By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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We're eleven games into the season, and the Carolina Hurricanes have handed opposing goaltenders at the RBC Center a sparkling save percentage of 1.000. Needless to say, that isn't a tried and true recipe for success.
Tonight, we'll see if the Canes can make their third chance a charm. It's certainly an inviting situation, with the New York Islanders in town. Isles goalie Rick DiPietro, expected to get the start tonight, sports a 5-10-1 career record against Carolina, and the Isles are one of the few teams so far this season to face the Canes with a lower position in the standings.
The Canes are trying everything they can to light a goal lamp tonight, including shuffling the lines so that rookie sensation Jeff Skinner will skate on the top line with Eric Staal. Skinner and Tuomo Ruutu both enter the game tonight with four points in their last three games, and Staal has been held without a point in that same stretch. Doesn't take much to figure out that Paul Maurice expects Skinner to spark Staal to some good production by uniting them for the first time this season.
We'll be sure to alert you to any breaking news tonight, including if the Canes manage to set off a goal horn or two...
3:36 1st: So far, that Staal-Skinner-LaRose combination has been a gold mine for Paul Maurice tonight. In two shifts, they've had some great low-offensive zone pressure and a 2-on-1 that was barely whistled offside when Staal entered the zone a split second before Skinner and the puck.
4:46 1st: They've talked about it for the first four minutes of the game, and Zenon Konopka finally convinced Jay Harrison to drop the gloves. (And if this comes as a surprise, you probably haven't seen Konopka's 5 PIM-per-game average yet.) Call it a split decision.
6:46 1st: An unfortunate bounce off Jamie McBain at the right point sprung former Cane Doug Weight and Michael Grabner alone on a 2-on-0, with McBain desperately trying to get back. He did get back enough that Weight's pass for Grabner had to go over McBain's stick, and Grabner couldn't get a clean shot off before dislodging the net and killing the play. The Canes dodged a huge bullet.
10:12 1st: The goal horn has sounded! 1-0 Canes; Corvo 2 (Skinner, LaRose) Hey, at this point you'll take whatever you can get, right? Give Rick DiPietro a third assist, as he fumbled the puck behind the net and LaRose knocked it off DiPietro's stick. Jeff Skinner picked up the trash and fed Joe Corvo for a one-timer at the top of the far circle. DiPietro tried to get back in time, but Corvo's shot beat him cleanly and -- finally -- the Canes had a lead in their home rink.
13:10 1st: Another close call for the Staal line. This time, it's Skinner finding LaRose behind the Isles' defense at the blue line for a partial breakaway. LaRose drew DiPietro down, but the puck rolled off his stick and he wasn't able to get a shot off. Seconds later, Skinner and Tim Gleason drew a 2-on-1 where Skinner faked DiPietro out with a shot from the far circle, but his pass for Gleason was off the mark and didn't hit paydirt.
15:49 1st: Hello, (Matsu) Moto. Canes lead 2-0; Matsumoto 1 (Samsonov, Kostopoulos) Probably came a night later than he wanted, but Jon Matsumoto will take it for his first NHL goal, and it was a perfectly placed setup at the near post that led to it. Sergei Samsonov did the heavy lifting, dangling through two Islanders defenders before centering the puck from the far faceoff dot right onto Matsumoto's stick for an easy tap-in past DiPietro.
18:51 1st: Canes lead 3-0; Staal 4 (Samsonov, Kostopoulos) No, it wasn't a juggled line combination. Yet again, Kostopoulos got the puck deep in the zone and Samsonov again placed a perfect pass on the tape of a teammate. This time, Eric Staal was the beneficiary, coming off the bench untouched and firing home a 40-foot one-timer to put the Canes up by 3 for their first three-goal lead since October 19 in San Jose.
End 1st: Simply a dominant period by the home team. Not much more to say than that. The Canes will start the 2nd on a long power play after James Wisniewski boarded Tuomo Ruutu with three seconds left in the first. Shots in the first were 15-9 Carolina.
5:30 2nd: Not much going on early in the second, but Staal nearly had his second of the night on a tap-in at the far post. Sure looks like the Canes have practiced that play a bit recently, because every line on the ice is giving it a whirl.
8:30 2nd: As a power play expired, the Staal line tried another tic-tac-toe passing play that nearly ended with Eric Staal hitting an open net.
9:40 2nd: Canes lead 4-0; Sutter 3 (unassisted)
10:23 2nd: Canes lead 5-0; Tlusty 1 (Harrison, Babchuk)
OK, these are going to take a bit of explaining. On the Sutter goal, DiPietro misplayed a puck at the near post and despite having two defensemen in the crease to clear the puck, neither did and Brandon Sutter slammed it home after it squeezed out to DiPietro's right. That was a break the Canes haven't gotten all year.
As for the Tlusty goal, the Islanders had a legitimate beef with Sutter falling backwards into DiPietro with no call, similar to the David Steckel non-call when he backed into Cam Ward in the home opener that led to a goal. Jiri Tlusty fired a shot from the far circle that caught DiPietro before he could get back into position for a five goal lead. The follow-through on Tlusty's shot hit Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek in the forehead and he had to leave the ice for repairs before the ensuing faceoff.
15:39 2nd: LaRose heads to the box for 4 minutes after whiffing on a clearing attempt and hitting John Tavares square in the mouth with the end of his stick. Some dentist is going to be very, very happy tonight.
18:40 2nd: Sutter came within an inch of finding Kostopoulos for a six-goal lead on a 2-on-1 down low, but the Isles' defenseman forced Kostopoulos out of position just enough that he backhanded the puck into the outside of the net.
End 2nd: The Canes are escorted off the ice with their second standing ovation in five minutes after killing over a minute of a 5-on-3 and a four minute penalty in the last five minutes of the period. Well done, and the Canes are in the zone tonight, especially Cam Ward, who hadn't had much to do but earned his money with a superb performance on the penalty kill. Shots in the period were 12-10 Isles, helped along by the late power plays.
2:12 3rd: Isles cut the lead to 5-1; Grabner 3 (Weight, Gervais) Michael Grabner made up for the missed 2-on-0 in the first period. Jay Harrison missed an assignment on Grabner, who was skating unchecked down the slot, and Doug Weight threaded the needle through two Canes sticks to set Grabner up on a one-timer.
9:12 3rd: Some extracurricular activity behind Ward after Jamie McBain is boarded by Rob Schremp. McBain was fine, but Schremp earned two minutes in the box.
10:09 3rd: Canes back up by five at 6-1; Skinner 4 (Staal, LaRose) (pp) And if you were wondering, a "Skinner...!!" sound byte from the Simpsons accompanied Jeff Skinner's first of what should be many at the RBC. Again, like they've had all night, the Staal line has had all sorts of pressure in front of the net all night, and Skinner was the man doing the dirty work to be in position this time. His first shot was stopped by DiPietro, but the puck wasn't covered and Skinner shoveled the puck home on the rebound.
15:29 3rd: Islanders get their second, pull to 6-2; Parenteau 3 (Comeau, Schremp) (pp) And the Isles match the Canes' power play by scoring one of their own about five minutes later. P.A. Parenteau beat Ward high to the glove side on a one-timer from the high slot after Blake Comeau beat Anton Babchuk around the edge in the near corner.
19:26 3rd: Canes back up 7-2; Matsumoto 2 (Samsonov) Yep, it's that combination again. Samsonov pried the puck free along the near boards and fed a wide-open Matsumoto, who wired a top-shelf one-timer from 45 feet for his second career goal to give the Canes their third five-goal lead of the game.
End 3rd: Surprisingly, the Isles actually outshot the Canes 33-32 in the game, but where it counted it was no contest. Not a great night for Rick DiPietro, who let in all seven Canes goals for a sterling .781 save percentage. Yikes.
Postgame: It's been a while since we've seen a Canes locker room as pumped up as tonight's was. Jon Matsumoto was quick to give all sorts of credit to Sergei Samsonov, and with good reason: although Matsumoto had two goals, Samsonov finished with three points and the second star of the game. Jeff Skinner was his usual jovial self, and Brandon Sutter & Chad LaRose had a great bit of back-and-forth going during an interview. This is what makes it fun to cover this team.
Maurice said that his report on Joni Pitkanen was that he aggravated the earlier upper-body injury with a hit in the first period, and he wasn't sure of Pitkanen's status for this weekend's home-and-home series with Florida.
Click for audio from Jon Matsumoto, Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner. Maurice's press conference is attached.
Back at it when the Canes come home to face the Panthers on the back end of the home-and-home Saturday night at the RBC...
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
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