By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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In an indictment of how ridiculous the start to this season has been, it's November 9th and tonight is the first time all year the Hurricanes have played two straight games on their home ice. And following Saturday's victory over Florida, the Canes have a chance to get a three-game home winning streak going tonight for the first time this season.
The Edmonton Oilers, who faced the Canes in the 2006 Stanley Cup final, are in town tonight for their only visit to Raleigh, but the team we'll see tonight bears little resemblance to the one that took the Canes to seven games in 2006. Gone are the likes of Chris Pronger, Ryan Smyth and Fernando Pisani; in their place come Magnus Paajarvi, Jordan Eberle and the first overall pick in this past June's draft, 18-year-old Taylor Hall. More to the point, the Canes have four former Oilers on their roster, including one (Sergei Samsonov) who played for Edmonton against Carolina in 2006.
The only change of note tonight for the Canes is the re-introduction of Joni Pitkanen (a former Oiler, naturally) back to the lineup tonight. Brett Carson has been sent to Charlotte to make room for Pitkanen. Former Oiler Patrick O'Sullivan will be a healthy scratch tonight, as he has been for the past five games. The Oilers will counter with some guys you've probably never heard of, although you'll recognize Ales Hemsky and...um...well, you'll recognize Ales Hemsky from '06. It's up to you to find a program to identify the other guys.
We're ready to roll...
:26 1st: Canes on the board early for a 1-0 lead; Dwyer 4 (Sutter, Tlusty) It took a little longer than the Canes would have liked. Not the goal, but the review of said goal. Brandon Sutter came flying up the ice and through the near faceoff circle, where he unloaded a backhander that Nikolai Khabibulin kicked out without much of a problem. Unfortunately for Edmonton, the puck bounced right to Patrick Dwyer, who ricocheted the puck off his skate and into the net. The goal was reviewed and upheld, since Dwyer didn't make a kicking motion toward the net.
1:15 1st: Canes make it 2-0; Cole 4 (Skinner, Staal) (pp) Might be one of the nights where I can't type fast enough to keep up. After Dustin Penner took a tripping penalty at :57, the Canes took only 18 seconds to double their lead. Good movement between the points by Tuomo Ruutu and Eric Staal set Jeff Skinner up with an open lane at the top of the far circle, and Cole redirected Skinner's shot just enough to beat Khabibulin on the short side.
4:10 1st: Good lord. 3-0 Canes; Corvo 3 (Skinner, Staal) (pp) A few seconds before this goal, the Canes tried a set play where Corvo snuck down from the point and one-timed a cross-crease pass from Skinner that was snuffed out on a great save by Khabibulin. So why not try the same thing ten seconds later? The Oilers called timeout after the goal, and rightfully so...it's quickly turning into one of those nights, as the Canes had 3 goals on 5 shots.
7:19 1st: 4-0 for the home team. LaRose 3 (Staal, Pitkanen) Looks like I might just be writing about goals tonight. A 4-on-2 break for the Canes off a faceoff to Cam Ward's left thanks to shoddy defending by the Oilers (what else is new tonight) ended in a tic-tac-toe passing play from Staal to Joni Pitkanen and finally to LaRose, who slammed it home from ten feet to make it a four-toal lead.
10:19 1st: An entry about something other than a goal. A little unusual, but hey...gotta shake things up sometimes. Anyway, considering Nikolai Khabibulin's night ended 7-plus minutes into the game, you're probably wondering what his stats were. We aim to please: how about a save percentage of .500 and a 32.80 goals-against average. Yeah, you read that correctly.
14:30 1st: The first good cycling shift of the night for the Oilers actually saw them catch up to the Canes' eight shots with an equal number of their own. Give Ward credit...he hasn't seen much action, but when he's been called upon he's been sharp.
End 1st: Things calmed down significantly once the Oilers changed goaltenders, and you'd have to think Paul Maurice will tell the Canes not to get complacent even though they have this game well in hand twenty minutes in. Shots ended 12-9 for the Canes in the period.
2:27 2nd: A little strange to see the rough stuff start so late after the Canes took a four-goal lead, but Steve MacIntyre was just sent off for roughing after a play deep in the Carolina zone. Better late than never for some toughness to show up, I guess.
4:30 2nd: The Canes fail to convert on a 5-on-3 after Tom Gilbert was sent off for delay of game, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Dubnyk robbed Skinner with a beauty of a glove save just as MacIntyre was leaving the box...
4:49 2nd: Canes up 5-0; Corvo 4 (Jokinen, Sutter) (pp) ...and the Canes capitalize on the back end penalty with a rifle shot by Joe Corvo. Seems like they've been practicing these cross-ice plays to hit the trailer sneaking down the weak side, and Corvo's cashed in twice on them.
6:48 2nd: If you had Tom Kostopoulos in your penalty-shot pool tonight, congratulations. The Canes tough guy earns the penalty shot after being hauled down on a contested play at the top of the Oilers' slot. An iffy call, but the way this game has gone, why wouldn't a fourth-liner earn a penalty shot?
13:40 2nd: Tim Gleason took a puck to the face, checked with his glove that he still had all his teeth...then he picked up his stick and kept playing. Yeah, he's a bit of a tough customer.
16:35 2nd: Oilers' night in a nutshell: Ales Hemsky gets the puck five feet from the net, no one near him, plenty of net to shot at...and he passes. And to make matters worse, the puck jumps off the stick of its intended recipient and the Canes clear.
End 2nd: The Oilers finally got some serious pressure on Ward late in the period, including an open-net whiff courtesy of Andrew Cogliano, but they're still staring at a goose egg on the scoreboard. Honestly, I haven't even noticed Taylor Hall tonight, while Jeff Skinner keeps plodding along with two more points. Shots in the 2nd were even more lopsided than the first: 14-7 Canes for a 26-16 lead overall.
1:06 3rd: Home team goes up 6-0; Samsonov 4 (Staal, Pitkanen) Not much to say here: Staal takes a shot that Dubnyk kicks out, Samsonov gets the puck on his backhand, fires home a backhand shot that surprises Dubnyk. The Canes have scored in the first five minutes of every period tonight.
5:21 3rd: Oilers get on the board! Penner 5 (Foster, Whitney) At some point, Cam Ward was allowed to make a mistake, and he finally made one after shutting out the Oilers for over 45 minutes. A point shot from Kurtis Foster was mostly handled by Ward, but the puck trickled to a stop right on the goal line and Dustin Penner pool-cued it into the net to put the Oilers on the board.
7:48 3rd: The extra point is good. Skinner 6 (Ruutu) And just like that, we're back to a six-goal game. Jeff Skinner adds to his great night (in which he's severely outplayed the player who went six slots higher in the draft, Taylor Hall) by redirecting a shot from Tuomo Ruutu in a similar play to the Cole goal from the first period.
10:30 3rd: In case you're wondering, Taylor Hall hasn't taken a shift since there were four minutes left in the second period. That's nearly 15 minutes on the bench. Safe to say Tom Renney isn't real pleased with his play tonight?
14:00 3rd: Eighteen minutes later, Hall finally sees the ice again.
16:04 3rd: Theo Peckham does what some in the press box thought should have been done long before: throw his weight around and pester the Canes physically. Eric Staal was on the receiving end of Peckham's chirping, and Peckham received a roughing penalty plus a misconduct for his trouble.
End 3rd: Nothing doing on the Canes' power play, but it didn't matter by then; the fourth line was getting extensive time with the man advantage, for goodness' sake. Shots in the third period were 16-6 Canes, who led 42-22 (!) overall.
Postgame: Can't say much more than this: that was a complete game all around for the Canes, and the Oilers looked nothing like the team that went into Chicago two nights before and beat the defending Stanley Cup champs. Jeff Skinner has really found a home with Tuomo Ruutu and Erik Cole, and it's obvious in talking to him that he has plenty of chemistry and confidence with the two longtime Canes. Paul Maurice certainly thinks so; Skinner played only 12:46 but it seemed like he was out there for twice that. As for Taylor Hall? 8:47 of ice time, and just :54 in the third period.
Click for audio from Skinner and Eric Staal. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.
Back at it Thursday night when Peter Laviolette and the Flyers come to town...
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
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