By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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The Canes had their season-high four-game winning streak ended in dramatic fashion Monday night when the Tampa Bay Lightning took the Canes behind the woodshed, winning 5-1 in a game that wasn't even that close. What better way to start another streak than against a team the Canes have largely owned in recent history?
Only one problem: that team, the Montreal Canadiens, enter tonight's game on a five-game losing streak and the last time they played the Canes they beat them 7-2 on their home ice at the Bell Centre. Needless to say, the Habs will be rather inspired to make sure the streak ends tonight, especially given how the first game of the season between these two teams played out.
The Canes welcome Cam Ward back to the net tonight, following a rather strange absence in Tampa on Monday when he was scratched with an infection on his forehead that Paul Maurice insisted wasn't a rash. Well...OK then. Otherwise, the lines and defensive pairings will remain the same as they were on Monday. The Habs counter with Carey Price, who was well on his way to being run out of town in the preseason before he suddenly turned into the Second Coming when the season started. If you need proof, go look up the save he made on Chad LaRose the last time these two teams met.
Only one of these two teams will enter the two-day Christmas break with a win, and the other will extend a losing streak, and we're only a couple of hours away from finding out which is which...
2:05 1st: Early, it's been all Habs, with two straight shifts deep in the Canes zone and a near-goal that was tipped in front of the net by Brian Gionta after the Canes twice failed to clear the puck out of the zone. Sure looks like Montreal has more jump in the early going.
3:02 1st: What would have been the Canes' first good scoring chance of the night is nullified when Erik Cole gets a little too much in the giving mood and drops the puck off to Jeff Skinner, putting himself offside in the process. That's the definition of a frustrating play.
5:58 1st: Hal Gill, who admittedly is about a foot taller than Tuomo Ruutu, catches Ruutu with a forearm shiver to Ruutu's head with no call. What's more disappointing to see from the Canes' perspective, though, is that no one on the ice immediately dropped the gloves and stood up for Ruutu. Yes, there was a scrum, but it was more a Kumbaya meeting than the Canes trying to retaliate.
13:05 1st: The Habs have been buzzing all around the Canes' net most of the night, and Cam Ward's had his plate full in this period being forced to make some really tricky saves. Andrei Kostitsyn nearly took advantage of a Ward rebound, redirecting the puck from his hand to his stick and firing a shot from point-blank that Ward just barely got over to kick out.
16:35 1st: Cole did the right thing that time, skating around behind the net then centering to the top of the far circle where...um, no one was. The puck bounced harmlessly out of the zone, negating a 3-on-2. Been the story of the Canes' lives so far.
End 1st: The Canes have weathered a tough Canadiens storm in the first period, thanks mostly to solid play by Cam Ward. But needless to say, they'll need to play significantly better if they want to keep things that way. Shots in the first period were 11-5 Canadiens, pretty indicative of how the first period went.
1:02 2nd: Canes lead 1-0; LaRose 7 (Carter) (sh) It took Chad LaRose shaving off his seemingly-permanent 5:00 shadow but, hey, whatever works, right? Ryan Carter made the play happen with some great work on Roman Hamrlik in the low slot, setting a pick on Hamrlik while simultaneously spinning around and centering to LaRose, who had no one near him and wristed a shot from the far circle that Price got a piece of, but it wasn't enough as it trickled past his pads and into the net.
4:19 2nd: Great hustle play by Cole, forcing a turnover at the red line then skating in with authority and forcing the Habs to deflect the shot into the netting behind Price. It didn't hurt that the Canes had Jeff Skinner coming down the slot as a decoy.
4:47 2nd: Habs tie it at 1; Gomez 5 (Hamrlik, Spacek) Didn't take long for the Habs to answer. A couple of nice tape-to-tape passes between Jaroslav Spacek and Roman Hamrlik ended up spring Scott Gomez on a partial breakaway as he split the Canes' defense at the blue line, then skated in and fired a quick snap shot that beat Ward through the five hole to tie the game and get the Habs their long-overdue first goal.
7:15 2nd: Should be 2-1 Habs after Mike Cammalleri took advantage of a great screen of Ward provided by two of his own teammates, but while the puck beat Ward it was about three inches too high and deflected off the crossbar and into the netting behind the Carolina goal.
13:12 2nd: The Habs are having no problems driving the net, and their enthusiasm cost them a goal. Max Pacioretty tipped the puck into the net, but he also bowled into the net himself and cost the Habs a goal by interfering with Cam Ward. No penalty was called, but the goal was waved off immediately.
15:17 2nd: Canes take a 2-1 lead; Cole 7 (Staal) It would be nice if it were unassisted, because all Staal did was win the faceoff. Cole did the rest, singlehandedly willing the puck to the net then sweeping home the rebound after Price failed to cover.
15:26 2nd: Not ten seconds later, Cole took a major boarding penalty for hitting Jaroslav Spacek from behind in front of the Montreal bench. It was the best of times...
16:57 2nd: Habs tie it at 2; Kostitsyn 10 (Plekanec, Cammalleri) (pp) ...and the Canes paid for Cole's brain lapse. Andrei Kostitsyn was in perfect position just behind Joe Corvo at the top of the crease and tipped it home upstairs over Ward's blocker to tie it up, and the Habs remain on the power play.
19:00 2nd: Habs lead 3-2; Picard 3 (Gomez, Spacek) (pp) Two goals on the power play, this one assisted by the man who was boarded three minutes earlier and scored by a former Cane. Not much to describe here...great shot from the blue line beat Ward cleanly over the glove.
End 2nd: The Canes have :26 left to kill on the Cole penalty, and it wouldn't be far off the mark to say that Paul Maurice was rather displeased with both the penalty and his team's subsequent killing of said penalty. Shots in the period were 14-9 Canadiens, who led overall 25-14 in the game. The referees were serenaded with a chorus of boos on the way off the ice.
3:30 3rd: There has been a good number of fans and media (self included) wondering out loud why Zach Boychuk wasn't getting a shot with some offensively-gifted linemates. It wasn't by design, but Boychuk and Eric Staal found themselves on the ice at the same time during a line change and nearly created a goal. Not sayin', just sayin'.
4:50 3rd: Here's Joni Pitkanen's career in a nutshell: skate around the offensive zone in a circle, maintaining possession the entire time while circling behind the Habs' net, skate it back to the top of the crease, fire a shot that gets deflected, Habs shoot it out of harm's way. At this point, are you really surprised?
6:38 3rd: Huge save by Ward to keep it a one-goal game, doing a split to get his glove across to snare a Spacek shot from the point and keep it 3-2. He's certainly done his job tonight.
10:30 3rd: Canes are slowly turning the tide, with two great shifts in the Habs' zone ending with Lars Eller clearing the puck over the glass and earning a delay-of-game penalty. Not understating it to say this is a power play of consequence.
13:14 3rd: Nothing doing on the power play, thanks mostly to great play by the Habs in front of their own net. They were deflecting shots like crazy; only 2 shots made it through to Price the entire time even though the Canes spent most of the power play in the offensive zone.
End 3rd: Despite controlling play for long stretches of the third period, the Canes weren't able to get one past Price, the most egregious example being when Staal whiffed on an open net with 2:30 to go. A few seconds later, LaRose took a tripping penalty and the story was all but complete. Shots ended 10-4 Hurricanes in the third period as the Habs hunkered down into a shell, but Price had to come up big a few times and the Canes' own ineptitude burned them and kept them from tying the game late.
Postgame: Erik Cole certainly sounded like he wanted to take full responsibility for the loss, but as Paul Maurice said when discussing the penalty, "it was like arresting a telephone pole after a drunk driver hits it." In other words, it's a fair point to say that the Canes' coaching staff didn't exactly agree with the call.
Be that as it may, both Maurice and Eric Staal cited the Canes' penalty kill (or, tonight, the lack thereof) as the difference in the game, and Maurice made a point to say that the PK has gone downhill the last few games and needs to get back in gear. To say the least - the Sunday after Christmas brings the Washington Capitals to town for the second time this year, not to mention the associated road show with the HBO 24/7 special. Should be interesting, if nothing else.
Click for audio from Eric Staal and Erik Cole. Maurice's press conference is attached.
Back at it after the holiday and two days off (on which the Canes are forbidden from even practicing) when the Caps come to town on Sunday...
Thursday, December 23, 2010
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