lead. No, I can't figure it out either.
12:10 2nd: Continuing with the theme, Roy nearly tied the game for the Sabres again on a pinball bounce that Legace had no prayer of catching if it had bounced in the right place, but Roy couldn't get a stick on it and the garbage was cleaned out of the crease by the Canes' defense.
14:20 2nd: Eric Staal skated to the bench in some pain after appearing to hurt his left arm but he didn't miss a shift. We'll keep an eye on it, though.
16:30 2nd: Steven Goertzen just missed shoveling home his first of the year at the top of Miller's crease but he couldn't get his stick on it before it was intercepted and sent out of harm's way. The Sabres' defense has been rather porous this period, and Miller has looked a bit shaky.
End 2nd: The Canes had their way with the Sabres most of the period, but only had one goal to show for it. Shots were heavily in Carolina's favor, leading 14-9 for a 27-22 lead overall. The teams will begin the 3rd at 4-on-4 courtesy of matching slashing penalties to Derek Roy and Jussi Jokinen late in the 2nd.
4:18 3rd: Twice in this period the Canes have knocked the puck right on net and Legace had to be on the ball to bail out his team from a potential own goal. With some of the things the Canes have gotten away with tonight, it's a wonder they're leading, but then you see them play the way they did for long stretches of the 2nd and wonder why they're only up by one.
12:53 3rd: Sabres tie it at 3; Roy 16 (Vanek, Butler) Eventually you figured that the Canes' defensive problems would burn them, and so they did. The Canes failed to jump on a loose puck behind the net, and Derek Roy took a sharp-angle shot that bounced off Joni Pitkanen and into the net. Legace did everything he could to scramble over, but it was asking a bit much of him to stop that with no help from his defense.
17:00 3rd: Since the goal, the Canes have been all over the Sabres' zone, but the Sabres have managed to keep most of the Canes' shots to the perimeter and they've been relatively easy saves for Miller. Seems like the Sabres are content to play for overtime.
End 3rd: We're headed to overtime. Sabres outshot the Canes 10-6 in the third.
1:47 OT: Canes win 4-3; Samsonov 12 (Sutter) And with that, a wild game comes to an end. Steve Montador was the culprit of the hour for the Sabres, as he slipped behind the net and handed the puck to Brandon Sutter on a silver platter. Sutter quickly centered to Samsonov, who fired it home under Miller's blocker and set off a celebration as the Canes won their fifth straight on home ice and their fourth straight game overall.
Postgame: Not really a surprise that the Canes were in a jovial mood. They have 22 games left, and their recent streak has brought back a glimmer of hope that they might be able to miraculously pull out a playoff spot; they're now ten points out with 22 to play, certainly still unlikely but at least the Canes still have something to play for. If they catch fire down the stretch, who knows?
Tonight marked Brandon Sutter's first three-point game of his career, Paul Maurice's 400th win as a head coach, and Tuomo Ruutu notched his 200th point with his assist on the opening goal of the game.
Click for audio from Stephane Yelle and Sergei Samsonov. Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Canes will wrap up their pre-Olympic schedule with a Saturday night tilt against the New Jersey Devils. We'll be here; hope you'll join us as well.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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