By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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It's rare that the NHL schedule affords teams long layoffs in the middle of the season, but the Canes have just finished their first of three lengthy breaks in the month of December. After dropping back-to-back games against Washington and Dallas, the Canes had three days off before facing Colorado tonight. Then, after a quick flight to Nashville for a game tomorrow night, the team will return home and have a five-day layoff before visiting the Stars in Dallas next Friday. (Strangely, tonight's game is the second of five straight games against Western Conference opponents, out of a total of 18 cross-conference games.)
So, in other words, the schedule can't be an excuse anymore, and it's time for the Canes to show up.
Colorado comes to town having owned the Canes in this series since its inception, but at the RBC Center the Canes have won the last two games against the Avs. On Tuesday, the Avs made a minor deal, shipping defenseman Scott Hannan to Southeast Division rival Washington for enigmatic forward Tomas Fleischmann, who will make his Avalanche debut tonight in a building he knows well; he immediately becomes the player on the roster who has played the most games (27) against the Canes.
Will the Canes get their bearings back after a few tough days of practice and hit the road on a good note? We're about to find out...
1:03 1st: The Canes sure look like a team that had three days off. They've come out early and controlled the play, and nearly got a goal for their efforts when Jussi Jokinen caught Avs goaltender Craig Anderson cheating a bit off the post. Fortunately for Anderson, the puck trickled about three inches to his right and behind the goal.
5:55 1st: Yeah...never mind. The Avs are outshooting the Canes 10-0 right now. That is not a typo.
8:45 1st: Chad LaRose takes the Canes' first shot of the night, an easy glove save by Anderson, and a very loud Bronx cheer erupts from the paying customers. Well deserved, I might add.
14:05 1st: The Canes got the first power play of the night, off a holding-the-stick call to Paul Stastny, and proceeded to do nothing with it. Then on his way out of the box, Stastny was nearly sprung on a breakaway but Jamie McBain did a great job getting back to deny Stastny a clean shot on Cam Ward, who has been a bit busy in the opening frame so far.
18:05 1st: Late in the period and the Canes have started to come on a bit. Jeff Skinner just missed a wide-open one-timer on an open net, the first really good scoring chance the Canes have had all night.
19:39 1st: Samsonov with a nice redirection from five feet off a Staal shot that Anderson had to be on the ball to save. He's been holding the fort down in this recent Canes rush.
End 1st: A nice end to the period after a rather tepid start. The Canes had a couple of great chances in the final seconds but Anderson stood tall, even making a save after the buzzer on Ian White. Shots ended up 16-11 Avs, but all of those Canes shots came in the last ten minutes of the period.
:17 2nd: The Avs left their defense in the locker room to start the period, and Eric Staal should have put the Canes on the board. Clearly, he didn't, but not for a lack of effort - the puck rolled off his stick, just as he was going to backhand it past Anderson with no one anywhere near him.
6:05 2nd: The Canes are in penalty trouble, taking three straight penalties and it's a wonder that the game is still scoreless. On the second power play, Ward absolutely robbed Brandon Yip from point-blank range. No one up here is entirely sure how he got across to make the save. It may be the save of the night, regardless of the outcome of the game.
9:00 2nd: Erik Cole nearly broke the ice with Anderson down on the ice, but the shot went just a bit high and the Avs escaped danger. This about thirty seconds after the Canes somehow avoided having too many men on the ice when Tuomo Ruutu played the puck about half a second after the man he was replacing hit the bench.
11:05 2nd: It's notable that the Canes haven't scored yet, because the defensemen are pinching low just about every chance they get and it's to their credit that they haven't allowed a breakaway going back toward Ward. Joe Corvo in particular has been playing way off the blue line, and it's nearly paid off but the Canes need it to do so soon lest the Avs get an odd-man break out of an ill-advised pinch.
14:20 2nd: Another unreal sequence of stops from Anderson, this time stoning Patrick Dwyer and Jussi Jokinen back-to-back from five feet apiece. Any doubt the first goal wins this game?
15:45 2nd: Right on cue, Anderson stones Cole with a split to hug the left post when Cole got behind the defense in the low slot and wasn't able to elevate the puck. Still, an insane save by Anderson, who will be no worse than the second star tonight depending on the outcome.
End 2nd: We got to the end of the period and I honestly had no idea that it was imminent until we heard the buzzer sound. That was by far the best period I've seen all year, with some unbelievable chances at both ends and a goaltending clinic being put on by the two netminders. Shots in the period were 11-8 Canes, who cut their overall deficit to 24-22.
3:15 3rd: Not quite the pace that we saw in that breakneck 2nd period, but that might be for the best. A 3-on-2 coming back toward the Colorado end was inadvertently snuffed out by Patrick Dwyer, who did what he has always been taught to do -- go to the net -- and he took a Brandon Sutter pass on his backhand, which he couldn't do much with two feet outside the goal. If that puck gets through to Jussi Jokinen on the far side, though, it's a sure goal. Them's the breaks.
4:50 3rd: Canes, finally, lead 1-0! Skinner 8 (Ruutu) And what a goal it was. The way these goaltenders are playing, you knew it was going to take a highlight-reel goal to put a crooked number on the scoreboard, and Jeff Skinner delivered. Skinner maintained possession through two Avs defenders, took a give-and-go pass from Tuomo Ruutu behind the net, and roofed a backhand over Anderson's glove. Anderson did absolutely everything he could have done on that play, which is a testament to what a great play it was.
7:35 3rd: Great play by Ian White to break up an Avs 2-on-1 down low after a Canes turnover deep in their own zone. White deflected a Paul Stastny centering attempt to the far corner with the Canes scrambling to get back into position. Beautifully played.
12:21 3rd: Just as a Canes' power play expires, Greg Mauldin surprises Ward with a snap shot that Ward somehow stopped even though he had no idea the shot was coming.
12:51 3rd: Avs tie it at 1; Hejduk 9 (Shattenkirk) Hejduk made up for that head-scratching miss earlier by beating Ward cleanly with a 15-foot wrister. And like we thought might happen, an ill-advised Joe Corvo pinch sprung Hejduk with Kevin Shattenkirk up the ice and only Patrick Dwyer was back to defend the play. Everyone in the building saw that coming, and the only way it wasn't going in was if Hejduk missed the net again. (He didn't.)
18:15 3rd: Looks like both teams are playing for the point now. Not much intensity on either side, and understandably so.
End 3rd: We're headed to the extra frame. Shots in the third period were 11-6 Avs, who lead overall 35-28.
:30 OT: Staal nearly ends it off an accidental skate deflection off Kevin Shattenkirk that went about a foot wide of the Avalanche net. If that was on target, it was in; Anderson was nowhere near it.
1:16 OT: Canes win 2-1; Sutter 5 (Pitkanen, McBain) And Brandon Sutter did end it, with -- what else? -- a perfectly placed shot, high to the blocker side of Anderson along the far post, in the only spot he could have scored in. I know I'm given to hyperbole rather easily, but that was a spectacular game on both sides. The Canes had the only two shots of overtime, including the only one that mattered.
Postgame: Brandon Sutter and Jeff Skinner both described the game as a playoff atmosphere, some high praise given the fact it was a game against a Western Conference team full of players most fans don't recognize. And it sure sounded like one -- it was loud, it was raucous, and it was a heck of a well-played game. Just the type of game the Canes want to have when they hit the road for five straight games.
Full marks to the Avalanche, who made this game very difficult for the Canes to pull out and earned every bit of their point tonight. Anderson was outstanding all night, and in his first game back from injury it's easy to see why the Avs snuck into a playoff spot last year. It's a shame the teams don't meet again this year, because if they played another game like this the good people of Denver would get more than their money's worth.
Click for audio from Cam Ward, Brandon Sutter and Jeff Skinner. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.
The Canes, as stated above, now head out for a five-game roadtrip beginning tomorrow in Nashville. However, with the way the schedule is set up, they'll be able to return home to practice before and after their back-to-back set in Dallas and St. Louis next Friday and Saturday. They finally return home two weeks from tomorrow, when the Anaheim Ducks are in town for the only time this year. Back at it then, or before if news breaks...
Friday, December 3, 2010
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