By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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The Canes return to the RBC Center after taking three of a possible four points from two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. After shutting out the Boston Bruins on Friday, the Canes stole a point from Washington when Eric Staal scored with 2.2 seconds left on Sunday afternoon, falling in a shootout but at least earning the point.
Tonight, their third game in four nights sees the Dallas Stars come to town for the only time this season, and as Paul Maurice said earlier today, if you watched the Nashville game last Saturday then you know what to expect tonight. The Stars bring a suffocating brand of defense to town, led by a couple of old friends: former Lightning Brad Richards and former Thrasher Kari Lehtonen, who has played well against the Canes when healthy -- which hasn't been all that often. Although the Stars were scarcely mentioned behind the Sharks, Kings and Coyotes prior to the season, it's their 27 points that lead the Pacific Division, a testament to how well the team has played without franchise linchpin Mike Modano, who left for Detroit in the offseason.
The Canes, amazingly, have lost only four man-games to injury this year, and they field a full lineup again tonight. The Stars, meanwhile, will be without the services of resident pest Krys Barch, but are otherwise healthy.
Here goes...
1:45 1st: The Canes nearly got caught on a bad turnover deep in their own end just under two minutes into the game. A weird bounce off the boards bounced off Ian White's skate and right to Jamie Benn, who fired a shot that was blockered down by Cam Ward in a good reactionary save.
5:50 1st: I'm not sure what happened while I was on vacation, but the Canes sure look like they practiced their passing while on the power play. An early Karlis Skrastins tripping penalty was killed off, but not for a lack of effort - the Canes' passing was spot on, with crisp passes all over the place that they just failed to convert a couple of times.
9:55 1st: The shot board says that the teams are even at 6 shots apiece, but the Stars' chances have all been solid scoring opportunities with most of them coming from right in front of Cam Ward that have forced Ward to be on his toes with some great saves so far.
10:40 1st: Stars lead 1-0; Neal 9 (Eriksson, Woywitka) And the Canes finally get burned in their own zone. Loui Eriksson skated behind Ward with little problem and convinced Cam Ward that he was going to wrap the puck around, but he instead fed James Neal at the bottom of the near circle who one-timed the puck over Ward's glove on a shot that looked like it handcuffed Ward a bit. Still, the Canes' defense had no excuse for playing the Stars so passively.
13:40 1st: Could have easily been 2-0 as Eriksson snuck behind the pairing of Jamie McBain and Jay Harrison to get off a surprisingly quick shot that Ward just barely swatted away with his stick.. Not the greatest period for the Canes' defense thus far.
16:15 1st: Looks like the Canes got a stern talking-to at the TV timeout, and it's paid dividends on their first two shifts since. They've been all over the Stars' net with some great scoring chances, including a Brandon Sutter tip chance that just slid by his stick on the near side of Lehtonen.
End 1st: The Canes started with some good pressure late in the period, but when the Stars got the puck back in the Canes' zone the home team still looked rather lost and way too overreliant on Cam Ward. Shots were 12-10 Carolina in the period, but that's misleading when you consider that most of those 10 Stars shots were above-average to great scoring chances.
1:50 2nd: The Canes' power play hasn't struck yet, but it's come close a few times with a great chance a second ago when Lehtonen failed to cover the puck and Jeff Skinner fed Joni Pitkanen for a wide open shot with Lehtonen way out of position...and, of course, Pitkanen shot the puck into the side of the net.
2:46 2nd: Stars lead 2-0; Ott 5 (Benn, Daley) Eleven seconds after the Jeff Woywitka high-sticking penalty was killed off, a broken play resulted in a two-goal lead for the Stars. Jamie Benn stole the puck behind the net and faked Ward out by looking like he was going to skate it around to the far side of the net, but instead he pulled up on a dime and fed Steve Ott at the top of the crease who took advantage of Ward being out of position and doubled the Stars' lead.
4:16 2nd: 3-0 Dallas; Neal 10 (Grossman) A clear from the blue line by James Neal bounced off the boards to Ward's right, and the puck went through three players and right back to Neal who one-timed it home on a shot Ward had no clue was coming. Yet again, the Canes are letting down after a power play, and it looks like they're trying too hard and giving the Stars all sorts of chances to come back the other way.
7:57 2nd: Canes pull to 3-1; Staal 12 (unassisted) If the Canes were going to get back into this game, they were going to have to strike quickly and they did just that. Eric Staal harassed Nicklas Grossman at the Carolina blue line and went off on a breakaway, blasting a wrister past Lehtonen's glove from fifteen feet to put the Canes on the board.
9:45 2nd: James Neal was interfering with Tuomo Ruutu two-thirds of the way down the ice, finally dragging him to the ice and earning himself a hooking penalty, while Ruutu took a diving penalty. Um...if you say so, Brad Meier.
15:41 2nd: Neal nearly had himself a hat trick with a perfect deflection in front of Ward on a Dallas power play, and Ward stopped it but he thought it was past him, looking behind him as the referee's whistle blew.
18:49 2nd: Tuomo Ruutu somehow manages to get a shot off, Bobby Orr-style, while flying through the air after drawing a Skrastins hooking penalty. If he'd have scored there, you'd have seen it on SportsCenter.
End 2nd: The Stars outshot the Canes 13-5 in the period. Yeah, that sounds about right. The Canes will have :49 left on the Skrastins hooking penalty when the third period starts.
3:21 3rd: Stars lead 4-1; Benn 6 (Ribeiro, Morrow) No surprise the Stars made it 4-1 after they killed off the Skrastins penalty. All four of the Stars' goals have been directly after they killed off a penalty, and they are getting some serious pressure early in the five-on-five sequence immediately following a penalty. No question the Canes have been back on their heels a bit, but they've not done a great job of collapsing around Ward when they've needed to.
6:24 3rd: Tim Gleason levels Adam Burish with a hip check in front of the Canes' bench, and the predictable line brawl ensues with Gleason right in the middle of the fracas. In the end, Gleason got four minutes for roughing but Dallas sent three men to the box, handing the Canes their fourth power play of the night.
13:30 3rd: Not much to speak of after the Gleason nonsense was sorted out. TO the Canes' credit, they haven't allowed Dallas many easy looks at Ward following the power play, but it's a bit late for compliments like that when you're already down by three.
16:05 3rd: Story of the night: a great shot from Jamie McBain at the right point ricocheted right to Jeff Skinner in the near circle, and Skinner fanned on a wide open net.
End 3rd: Nothing doing for the Canes late and they fall to the Stars in Raleigh for the first time since 2003. Shots were 11-10 for the Canes in the 3rd period, but the Stars led overall 33-28 in the game.
Postgame: A lot of frustrated faces in the Canes' locker room after the game, including a few players who understandably wanted nothing to do with talking to the media after a night like that. Even the normally mild-mannered Paul Maurice let a four-letter slip during his press conference. It's obvious the Canes didn't have their legs tonight, and it showed from the opening faceoff. Blame it on the schedule if you want, but Dallas was also playing their fourth game in six nights and they showed up. Full marks to them on what was a very frustrating night for the home team.
Click for audio from Tuomo Ruutu and Eric Staal. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Canes get tomorrow off, and they don't take the ice again (for a game, anyway) until Friday when the Colorado Avalanche come to town. We'll be back then, and hopefully you will as well.
Monday, November 29, 2010
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