By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
Email Puck Drops
It's the second day of spring, there are tailgaters all over the place in the parking lot and the Canes have won two in a row. What better way to celebrate than by bringing in the loved and revered Buffalo Sabres to town?
The Sabres are here for the final time this season, after their previous visit resulted in a 4-3 overtime win just before the Olympics on February 11. Since then, the Canes have been on a tear, 6-3-1 in their last ten and with wins over Washington and Pittsburgh in the last three days.
And speaking of Pittsburgh, that sure was an eventful game yesterday. Manny Legace was forced from the nets in the second period after Tyler Kennedy rolled over his leg and hurt his knee. Legace will not miss any time, and Justin Peters will get the start today as was originally scheduled, but with both Mike Murphy and Justin Pogge hurt in Albany one wonders who the Canes will turn to if Peters is forced from the net with an injury as well. Meanwhile, Jamie McBain has been on fire, adding two points yesterday (including the game-winning goal with :00.9 left) to make his total four points in three games since his callup.
The Canes' roster will remain the same tonight, and with Boston's loss this afternoon a win will put the Canes six points out of the playoffs with ten games to go. We'll see if they can make their recent winning streak stand up...
1:50 1st: I know it's by now become a meme to anoint Tyler Myers the Calder Trophy winner by acclamation every time he does something as inconsequential as stepping on the ice, but the guy certainly does know how to play and isn't at all lost out there. There's a good reason he plays over twenty minutes a game, and we just saw it: break up what could have been a 2-on-1 at one end, serve as the pivot for a tic-tac-toe play at the other end that resulted in a pass going just behind Thomas Vanek's legs.
6:32 1st: Canes came awfully close to taking a 1-0 lead off a faceoff, when the puck pinballed around Ryan Miller's pads and gave Zach Boychuk an open look. Miller dove across and made the save, and Boychuk got twisted around by Craig Rivet for his troubles. Not really a surprising save, but the Sabres could easily be down one if not for Miller.
7:43 1st: And at the other end, Adam Mair gets a face full of Eric Staal's glove as the Canes captain takes exception to Mair continuing to whack away on Justin Peters after the whistle. That's the kind of thing you'd see from Rod Brind'Amour in his prime, and it's good to see Staal stepping up and claiming the mantle as he should now that he's the man in charge.
9:00 1st: Staal is a man possessed tonight, at least in the first ten minutes. He leveled Craig Rivet with a legal hit, Rivet retaliated by slashing Staal and handed the Canes the game's first power play on a silver platter. Tuomo Ruutu and Chris Butler went at it with a few facewashes after the whistle and earned roughing penalties, though it didn't affect manpower.
11:20 1st: Just after the power play expired, Peters denied Mike Grier with the very tip of his left skate. This is about all you can ask for from a hockey game so far, with some awesome saves and great up-and-down action.
13:47 1st: Sabres lead 1-0; Connolly 16 (Vanek, Roy) (pp) That's in textbooks next to a broken play. Justin Peters lost his stick while trying to (and, incidentally, succeeding in) poke-check the puck away from Thomas Vanek, and in the wild scramble to get Peters a stick Jay Harrison lost his man. Tim Connolly was his man, and he was parked at the near post with no one near him to tip a rebound home and give the Sabres a 1-0 lead.
End 1st: After the Sabres' goal, the game really settled down until Jussi Jokinen leveled Connolly behind the Sabres' net with about thirty seconds left. I have to admit, I'm a little surprised there wasn't a shoving match as the teams left the ice for the intermission. Shots in the period were 9-6 Sabres, and it's one of the rare occasions this season that the Canes have been in this physical of a matchup; hits are 12-9 for the Canes.
1:08 2nd: Just like the first period, the Canes come out of the gate hard in the second. Eric Staal missed on a turnaround backhander from the doorstep as he spun out of the way of a defender, then a few seconds later Tuomo Ruutu had a perfectly-placed one-timer tipped out of play by a Sabres stick.
1:49 2nd: Sabres lead 2-0; Hecht 18 (Pominville) And less than a minute later, Justin Peters gives up a rare bad goal that makes it a two-goal Buffalo lead. Jochen Hecht and Jamie McBain were tied up skating down the ice, and it looked like Peters didn't recognize that Hecht could snap a shot off his forehand. Peters didn't close his legs in time and the puck went through his five-hole for a 2-0 Sabres lead.
4:30 2nd: Sabres lead 3-0; Hecht 19 (Stafford, Myers) (pp) Make it a three-spot on Hecht's second in under three minutes. While on a power play, Hecht brought the puck into the zone and faked Peters out, drawing him out of position and gifting Hecht a wraparound into the open far side of the net. Peters' reaction time hasn't been where it needs to be on the last two goals.
9:45 2nd: Sabres lead 4-0; Lydman 3 (unassisted)
9:57 2nd: Canes cut it to 4-1; Samsonov 14 (Carson, Brind'Amour)
11:11 2nd: Sabres back up four at 5-1; Kennedy 8 (Vanek, Roy) Yes, they happened so quickly that I didn't have time to write them all out. The most newsworthy event occurred after Lydman's goal, when Paul Maurice pulled Peters following his third straight bad goal for a still-injured Manny Legace. Carson's point shot was tipped in by Samsonov just thirteen seconds later, but then another odd-man advantage (3-on-2) was converted on a pretty three-way passing play just over a minute later. Not really a banner night for the Canes' goaltenders; Legace had a good chance to stop Kennedy's shot as well.
End 2nd: Not much to write about in that period other than goals. The Canes are just playing out the string now, as they look to keep from being further embarrassed. Shots in the second were 11-9 Canes, but it sure seemed like the ice was tilted toward the Canes' end way more than the shot counter would indicate.
2:07 3rd: Canes back within 3, down 5-2; Sutter 18 (unassisted) Might as well award Ryan Miller an assist for that one. Miller had the puck skating backwards at the goal line, and he made what can only be described as a bonehead passing attempt to the near boards. The puck was easily picked off by Brandon Sutter, who returned fire right back on the Buffalo net and got the puck through Miller's pads for the Canes' second of the night.
8:15 3rd: This game sure looked like it was going to be a knockout affair after fifteen minutes. Now, it looks like two teams that are doing nothing more than running out the clock. To say that the effort has been a bit disappointing is an understatement.
11:15 3rd: Miller atones for his earlier gaffe by forcing Ray Whitney to the outside, then denying him a chance at either a centering pass or a redirection into the net by stretching out and stopping the puck with his glove while laid out on the ice. That's more of what we expected to see from the Team USA goaltender, who got a healthy "U-S-A" chant from the Sabres fans in attendance (and there are more than a few) a couple of minutes ago.
13:00 3rd: Joni Pitkanen bails out Legace by stoning Jason Pominville from the doorstep with both Pitkanen and Legace down on the ice. Probably the best save by a Hurricane since Peters' first-period skate save, and it came from a defenseman. Ouch.
17:00 3rd: Canes cut it to 5-3; Staal 23 (McBain) (pp) Well now, we got us a hockey game. Adam Mair took an exceedingly dumb double-minor for cross checking (and earning himself a ten-minute misconduct as well) by taking a run at Chad LaRose after the play, and the Canes cashed in on the front end of the power play. Another bad Buffalo giveaway ended up on Jamie McBain's stick, and he fed Eric Staal across the slot for a one-timer that pulled the Canes to within two with another power play yet to work with.
End 3rd: Nothing doing despite several great chances on the back end of the double minor, and the Sabres escape with a rather easy 5-3 win; I say easy even though the Canes had plenty of chances late in the third. The Sabres went into a defensive shell, allowing the Canes to outshoot them 13-3 in the period for a 30-20 advantage overall.
Postgame: The Canes find themselves on Sunday night where they were when the weekend started: eight points out of the playoffs, now with only ten games to go. The Bruins' magic number to eliminate the Canes from the playoffs is 13, meaning any combination of 13 points gained by the Bruins or lost by the Canes will mathematically end the Canes' chances. It's looking more and more like an impossibility, but then again who had the Canes beating Washington and Pittsburgh at the end of last week?
Click for audio from Jamie McBain, Eric Staal and Brandon Sutter. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Canes head to Tampa Tuesday night, then they're back here for another Thursday date with the Capitals. We'll be back here then, and hope you'll join us as well.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment