Puck Drops - NC Sports Talk Network

2011 All-Star Game: Team Lidstrom 11, Team Staal 10

2011-01-30T20:57:00.001-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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Thirteen-plus years after the franchise moved to North Carolina, ten years after a local radio DJ spent four days on the roof of the arena to bring the event to town, and nine months after NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stood on stage before the team's season finale to announce it, the NHL's best have come to the RBC Center for the 58th NHL All-Star Game.

Just typing those words is a little surreal.

It's been a long road to this point, but it looks like the wait was worth it. All weekend, national media, players, team staff and fans have all been raving about the weekend, from the opening of the Fan Fair at the downtown convention center on Friday afternoon all the way through the tailgating (in no short supply, not to mention the beautiful weather) going on in the arena parking lot for the last two days - some of it nonstop.

They bill this as a celebration of hockey, but it's been more a celebration of Raleigh as a hockey market. To put it in religious terms, if the '02 Final was the Canes' baptism, the '06 Final was first Communion, and the 2011 All-Star Game is Confirmation - for the team, for the decision to move here in 1997, and for the market as a whole.

Last night's Super Skills competition, won by the such-as-it-is home team, Team Staal, was a great marketing tool for the league. It was a record-setting night, as evidenced by Zdeno Chara's 105.9 mph blast in the Hardest Shot competition, and it was a coming out party for the Canes' young superstar, Justin Bieb...um, Jeff Skinner, whose jersey Canadiens rookie P.K. Subban donned in the breakaway competition and immediately earned one of the loudest ovations of the night.

Today, things get down to business. Expect lots of scoring, very little backchecking and goaltenders under siege for the better part of three hours. At the end of the night, expect at least one team to put up numbers normally only accumulated in video games (the last All-Star Game ended 12-11, in overtime).

And expect a lot of memories, as a long-delayed promise finally comes to pass and the Hurricanes and their fans show why this market is never questioned as an NHL market anymore.

Pregame: I know there's not supposed to be cheering or emotions or anything in the press box. Too bad. For anyone who's been here for a long time, what just happened was indicative of what I meant by this market never being questioned. A short skit at center ice with some local youth hockey players involved the players picking sticks up off the ice to form their pickup teams. And when the kids picked up the sticks of Hurricanes legends Rod Brind'Amour and Ron Francis, who skated out to center ice, the roof of the building blew off in a way I haven't seen since the day the Canes won the Stanley Cup. Not embarrassed to admit it gave me goosebumps.

1st Intermission: OK, so live blogging just isn't going to work today. A little too fast-paced for that, but we'll recap after each period. The teams are tied at 4 after one, after Team Staal jumped out to a quick lead with four goals in the first six minutes. Team Lidstrom battled back, beating Cam Ward for four goals of their own after the midway point of the period. Jeff Skinner spent the first period on a line with Patrik Elias and Paul Stastny, and while both 26's got on the board Skinner was held scoreless and, in fact, took the least amount of ice time (3:36) of anyone on either team. In case you had forgotten, given all the hoopla surrounding him, Skinner is still a rookie - something that hasn't exactly escaped the attention of Joel Quenneville.

2nd Intermission: Just like the first period, Team Staal jumped out to an early multi-goal lead, then Team Lidstrom fought back and actually took the lead for the first time in the game, heading to the intermission up 7-6. The goalies, especially Team Lidstrom goalie Jonas Hiller, stood on their head for long stretches (at least, by the standards of the All-Star Game) and Hiller denied Jeff Skinner on a breakaway, thereby instantly making him public enemy number one. Also of interest: Alex Ovechkin refuses to shoot the puck for some strange reason. Not sure why, but it's been noticed by just about everyone in the press box. Also, Jeff Skinner has actually taken more ice time than some other players after playing what seemed like half of the second period. Whoever sets him up for a goal will have 18,000 new best friends.

Postgame: Team Lidstrom's lead held up through the third period, and they won 11-10 despite two third-period goals from hometown hero Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner's earning an assist on a Kris Letang goal, drawing a loud cheer from the partisan crowd. The Colorado Avalanche's Matt Duchene earned the first penalty shot in NHL history, when Alex Ovechkin threw his stick at Duchene to thwart a breakaway (for the record, Duchene didn't convert). Patrick Sharp of the Chicago Blackhawks earned MVP honors with a three-point night.

But the story of the last two days isn't what happened in the three hours on the ice Sunday afternoon. It's everything that went on before the game, and anyone who questions Raleigh as a hockey market after this weekend deserves the same confused look as those who disparage the likes of San Jose or Washington. There's plenty of things that the NHL did wrong in the mid-'90s. Moving a team to North Carolina, it can now be said without question, was not one of them.

Click for postgame audio from Alex Ovechkin, Marc Staal, a press conference with Eric Staal, Cam Ward and Jeff Skinner, and MVP Patrick Sharp.

We'll be back in a more normal atmosphere on Tuesday, when the Canes take to the ice to face the Boston Bruins. In all likelihood, Zdeno Chara will go from being one of the surprising fan favorites of this weekend back to being a target of catcalls. After this weekend, though, it'll almost be refreshing to hear.

I'm going to bed now.

Game 47: Hurricanes 4, Rangers 1

2011-01-20T22:40:00.000-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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Not much time to get a preview (actually, none, as a matter of fact), so let's get right into the action...

:45 1st: Didn't take long for the first good save by All-Star Henrik Lundqvist. Jussi Jokinen had the puck on his stick just outside the crease, and Lundqvist was out of position thanks to a rebound, but Jokinen's shot was somehow saved by Dan Girardi right on the goal line in the only spot Girardi's stick could have possibly swept it away. Bad luck for the Canes, who have controlled play early after an icing call just a few seconds into the game.

5:39 1st: Canes lead 1-0; LaRose 10 (Skinner, Ruutu) Well, that was a bizarre play to give the Canes the lead. A shot from the top of the far circle by Jeff Skinner was stopped by Lundqvist, who kicked out a rebound to Chad LaRose in the low slot. LaRose's rebound chance just barely trickled through Lundqvist's pads and looked to be headed into the net until Sean Avery swept in to save the day by swiping the puck off the goal line (yes, again). Unfortunately for Avery and the Rangers, the sweep off the goal line banked off Lundqvist and right back into the net, giving the Canes the lead.

13:20 1st: To say this game has been wide open is somewhat of an understatement. Cam Ward has been busy stopping three breakaways in the first 13 minutes, the latest to Mats Zuccarello. He's been sharp, but his defensemen have helped him out considerably by deflecting two of the breakaway shots over the net and out of the rink.

14:43 1st: Canes go up 2-0; Jokinen 12 (Corvo, Ruutu) (pp) Continuing the shoot-at-everything mantra that distinguished Tuesday's game against Boston, a Corvo slapper from the point on the first power play of the night was perfectly placed for Jussi Jokinen to just barely graze the puck and change its direction just enough to put it past Lundqvist and give the Canes a 2-0 lead.

16:33 1st: It's not obvious watching them play, because they've put plenty of pressure on Ward, but the Rangers are missing some key cogs, including leading scorer Brandon Dubinsky in tonight's game. That said, give them credit: if not for some sharp saves by Ward and (especially) some solid defensive play in front of the Canes' net, this game could easily be tied right now.

End 1st: A solid period for the Canes, especially given the fact that the Rangers played last night and they needed to take advantage of what could be some heavy legs on the other bench. The Rangers have been up to the task, but so has Cam Ward, and the Canes are in great position after twenty minutes. Shots are 16-11 Carolina.

1:10 2nd: The Rangers come out with some jump, and nearly get on the board as Matt Gilroy fires a shot that barely goes over the crossbar. Great start for New York, which badly needs to get on the board early lest they risk running out of gas the way the Canes did in the third period on Tuesday night.

5:41 2nd: Canes lead 3-0; Sutter (Samsonov) And just like that, the Rangers are in a three-goal hole. Brandon Sutter continued the breakaway parade to the north-end goal with a perfect pass from Sergei Samsonov that he deked and just barely backhanded past Lundqvist with maybe an inch of space between Lundqvist's right skate and the post. Perfectly placed, and it snaps a 16-game goal-less streak for Sutter.

10:55 2nd: The Canes nearly made it 4-0 on a 2-on-0 way down low. Too low, as Sergei Samsonov was too close to the goal line to have a good angle to convert Erik Cole's pass. Could easily be a four-goal lead now.

14:45 2nd: Two fights in nine seconds, first a split decision between Brandon Prust and Jay Harrison, then a clear decision for Kris Newbury over Ryan Carter. Says here the Rangers are a bit upset with how this game has gone.

15:43 2nd: Cam Ward robs Chad Kolarik from point-blank. Not going to say it, but I'll just say that Ward has been playing quite well.

End 2nd: A ridiculous shift that lasted about a minute in the Rangers zone didn't result in anything, but it did earn a standing ovation from the crowd as the Ruutu line managed to knock the sticks out from two Rangers players deep in the defensive zone. If the Rangers wanted to change the momentum with the two fights, it doesn't look like it worked too well. Shots are 28-25 Hurricanes overall, and the Rangers led 14-12 in the period.

6:00 3rd: A couple of huge saves, one at each end, keeps it 3-0. First Ward stoned Wojtek Wolski from close range while the Rangers were on their second power play of the night, then a few seconds later Erik Cole nearly hit Erik Staal on a shorthanded 2-on-1 that just barely handcuffed Staal enough that he couldn't get a clean shot off. The Rangers, like they did in the second period, have come out flying to start the 3rd, but Ward has shut them down.

11:40 3rd: Rangers break the shutout, Canes lead 3-1; Prust 6 (Kolarik, McDonagh) Admit it - you had the seven-letter word in your head too. Ward had the look of a guy going for a goose-egg tonight, but Brandon Prust put an end to hopes of a shutout by knuckling a puck over Ward's shoulder on a rebound. Not much Ward could have done there, except covered the rebound, but in his defense the guy has made 35 saves tonight.

15:51 3rd: Canes back up by 3; Skinner 17 (LaRose) Not much to say here other than Chad LaRose is having a great night. He made a great play coming out of the neutral zone, going behind the net and centering to Jeff Skinner at the top of the crease to restore their three-goal lead.

End 3rd: The performance resembled Tuesday's in how the Canes came out ready to play, and fortunately for the Canes the result was completely different. Cam Ward and Paul Maurice both talked about how they knew that another strong effort like Tuesday's, coming against a team with a ton of injuries and facing the second half of a back-to-back, would likely lead to good things, and indeed it did.

Interestingly, the Canes are now 12-2 when Jeff Skinner scores a goal, and have at least a point in every game (6-0-1) when Brandon Sutter scores.

Late in the game, Erik Cole got fed up with Sean Avery after a two-handed slash to the back of Cole's leg, and they earned misconduct penalties. Chad LaRose also mouthed off at Avery a few times, but when asked about it he politely deferred, saying "that's hockey". I guess that's one way to put it.

Click for audio from Brandon Sutter, Chad LaRose and Cam Ward. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.

The Canes head to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins on Saturday night, then they're back here for a Monday tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Live Blog has other obligations on Monday night, so we'll miss the start but we'll be here for the finish and we'll take you home with locker room audio. Hope you'll join us.

Game 46: Bruins 3, Hurricanes 2

2011-01-18T22:34:00.000-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Yesterday afternoon in Boston, the Hurricanes were manhandled, losing 7-0 to the Bruins while generally looking lackadaisical in all aspects of the game. Fortunately for the Canes, they don't have to wait long to exact some revenge.

The two teams meet again tonight, this time at the RBC Center, and the Canes know how important a focused effort is to gain a split in this home-and-home series. Cam Ward will be back in net tonight after being pulled in the first period yesterday afternoon, and he'll look to bounce back after a rough few minutes in Boston. Newly named All-Star captain Eric Staal will see plenty of Zdeno Chara, the hulking Bruins defenseman who scored his first career hat trick on Monday, and for the Canes to be successful they need Staal to lead the charge to dent Bruins goalie Tim Thomas.

Jiri Tlusty was activated off injured reserve yesterday, but he will not play again tonight. As a result, the Canes will have no lineup changes, although where the individual players fit in on the forward lines is anyone's guess.

The Canes look to earn a split tonight, and we're minutes away from getting started....

2:04 1st: Bruins take a 1-0 lead; Savard 3 (Boychuk, Ryder) (pp) Yesterday, it took the Bruins 7 minutes to open the floodgates. Tonight? Just more than two. Jussi Jokinen took an ill-timed tripping penalty just :17 into the game, and Johnny Boychuk made them pay with a slap shot from the right point that was tipped by Marc Savard and flew over Cam Ward's blocker. Ward was screened on the play, butstill...after getting run out of the building last night, this was far from the start the Hurricanes wanted.

5:49 1st: The B's are pouring it on right now. David Krejci nearly made it 2-0 with a shot that looked like it had Ward beat on the long side but just barely trickled to the left of the net. Shots are 6-2 Bruins, but it seems like they've had about 26.

10:00 1st: The Canes have no business with anything approaching a goal right now, but Sergei Samsonov nearly put the Canes on the board as Thomas was caught out of position for the first time all year and kicked a rebound right to Samsonov. Unfortunately for the Canes, Thomas barely got his right leg over and kicked out the rebound just in time.

13:10 1st: Business has started to pick up. Sergei Samsonov had his second glorious scoring chance in a span of three minutes denied by Thomas, this time with a real quick kick save on a play where he wasn't even sure a shot was coming from. A few seconds later, Jamie McBain (!) leveled Michael Ryder with a clean shoulder check at the blue line.

18:39 1st: Canes tie it at 1; Jokinen 11 (Staal, Corvo) (pp) I was just getting ready to declare this One Of Those Nights after Eric Staal made a behind-the-goalie pass to Jussi Jokinen in front of the net, but Jokinen double-clutched and couldn't bury it. Ten seconds later, Staal somehow got a pass through Thomas' pads and right to Jokinen at the near side of the crease, who didn't miss this time and tied it up at 1.

End 1st: The Canes had a look of jet lag in the first few minutes, no doubt helped along by the early Jokinen penalty, but they wound up outshooting the Bruins 19-11 in the period and were tilting the ice pretty sharply as the period went on. Thomas took a badly-advised forearm at Staal on a rush at the end of the period and ended up with a roughing penalty, meaning the Canes will start the 2nd on their third power play of the night.

1:10 2nd: While on the aforementioned power play, the Canes have looked nothing like the lethargic team from yesterday afternoon. Thomas has been flopping all over the place and the Canes have come dangerously close to converting, if only they had someone in position to pick up the loose change.

8:37 2nd: Thomas is, shall we say, a bit unconventional in his goaltending style, and the Canes have had him moving all over the place to the tune of a 32-14 shot advantage, meaning they've outshot the Bruins 13-3 in less than ten minutes of the period. Maybe a little home cooking in those stats, but it doesn't belie the fact that the Canes have been skating circles around the Bruins in the offensive zone.

10:11 2nd: Some of the saves Thomas have made have been rather unreal, and others have just been plain lucky. On a delayed penalty, Jeff Skinner was the victim of a lucky save, as Thomas quite literally did a split to kick the puck out with him way out at the top of the crease and all sorts of daylight behind him. The Canes have done everything but score, and they'll get another chance with the power play as Johnny Boychuk heads to the box for tripping Tuomo Ruutu behind the net.

12:58 2nd: Looks like Patrick Dwyer got the message about driving to the net, and he earned a shove or two from Zdeno Chara in the process. Still, that's the kind of grit and determination that was very conspicuously absent in yesterday's game.

19:18 2nd: Great defensive play by Eric Staal, tying up what would have been a sure goal from Shawn Thornton by knocking his stick off balance. Since the Bruins went on a power play at 16:17 thanks to a Patrick Dwyer delay of game penalty, the B's have slowly started to take the game back from the Carolina onslaught.

End 2nd: Shots in the second were 19-9 Canes, who led overall 38-20. However, the Dwyer penalty seemed to swing momentum back a bit toward Boston, and Thomas has stood on his head, so this game is far from over despite the huge shot discrepancy.

2:40 3rd: The Bruins came out of the locker room with all sorts of scoring chances, and it's obvious they've been told to shoot early and often. Ward has held his ground, and the Canes nearly got a goal out of a Thomas fumble at the other end. Say this for the B's defense - they haven't been called upon too much, but they've been there on the rare occasion that Thomas has needed some assistance tonight.

3:55 3rd: Bruins take a 2-1 lead; Marchand 10 (Chara, Recchi) And just like that, Thomas' heroics look like they might mean something. A point shot from Zdeno Chara made it through to Ward and he made the save, but Brad Marchand was parked at the top of the crease and shoveled the puck home to give the Bruins their second lead of the night.

7:30 3rd: When the Bruins get a lead, it's amazing to see them clog up the neutral zone. Every time the Canes regroup in their own zone, the B's park all five men in the neutral zone and make it impossible for anything to get through. The Canes are trying to beat it by dumping the puck in, but it's largely a futile exercise.

9:19 3rd: Canes tie it at 2; LaRose 9 (Ruutu, Skinner) The balloon has air again. Jeff Skinner made the play happen, with a quick backhander that was blocked by Thomas about ten feet up in the air. By the time the puck came back down, there were five guys in front of the net battling for position, and when the puck hit the ice Tuomo Ruutu passed across the crease to Chad LaRose, who slammed it home to tie it again.

10:42 3rd: I rarely get into officiating gaffes, but one was just made that is inexcusable. Somehow, 5'10" Chad LaRose was whistled for elbowing 6'9" Zdeno Chara, and on replay LaRose's elbow was absolutely nowhere near Chara. Chara sold it well, but c'mon.

11:59 3rd: Bruins lead 3-2; Lucic 17 (Recchi, Kampfer) (pp) You did know this was coming, right? Phantom call leads to a goal. Quelle surprise. Recchi centers to Lucic from behind the net on a beautiful pass and the rest is history. The crowd, needless to say, was a bit upset.

18:30 3rd: I stand corrected. LaRose did take a penalty on the play, but it was a high stick on Chara. Still, I question if the official realized it's rather difficult for a 5'10" guy to elbow a 6'9" one.

End 3rd: A late penalty to Ruutu for tripping didn't help the Canes' extra-attacker chances, and the Bruins left with a sweep of the home-and-home after a 3-2 win. Despite that, Paul Maurice was as upbeat as I've seen him after a loss, saying repeatedly that his guys gave everything they could and tonight it just wasn't enough. You got the sense talking to Maurice and especially Tuomo Ruutu that if they play like this on a regular basis, they know they'll not only be fine but they'll make the playoffs.

It was a playoff atmosphere at the RBC tonight, and that energy rubbed off on the bench, which is something the Canes sorely needed. They didn't want to be run out of their own building tonight the way they were the day before. Mission accomplished, although it wasn't the result they ultimately wanted.

Click for audio from Eric Staal, Tuomo Ruutu and Jussi Jokinen. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.

Back at it Thursday night when the New York Rangers come to town and the Canes look to build on tonight's performance. Despite the loss, there's a bunch there to build on, and we'll see how successful they are in doing so Thursday night.

Game 44: Hurricanes 6, Lightning 4

2011-01-15T22:29:00.000-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Two nights ago in Buffalo, the Hurricanes' eight-game point streak came to an end in a sloppy 4-3 loss to the Sabres. Tonight, they look to start a new streak with the Tampa Bay Lightning in town. The Lightning, for their part, lost a wild game 5-2 to the New Jersey Devils last night, their second straight loss to the team in the Eastern Conference basement. Needless to say, they'll be a fired-up bunch tonight.

Since the Canes and Lightning met last, a 5-1 Lightning win on December 21, the Lightning have significantly upgraded their goaltending by adding the ageless Dwayne Roloson, who will be in net tonight, from the New York Islanders. The Lightning have made a statement that they're a team to be reckoned with, jumping out to a two-point lead over the Washington Capitals in the Southeast Division while surprising nearly everyone along the way.

Just as surprising is the performance of the Hurricanes, facing a murderous first-half schedule yet still in sniffing distance of a playoff spot. The Canes made one roster move since Thursday's game, sending Zac Dalpe back to Charlotte and inserting Sergei Samsonov into the lineup after a healthy scratch on Thursday night. Cam Ward will be back in net tonight, as he will likely be in each game up through the All-Star break in two weeks.

We'll be otherwise occupied for most of tonight, so the blog entries might be a bit lighter than usual. However, you can always head to Twitter (http://twitter.com/puckdrops) for the latest and greatest...

End 1st: The Lightning had most of the solid play for long stretches of the first period, but somehow the Canes go to the locker room tied at 2 and if it wasn't for a bad defensive play by Joe Corvo they'd be in the lead. The Lightning opened the scoring with a Steven Stamkos goal 1:44 into the game, where he got loose behind the Canes defense and fired a shot through Ward's five-hole to put the Lightning on top. However, three minutes later Chad LaRose left the penalty box and earned a breakaway from the blue line in, beating Roloson with a backhand roofer.

The Canes got some good chances immediately after the LaRose goal, but slowly the Lightning started taking play back to the Canes' end of the ice. Cam Ward was sharp, and at one point the Canes were being outshot 12-3 while generally being outskated all over their offensive zone. They were also rather undisciplined, taking three penalties including a rather questionable charging penalty to Zach Boychuk that really earned the ire of the home crowd.

With 2:37 to go in the period, Jeff Skinner took advantage of an open net on a broken play for his 16th of the year to put the Canes in front and give them the chance to take a completely improbable lead into the locker room. However, with :23 left in the period Vincent Lecavalier established some separation behind Corvo and tipped a pass home from Martin St. Louis to tie it again at 2 heading to the locker room.

End 2nd: For a team that was outshot 13-5 in the first period, the Canes certainly turned things around in the second, piling 19 shots en route to taking a 5-3 lead after two. It started ominously for Carolina with a goal early in the period by Simon Gagne, who beat Ward on a broken play only 1:02 into the period.

After that, though, the Canes turned on the afterburners. It started with a Jamie McBain goal off a rebound from an Eric Staal shot, continued with a go-ahead goal from Jussi Jokinen on a 5-on-3 after the Lightning were whistled for two penalties in nine seconds, and continued with Eric Staal scoring shorthanded off a Cole setup after Roloson misplayed the puck and the Lightning bobbled the puck in their own zone.

A late LaRose tripping penalty didn't earn anything for the Lightning and they went to the locker room with a 5-3 deficit, and the Canes will have a chance to improve on their 13-0 record when leading after two periods with a solid third.

End 3rd/Postgame: The Lightning made things interesting with a Gagne breakaway goal halfway through the period, but the Canes held on for a 6-4 victory after Jussi Jokinen iced it with an empty-netter with seven seconds left. Gagne's goal was a classic bad bounce, as the puck bounced over Jamie McBain's stick at the blue line and sprung the Lightning forward on a breakaway from the red line that he didn't miss on. The Canes were back on their heels for a few minutes in the period, especially after Gagne's goal, but Cam Ward shut the door and kept the Lightning from getting any closer.

The Lightning pulled Roloson for the extra attacker with 1:38 to go, but a few seconds later their man advantage came to a quick end when Stamkos was called for interfering with LaRose's bid at the empty net. Stamkos earned a holding penalty, then he received an unsportsmanlike-conduct and a 10-minute misconduct for vehemently protesting to referee Francois St.-Laurent. The Canes took care of business the rest of the way, improving to 14-0 when leading after two periods.

Eric Staal passed Rod Brind'Amour for first place in points since the Canes' relocation, despite playing 172 fewer games than the former captain. It was a night of milestones, as Cam Ward tied Arturs Irbe's club record of games played since relocation, while defenseman Jay Harrison played his 100th career game, a testament to how his game has considerably improved over the last few seasons.

Click for audio from Eric Staal and Jussi Jokinen. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.

The Canes head to Boston for a Monday matinee with the Bruins before returning to Raleigh for the back half of the back-to-back against the Bruins on Tuesday. We'll be back, along with a more normal live blog, Tuesday night, and hope you'll join us as well.

Game 42: Hurricanes 6, Flames 5 (SO)

2011-01-11T22:53:00.001-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Dating to December 28, when Jim Rutherford made an intermission appearance in the Hurricanes locker room in Toronto to put a boot in the Canes' collective backsides, the Canes have rattled off a streak of seven straight games with at least a point. Tonight, they look to make it eight against a team they don't see all that often, although there's a familiar face on the other bench tonight.

Anton Babchuk and Tom Kostopoulos were traded to the Calgary Flames on November 17 for Ian White and Brett Sutter, and tonight is Babchuk's and White's first time facing their former teams. Kostopoulos, for his part, is in the building but not in uniform thanks to a six-game suspension he received for breaking the jaw of Detroit's Brad Stuart on Friday.

Jussi Jokinen returns to the Carolina lineup tonight, as Jon Matsumoto was sent back to Charlotte earlier today and the Canes have shuffled their lines accordingly. After sitting out Sunday's game against Atlanta, Cam Ward is back in net tonight, facing Miikka Kiprusoff, who has never lost to the Hurricanes in his career; he is 4-0 with two shutouts in his admittedly limited action against Carolina.

The Canes look to make it eight straight with a point while establishing their first three-game winning streak of 2011 tonight, and we're minutes away from puck drop...

2:15 1st: The Flames have carried play for just about every second so far. A pair of open-net scoring chances, one each for Niklas Hagman and Matt Stajan, were thwarted by some fortunate bounces as both went just wide of Cam Ward, but the Flames certainly look to be the more energetic team in the early going.

4:13 1st: Flames lead 1-0; Bouwmeester 4 (Iginla, Jokinen) Just like clockwork, a big save at one end results in a score at the other end. It's one of those hockey truisms that always seems to hold true, and it did here to put the Flames on the board. Kiprusoff robbed Zach Boychuk on a 2-on-1, kicking a puck out that he had no business stopping, and ten seconds later a centering pass from Jarome Iginla went off a Carolina skate in the slot and right to Jay Bouwmeester, who roofed a shot high over Ward's stick to put the Flames on the board first.

7:30 1st: Erik Cole comes cruising through the slot and Adam Pardy knocks him down, earning a tripping penalty. I mention this only in case there are some Pardy-related puns later in the live blog.

11:46 1st: Canes tie it at 1; Ruutu 11 (LaRose, Skinner) A minute after a second power play expired, the Canes were the beneficiary of some great down-low cycling by Jeff Skinner, who found Chad LaRose alone at the top of the far circle. LaRose let a shot go that was cleanly tipped by Tuomo Ruutu for his sixth point in the last three games.

13:06 1st: Flames back up 2-1; Iginla 18 (Tanguay, Jokinen) Might as well get used to seeing "Jokinen" in the scoring of Flames goals, given his past history against Carolina This time, he was a bit player in a great give-and-go between Alex Tanguay along the near boards and Jarome Iginla in the low slot. Iginla's first shot was stopped cleanly by Cam Ward, but the rebound came right back to Iginla and he didn't miss again, putting the Flames back up by one.

16:29 1st: Canes tie it again, this time at 2; Jokinen (Sutter) Welcome back to the lineup, Jussi. He did just about everything on that goal, including a sweet bank pass to Brandon Sutter through the neutral zone to get it behind the Flames defense, then a centering pass from Sutter back to Jokinen did the rest as Jokinen tied it with a nice backhand tip as he avoided Adam Pardy's stick. That's right, it's Pardy time to celebrate Jokinen's return.

End 1st: We're tied after 1, as the Canes really came on late after being badly outplayed to start the game. Shots were 11-6 Flames, with most of that margin coming in the first eight minutes or so of the period.

1:27 2nd: You know how you're having a bad night with the man advantage? You're being outshot 3-0 while on the power play, and you just iced the puck. Ouch.

2:16 2nd: Canes lead 3-2; Cole 12 (Jokinen, Samsonov) For all the trouble the Canes are having while up a man, they're doing just fine immediately after their power plays end. This time, it was a sweet centering pass from Jokinen behind the net to Cole in front, as he battled to establish position and tipped the puck home to give the Canes their first lead of the night.

5:37 2nd: Canes now up 4-2; Staal 21 (White, Ward) Miikka Kiprusoff's night is over after a weird bounce, but you can't deny that he's been a bit shaky with four goals on eight shots. Eric Staal's seemingly harmless shot bounced off the stick of Flames defenseman Mark Giordano and changed directions just enough to get the puck through Kiprusoff's five-hole. The Flames inserted Henrik Karlsson for his first career action against Carolina.

6:53 2nd: Here's an odd stat: the Canes are 0-4 and generally rather inept on the power play tonight, yet three of their four goals have come within 1:06 of the expiration of a man advantage, including the last two which were scored eight and five seconds, respectively, after the end of a power play.

14:50 2nd: Canes lead 5-2; Jokinen 8 (Sutter, Gleason) When it's your night, it's your night, and it's most certainly Jussi Jokinen's night. His third point of the night has given the Canes a three goal lead on his second goal of the night, a double-deflection off a Gleason shot that was tipped in front by both Brandon Sutter and finally deflected upstairs by Jokinen over Karlsson's glove. The assists were given on the ice to Gleason and Dwyer, but it looked to me like Sutter got wood on it too.

16:48 2nd: Flames back to 5-3; Hagman 9 (unassisted) And just like that, it's a game again. Niklas Hagman was the beneficiary of a ruthless forecheck by Matt Stajan who knocked down Tuomo Ruutu and set the table for Hagman to wire a wrister high over Ward's glove to pull the Flames back within two.

End 2nd: Well, that was interesting. The Canes outshot the Flames 11-8 in the period, but the Flames were really energized after Hagman's goal and had the Canes back on their heels right up to the end of the period. The end of the period came at the perfect time to stem the Flames' tide.

1:31 3rd: Flames pull to one at 5-4; Glencross 10 (Hagman, Regehr) The momentum from the end of the second period has indeed carried over to the third, and Curtis Glencross (really?) has his fourth goal in as many career games against Carolina to make it a one-goal game. Nice play by Glencross to wire a wrister from 20 feet right between Ward's glove and blocker, but really, the Canes have had no interest in playing defense tonight and it's coming back to bite them.

3:03 3rd: Ian White's skate kept the game from being tied as Olli Jokinen had a wide open net and it was only a redirection by White that deflected the puck up to bounce off the crossbar instead of into the net. Paul Maurice called timeout to remind his troops that the game still has 17 minutes to go, in slightly saltier language than I just used.

4:52 3rd: After taking a harmless shot on Karlsson, Jeff Skinner was met behind the net by the glove of Cory Sarich, and to his credit Skinner stood up for himself and gave Sarich a facewash back. Chad LaRose, meanwhile, came flying in from the blue line and clobbered Sarich with a right, earning himself a roughing penalty to match Sarich's. In one man's opinion, Sarich deserved a double minor, but that's why I'm a lowly reporter.

7:39 3rd: Flames tie it at 5; Bourque 14 (Morrison, Jackman) And if you didn't see this coming, you've been watching a different game. A broken play in front of the net ended up with the puck on Rene Bourque's stick at the top of the crease, and he backhanded it home to tie the game.

7:53 3rd: A few seconds later, Jeff Skinner leveled Curtis Glencross on what looked to the world to be a clean hit yet somehow earned a boarding penalty. Skinner earned a round of applause when his penalty was announced. That pretty much says it all.

15:45 3rd: There hasn't been a stoppage in nearly seven minutes. Unbelievable action, and both teams have had good chances.

17:33 3rd: Ward gets a lucky whistle after he and the official thought he covered the puck a split second before it popped out to the near side. Huge break for the Canes.

End 3rd: Off to OT, again. Canes now have points in eight straight games, a season high.

2:48 OT: Rene Bourque is called for slashing Cole's stick out of his hands, the Flames' third slashing penalty tonight. Canes have a 4-on-3.

End OT: Off to a shootout as the Canes couldn't convert and then (fittingly) after the power play ended Karlsson robbed Jokinen from point-blank. Shots were 32-30 Flames.

Postgame: In a bit of poetic justice, Jeff Skinner scored the only goal of the shootout to lift the Canes to a 6-5 win in a wild game that left both coaches with a good bit less hair than they started the game with. According to Paul Maurice, it's the type of game "where both coaches need showers after it's done". But as Maurice then went on to say, the Canes learned a lot about their young star tonight, after Skinner's frustrations at repeated non-calls boiled over and he took the boarding penalty on Glencross. Maurice admitted that he wouldn't have even minded a major penalty there given how the night had gone.

No audio tonight owing to some technical difficulties. It was one of those nights even for equipment.

The Canes head to Buffalo on Thursday for a matchup with the Sabres, then they're right back here Saturday night when the Tampa Bay Lightning come to town, no doubt with plenty of natural-forces jokes in the house. Hope you'll join us for the sideshow.

Puck Drops catches up with Zach Boychuk

2011-01-10T11:05:00.000-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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A month ago, we were in Charlotte to get a read on how the Canes' prospects were doing on what was, at the time, one of the AHL's hottest teams. The Checkers have cooled off significantly since then, but a big factor is that both Zac Dalpe and Zach Boychuk are no longer with the team, having been called up to play with the Hurricanes and having plenty of success in doing so.

Boychuk in particular has seen a steep rise. When he first came up, he was playing on the fourth line with Troy Bodie and Ryan Carter. A month later, he's on a line with presumptive All-Star Eric Staal and playing upwards of 20 minutes per night against the best in the NHL. No pressure, right?

Actually, no. We caught up with him last night after the Canes' overtime win over Atlanta and it's obvious from talking to him that his confidence is through the roof right now. As I told him at the end, I'm heading back to Charlotte at the end of February, and I hope for his sake I don't see him back down there. The way he's playing, that seems pretty unlikely.

Click here for the audio of my chat with Boychuk.

Game 41: Hurricanes 4, Thrashers 3 (OT)

2011-01-09T23:44:00.001-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Yes, it's been a while since we did a live blog. It's been a long couple of weeks, to be sure, and in the meantime we missed some rather entertaining tilts. The Canes enter today's game after beating the Florida Panthers in Sunrise for the second time this season, both games involving comebacks from two-goal deficits.

After having good luck with injuries for the first part of the season, the Canes have hit a bit of a rough patch. Joni Pitkanen returns to the lineup this afternoon after a lower-body injury and the birth of his son yesterday, but Jussi Jokinen remains on the shelf with a lower-body concern of his own, joined today by Cam Ward who suffered a lower-body injury on Wednesday in New York. Ward will serve as the backup this afternoon, meaning Justin Peters will get a chance to win a game against a team not named the Florida Panthers for the first time this season; he's 2-0 against the Panthers and 0-4-1 against everyone else.

The Thrashers have surprised this season and currently sit in a playoff position, following the lead of their young core, including captain and former Hurricane Andrew Ladd. Goalie Ondrej Pavelec has been sensational more often than not, so the Canes will have some work to do if they want to leave today's game with a win. That said, the Thrashers were destroyed 9-3 on Friday night against Toronto, so they'll have retribution on their mind this afternoon and the Canes need to be ready for the onslaught, if and when it comes along.

Will it be an afternoon delight for the Canes? We're about to find out...

:55 1st: The first thing you notice about the Thrashers is that they crash the net with reckless abandon, and Justin Peters is going to have to be on his guard all day. However, the Canes were the beneficiary of some too-anxious forechecking by Chris Thorburn, who earned a tripping penalty for knocking down Brandon Sutter at the top of the Carolina crease.

1:20 1st: Canes lead 1-0; Ruutu 10 (Corvo) (pp) Twenty-five seconds later, the power play cashes in on a great individual play by Joe Corvo. He took the puck behind the Carolina net and went coast-to-coast, undressing the Atlanta defense at the blue line and earning a 2-on-0 down low that Tuomo Ruutu converted on a nice drop pass. It's the Canes' first power-play goal in three games.

7:13 1st: The goal notwithstanding, the Thrashers have really asserted play early in the game. They're getting two men in on the forecheck every time the puck enters the Carolina zone, and it looks like they're really targeting Joe Corvo to knock him off of his game. So far the Canes have responded, and if they can stem the tide it will be tough for the Thrashers to keep this level of intensity through the entirety of the game.

11:38 1st: For some reason, the Canes tend to earn quite a few gifts from opposing goaltenders in their division. This time, Pavelec handed the puck straight to Eric Staal at the top of the far circle, but the puck was on Staal's backhand and by the time he wheeled around to shoot Pavelec scrambled back to kick the puck out.

11:46 1st: Thrashers tie it at 1; Little 11 (Antropov, Enstrom) (pp) And like clockwork the Canes' missed chance bites them. Justin Peters lost his balance and fell down while trying to play a wraparound, and Bryan Little easily deposited the loose change on the power play to tie it at 1.

End 1st: A late-period power play for the Canes didn't bear any fruit, and the teams head to the locker rooms tied at 1. Shots were 9-8 Canes, appropriate for a very evenly-played and entertaining period.

2:00 2nd: The Thrashers have gotten much better in front of their own net since last year, evidenced by Nik Antropov (who, in the past, has been anything but a defensive specialist) successfully tying up Ruutu's stick as Ruutu tried to convert a one-time pass from Chad LaRose behind the net. Pavelec has been good, but he's been helped significantly by solid defensive play.

3:57 2nd: Canes lead 2-1; Dalpe 3 (Dwyer, Ruutu) Goals don't get much prettier than that, even for guys who have played in the league for years and aren't in their first week of regular NHL duty. Zac Dalpe came flying through the zone and crashed the net just in time for Patrick Dwyer to find him on a perfect pass that Dalpe had to tip out of midair and over Pavelec's shoulder to put the Canes back in front.

5:33 2nd: Canes lead 3-1; Skinner 14 (Corvo, McBain) (pp) The Canes got a break on a badly overplayed puck by Pavelec on a power play, and when he kicked the puck out it went right to Jeff Skinner, who fired a rocket slapper that Pavelec actually got a glove on but it wasn't nearly enough to stop it from hitting the top corner.

6:59 2nd: Most of the folks in the building thought Eric Staal had made it 4-1, but referee Gord Dwyer disagreed by saying that Erik Cole interfered with Dustin Byfuglien at the top of the crease, and while it won't make the fans any happier it was absolutely the correct call. Cole knocked over Byfuglien, who was nowhere near the puck, and shoved him into the net. That's textbook interference, even if it isn't called all that often.

7:57 2nd: Thrashers make it 3-2; Bergfors 9 (Ladd, Enstrom) (pp) And, predictably, the Thrashers make it 3-2 instead of being down 4-1 on the ensuing power play. Niclas Bergfors wired a high wrister from the far circle that Peters had little chance of stopping. The boos rained down from the paying customers after the goal, to the surprise of no one.

13:50 2nd: More shocking news: every potential call in the Canes' favor that isn't called is met with some anger by the crowd, and apparently by Jeff Skinner as well. After Rich Peverley cross-checked Skinner in the slot with no call, Skinner took his aggression out on Zach Bogosian with a surprisingly solid body-check into the boards in the far corner.

End 2nd: The Canes will begin the third period on a power play after Tobias Enstrom hauled down Erik Cole late in the period. Another solid period for both teams, with the Thrashers outshooting the Canes 12-10 in the period to take a 20-19 overall lead.

6:00 3rd: After the sometimes frenetic pace fo the first two periods, the game has really settled down to start the 3rd. The Canes could get nothing going on their early power play and neither team has had a chance to get anything established in their offensive zone. That's a trade the Canes will gladly take.

7:59 3rd: A wild play in front of Pavelec, with no fewer than seven players crashing the crease and Jeff Skinner doing his best to shovel the puck home, with no luck. Given the circumstances, I'm rather surprised it didn't find its way in, because the guys in the crease looked like bowling pins trying to knock each other over.

10:42 3rd: Thrashers tie it at 3; Little 12 (Stewart, Enstrom) That Cole interference penalty is looming rather large right now, as Bryan Little sneaked behind the defense and roofed a wrister from the near circle to tie the game on his second of the day. Nice move by Little, not so nice by the Canes' defense which couldn't keep up with Little's speed through the neutral zone.

14:15 3rd: Things have started to heat up a bit again. Erik Cole drove the net and knocked Pavelec over, earning a no-call that had Thrashers radio man Dan Kamal in the booth behind us completely apoplectic, and for good reason. The Canes couldn't take advantage of the good fortune, even though Pavelec had lost his stick in the play and couldn't cover the puck using only his pads. A copule of great plays by Ron Hainsey bailed Pavelec out.

16:10 3rd: After the puck jumped Dustin Byfuglien's stick at the blue line, Zach Boychuck led out of the zone on a 2-on-1 but his attempted pass was thwarted by a perfect defensive play from Tobias Enstrom.

End 3rd: The Canes were able to kill off a Chad LaRose tripping penalty with three minutes left and had some great chances off a faceoff in the Thrashers' zone with 20 seconds left, but Pavelec stood tall and earned the Thrashers a point in the standings.

2:08 OT: Canes win 4-3; Cole 11 (White, Staal) And in a bit of poetic justice, the man who was denied a goal earlier in the game gets the game-winner in overtime. Erik Cole certainly felt vindicated, as he was literally screaming at referee Gord Dwyer in a "How do you like me now?" combination of anger, exhiliration and swagger before being mobbed by his teammates. Something tells me Dwyer was less than pleased with the outburst, but considering the game was over, what was he to do?

After the game, it was obvious that both Cole and Paul Maurice felt that Cole's waved-off goal should have counted, and Cole got another verbal swipe in at the officials when talking to the media. That said, this was a big win for a team that could have easily crumpled up and pouted when denied a goal. Instead, they've taken a point from every game in the last seven, and have pulled to within three points of 8th-place Montreal, with a game in hand.

Back at it when Anton Babchuk returns to Raleigh with the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night to face the Canes for the only time this season...

Game 33: Canadiens 3, Hurricanes 2

2010-12-23T22:31:00.001-05:00

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...

Game 31: Hurricanes 4, Ducks 2

2010-12-18T22:41:00.000-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
Email Puck Drops

Two weeks ago, the Hurricanes left on their longest non-State Fair road trip of the season, a five game trip through cities where the Canes have historically not played very well. And although the trip went according to form in Nashville in the first game of the trip, the Canes earned points in their next four games and return home tonight on a three-game winning streak that few could have predicted when the team hit the road.

Tonight, the Canes come back to Raleigh and face the Anaheim Ducks, a familiar team to two of the newest members of the Hurricanes. Troy Bodie and Ryan Carter were acquired within a few days of each other by waiver claim and trade, respectively, and each has solidified the Canes' fourth line in their short stint with the team. They'll play tonight with Zach Boychuk, who makes his season debut after being one of the final cuts in training camp and subsequently setting the world on fire in the American Hockey League. Boychuk ranks second in the AHL in points, with 32 in 28 games with the Charlotte Checkers, and it looks like the early-season demotion has worked wonders for a guy who looks like he may be a long-term linemate of Eric Staal in the distant future. Boychuk replaces Jiri Tlusty, who is out for tonight's game with an upper-body injury courtesy of a Ben Eager charging penalty on Thursday night in Atlanta.

At the other end, the Ducks are surprisingly competitive this season, ranking one point behind division-leading Dallas in the Pacific Division. Most of their core that won a Stanley Cup in 2007 has moved on, but they still have the likes of Corey Perry, captain Ryan Getzlaf and the ageless Teemu Selanne playing alongside youngsters like Bobby Ryan and rookie Cam Fowler, who fell to #12 in the draft this past June but has played like he has something to prove after falling that low.

The Canes are riding a season-high winning streak entering tonight game; can they extend it to four after tonight? We're about to find out...

2:20 1st: And just like we planned it, the fourth line gets a great scoring chance on its first shift of the game. Boychuk skated into the slot from the far corner splitting the Ducks' defense and firing a quick snap shot on Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller, who was quick with a kick save.

2:39 1st: Ducks lead 1-0; Getzlaf 12 (Perry, Ryan) And just like that, down come the Ducks, forcing a turnover and taking the first lead of the night. A bad turnover in a clearing attempt up the far boards from Jay Harrison was intercepted with ease by Bobby Ryan, who fed Corey Perry in the far circle. Perry fired a shot that was stopped by Cam Ward, but Jamie McBain lost track of Ryan Getzlaf in the low slot and Getzlaf cleaned up the rebound easily, firing it through Ward's five-hole to give the Ducks the lead.

7:00 1st: It looks like the Canes have resolved to not feel sorry for themselves after the goal, and the top line of Eric Staal, Erik Cole and Jeff Skinner spent more than a minute of uninterrupted time in the Ducks' zone, culminating in a cross-checking penalty to Getzlaf to give the Canes the first power play of the night.

7:27 1st: Canes tie it at 1; Staal 14 (Jokinen, Pitkanen) (pp) And it doesn't take long for the Canes to make the Ducks pay for Getzlaf's penalty. Jussi Jokinen found Eric Staal all alone at the blue line, and in a monumental defensive lapse the Ducks completely lost track of him, giving him all sorts of space to come in and create a play. That's exactly what the Canes' captain did, beating Hiller with a shot that Hiller should have stopped; he looked up at the ceiling as soon as the puck went through him. No question that's one he wants back.

13:30 1st: The game has settled down a bit, with neither team getting much in the way of quality chances and the biggest hit for either team coming a few minutes ago when Todd Marchant wiped out and bowled over Cam Ward, drawing a response from the Canes.

16:45 1st: The Canes get away with one, as Cam Ward loses his stick to the near corner and isn't able to retrieve it, yet he still manages to kick out a Saku Koivu shot to keep the game tied A few seconds later, the Canes cleared the zone and Ward got his stick back.

17:30 1st: Less than a minute later, Ward absolutely robbed Perry on a deflection chance that had five-hole goal written all over it. He's had a great period, which is only about the fifteenth time that's been said this month.

19:34 1st: Canes lead 2-1; Staal 15 (McBain, Jokinen) (pp) Look out, here comes the Carolina power play, and Eric Staal has two in the first period to get the Canes to 2-for-2 with the man advantage. A shot from the blue line by Jamie McBain looked like a designed shot to miss the net, and it did its job, bouncing off the boards to the left of Hiller and right to Staal, who was untouched at the far post and tipped home the rebound past Hiller's outstretched left leg to give the Canes their first lead of the night.

End 1st: Shots in the first were tied at 11 apiece, and the Canes certainly looked to have the better play late in the period after a Pitkanen holding-the-stick penalty that they successfully killed. Good to see the Canes haven't fallen into the first-game-after-a-road-trip pit tonight.

1:41 2nd: Canes lead 3-1, Staal with a hat trick; Staal 16 (Cole, Skinner) A natural hat trick is a great way to come home after two weeks on the road, no? Eric Staal notched his twelfth career hat trick with a lucky bounce off the skate of Anaheim's Cam Fowler. A centering pass from Jeff Skinner behind the net bounced off Fowler and right to Erik Cole, who centered to Staal for his third of the evening and second straight from just outside the crease.

9:00 2nd: Since the Staal goal, the Ducks have calmed down and killed off a penalty while slowly tilting the ice toward Cam Ward, who's stood tall in net. Perry will be seeing Ward's glove in his dreams tonight after being robbed twice by the Carolina netminder.

11:35 2nd: Staal just about had a fourth, off a great Skinner centering pass with Staal camped out at his designated spot to the left of Hiller, but Cam Fowler broke up the pass as Staal one-timed some air instead of the puck.

16:10 2nd: Fowler's done a great job of getting his stick in passing lanes tonight. The third one I can remember in the game broke up a shorthanded 2-on-1, with Chad LaRose trying to find Ryan Carter 30 feet from the Anaheim goal but Fowler's deflection tipped the puck out of line and the Ducks came back the other way.

17:35 2nd: Another Ward denial of Perry. Ho hum.

18:30 2nd: Since giving up the first goal, one that he was not at fault in the least on, Ward has played out of his mind, stopping the next 23 Anaheim shots, some of them in highlight-reel fashion. Safe to say that two-goal game in Florida was a fluke now, no?

End 2nd: The Ducks did everything they could to score in that period, but if not for Staal there would be no question that Ward would be the first star. He's played great, keeping the Ducks at bay for the last 37-plus minutes. Shots in the second were 15-11 Ducks, who hold a 26-22 overall league.

3:35 3rd: Ward is absolutely on fire now. The Ducks had a 3-on-1 down low and Ward robbed Ryan Getzlaf with a kick save while Teemu Selanne was interfering with him, then a few seconds later snared a point shot from Paul Mara that looked like it might have changed direction in front of the net.

4:25 3rd: And another 2-on-1 for Carter and LaRose is broken up by Fowler. This time, the pass actually got through, but Carter had to elevate the puck to avoid Fowler's stick and LaRose couldn't bury the bouncing puck.

11:15 3rd: Staal's had a couple of chances for his fourth of the night, and it took a stop by Hiller in Ward-ian fashion to deny Staal off a great centering pass from Jeff Skinner, who's quietly had a very effective game despite only tallying one assist tonight.

13:22 3rd: And just like that, Skinner nearly scores on a weird knuckling puck that bounced off both Staal's stick and Skinner's glove en route to Hiller making a really challenging save. The way things have gone tonight, it wouldn't have been surprising at all to see it go in.

17:29 3rd: Three penalties for the Canes in thirty seconds: Corvo for roughing, Sutter for closing his hand on the puck, and Staal for high sticking. The Canes' bench is apoplectic.

18:12 3rd: Ducks cash in: Getzlaf 13 (Visnovsky, Perry) (pp) The 5-on-3 remains so, as Ryan Getzlaf scores on a shot from the blue line that Ward was screened on with a few seconds left in the Corvo penalty.

18:55 3rd: Ward with an incredible save on Saku Koivu from point-blank. Words can't describe what a save that was. Simply incredible.

End 3rd: Joe Corvo iced it with an empty-net goal with 4.7 seconds left, and immediately was sucker-punched by Corey Perry, sparking what almost turned into a line brawl while the Canes bench was celebrating the goal, with Brandon Sutter of all people getting in a few haymakers on Perry before they were separated. Needless to say, if these two teams saw each other more than once per year there would be some fireworks. Shots in the third were 19-10 Ducks, meaning Ward earned his second straight win with more than 40 saves, the first time a Canes goalie has done that since Sean Burke in December of 1997, months after the team moved to North Carolina.

Postgame: Paul Maurice was on a roll tonight, answering questions about Corvo's penalty, the 6-on-3 kill late in the game and Ward's performance with a wry smile indicating that he was quite pleased with most of the team's game tonight. And with good reason: the team is on a roll now, with their first four-game winning streak of the season and a goaltender playing as well as any goalie in the NHL at the moment. Often, these first games back after a long road trip can be devoid of much excitement, but that was far from the case tonight.

Click for locker room audio from Eric Staal and Cam Ward. Maurice's press conference is attached.

The Canes now head to Tampa for a Monday date with the Lightning, then they're back here for a faceoff with Montreal next Thursday. We'll be back here then, and hope you'll join us as well.

Puck Drops Road Trip: Charlotte Checkers 5, Hershey Bears 3

2010-12-12T18:29:00.000-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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When the Canes are in the midst of a two-week road trip and you're in the mood to check up on the Canes of the future, what do you do? Well, if you're the Puck Drops Mobile, you gas up and hit the road to Charlotte, which is where we come to you today as the Charlotte Checkers, the Canes' American Hockey League affiliate, face off against the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears, the AHL affiliate of Southeast Division rival Washington.

And it's largely a good time to visit. The Checkers were the hottest team in the AHL in November, and when they played Hershey on Friday night the Checkers lost in a shootout despite 48 saves from Justin Pogge. Since the AHL generally schedules two-game series for visiting teams, the Bears are looking for a sweep this afternoon.

The names you'll see in this afternoon's live blog will be somewhat familiar: Boychuk, Samson, Bowman, Borer, Pogge, and so forth. The Bears even have a former Hurricane of their own; one of their associate captains is Keith Aucoin, who spent three seasons in the Carolina system. The Checkers, of course, are also coached by a former Hurricane, retired forward and former assistant coach Jeff Daniels.

Never done an AHL live blog before, so apologies if it isn't what you expect. Honestly, I'm not sure what to expect either...

2:45 1st: It took a few minutes to get off the ground, as the Checkers spent most of the first minute on their heels in their own zone, but the fourth line of Brett Sutter, Riley Nash and Brad Herauf nearly scored with some great down-low pressure and a couple of huge hits behind the net.

3:31 1st: Checkers lead 1-0; Dalpe 11 (Boychuk, Micflikier) Well, if you were interested in seeing what Zach Boychuk and Zac Dalpe could do against lesser competition, a trip to Charlotte is in your best interests. The Bears' defense couldn't get back in time to keep Dalpe and Boychuk from creating a 2-on-1, and Dalpe converted with a perfectly placed one-timer off a Boychuk pass from the near circle.

6:32 1st: Should have been 2-0 if not for an amazing save by a Bears defenseman. Oskar Osala forced Bears goalie Braden Holtby to cough up the puck behind the net and centered to Riley Nash before Holtby could get back in the net, but Nash's bid at a wide-open net was denied by a last-gasp save from the Bears' Sean Collins to keep it a one-goal game.

8:47 1st: Checkers lead 3-0 after two goals in 13 seconds: Micflikier 12 (Boychuk, Dalpe) at 8:34, then Pistilli 1 (Matsumoto, Osala) at 8:47 The Bears are a good team, and the Checkers are just skating circles around them right now. First in line was a shot from Zach Boychuk that even fooled the guy with his hand on the goal horn trigger when the shot hit the post even though everyone in the building thought it was going in, but the puck bounced to Jacob Micflikier who roofed home the rebound to give the Checkers a 2-0 lead.

Then, thirteen seconds later, Matthew Pistilli scored his first AHL goal by cleaning up a broken play off a bad rebound from Holtby, who kicked the puck right to him. So far, so good if you're wearing red. Not so good for the guys in white, who called timeout after the Pistilli goal to calm the troops down.

12:47 1st: The Checkers really are bringing a mean forecheck today. They've already drawn two penalties from hard work deep in the Hershey zone, and they're really forcing Holtby to be back on his heels with good redirection bids and really crisp passing down low. Of course, a lot of that is on the Hershey defense, which is doing nothing to prevent those passes from connecting.

13:49 1st: Charlotte's lead cut to 3-1; Beagle 7 (Kane) (sh) And it looked similar to something we'd see the Hurricanes do: soft coverage in the defensive zone left goaltender Mike Murphy with no help. He made the first stop on Jay Beagle as Beagle and Boyd Kane gained the zone with speed, but he couldn't cover the rebound and Beagle roofed it over Murphy's glove.

End 1st: The Bears' timeout after the third Checkers goal came at a perfect time, as they played much more confidently toward the end of the period and they forced Murphy to make some big saves. The Checkers' defense, though, seems much more adaptable than the Bears, and they're doing a good job of getting their sticks in the passing lanes and denying the Bears open looks. Shots in the first period were 12-7 Checkers.

:45 2nd: Nice sequence by the Checkers defense, which kept the Bears off the board with a nice pressure deep in the zone. After Murphy made an initial save, the defense pushed Steve Pinizzotto off the puck just enough to prevent him from elevating the rebound over Murphy and into the net.

6:25 2nd: Jon Matsumoto nearly created a goal out of very literally nothing. He danced the puck around the Bears' Lawrence Nycholat, fired a shot high that Holtby batted down with his blocker, then nearly shoveled home the rebound. Great individual effort.

9:10 2nd: Great play by Zack FitzGerald to block a shot from the point and pool-cue the puck out of the Charlotte zone, but it should have never gotten to that point. The Bears are really flying right now and they've forced the Checkers to play catch-up for most of this period.

13:20 2nd: Pistilli nearly had his second, and he deserved it, undressing Nycholat (who, despite what you've read here today, is actually a pretty good player) for the second time in seven minutes and surprising Holtby with a quick snap shot from just outside the crease.

16:10 2nd: FitzGerald gets into fisticuffs for the second time, this time with a two-punch takedown of Bears captain Steve Pinizzotto behind the Checkers' net. He earned a double-minor for roughing.

17:19 2nd: Bears pull to 3-2; Souray 1 (Nycholat) (pp) And after Casey Borer took a slashing penalty that he vehemently disagreed with, the Bears made them pay on the 5-on-3 with a wicked one-timer from Sheldon Souray at the top of the far circle that beat Murphy cleanly to the blocker side.

End 2nd: You can tell that these teams are getting rather annoyed with each other after five period of hockey over the last three days. There's a lot of chippiness out there, and just about every whistle late in the period resulted in a scrum behind the net. Shots in the period were 14-9 Hershey, who had by far the better scoring chances from start to finish.

3:10 3rd: One thing I've really been impressed with seeing is how physical Zach Boychuk has attempted to play tonight. I say "attempted" because, well, he's not exactly the biggest guy in the world (188 pounds soaking wet) and both guys he's attempted to level with a big hit have stayed completely upright and Boychuk has bounced off both of them like he was rubber. Points for effort, though.

7:00 3rd: The intermission looks like it did some good for the Checkers, who have kept the Bears safely away from Murphy for the most part. Of course, as I type that, the Bears spend a full minute in the Charlotte zone with the Checkers unable to clear. Shows what I know.

9:12 3rd: No surprise given his past, but Jeff Daniels looks like he's been to the Paul Maurice School of Power Play Design for a few classes. All night, he's used Zac Dalpe at the left point on the power play, and it almost paid off as Dalpe skated in unmolested and nearly caught Holtby cheating off the near post.

10:09 3rd: I'm not sure how the officials missed this, but the Bears blatantly had too many men on the ice and it took every member of the Checkers screaming at the officials for the linesman to make the call. Rather inexcusable.

10:46 3rd: Two goals in less than a minute again - this time 20 seconds apart! Rodney 5 (Boychuk, Matsumoto) (pp) at 10:26, then Micflikier 13 (Dalpe, Boychuk) (pp) at 10:46 Now this isn't something you see every day. First, Bryan Rodney converted a beautiful pass from Boychuk (notice a trend developing here?) as the Checkers picked apart the Bears' 5-on-3 defense, then Micflikier took advantage of a horrible puck-handling miscue by Holtby and he had all day to get through the Bears defense and find the back of the empty net. Holtby was some kind of upset with himself, slamming his stick to the ice in frustration.

18:11 3rd: Sheldon Souray gets a hooking penalty behind the Bears' net, then the fun begins with two separate altercations, one of which ended up with three 10-minute misconducts being handed out, two to the Checkers (Michal Jordan and Brad Herouf) and one to the Bears.

18:28 3rd: Bears cut it to 5-3; Nycholat (unassisted) Probably doesn't matter at this point, but Nycholat got it back to within two goals.

End 3rd: Indeed, it didn't matter. The Checkers won 5-3, improving their record against the two-time defending champs to 3-1-1 on the season. Shots in the third were 9-8 Charlotte, who really tilted the ice beginning with the 5-on-3 halfway through the period.

Postgame: Not to say that the Canes' locker room isn't tight -- it's obvious that it is -- but the Checkers locker room seems especially tightly-knit and the guys down here really enjoy playing. It could easily be a room full of guys who are bitter over the fact that they're here and not in the NHL, but it doesn't seem that way at all. Much more laid-back and the guys are really happy to be here playing.

That said, I got a couple of double-takes from guys who have seen me in the Canes' locker room and wondered if I got lost on my way to the RBC Center, but it's all in good fun. Right now the Checkers are rolling, and everyone's happy to be a part of it, even guys like Boychuk and Dalpe who have NHL experience under their belt.

Click for audio from Boychuk, Dalpe and coach Jeff Daniels. We'll definitely be back in the future - this was really a lot of fun.

If not before, we're back to more normal NHL surroundings on Saturday when the Canes return from their five-game road trip to welcome the Anaheim Ducks to Raleigh.

Game 25: Hurricanes 2, Avalanche 1 (OT)

2010-12-03T22:02:00.000-05:00

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...

Game 24: Stars 4, Hurricanes 1

2010-11-29T23:07:00.002-05:00

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.

Game 18: Hurricanes 7, Senators 1

2010-11-17T22:44:00.000-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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There are some nights we have issues coming up with what to write in this space before some games. Tonight isn't one of those nights.

We've already recapped this afternoon's trade that sent Anton Babchuk and Tom Kostopoulos to Calgary for Ian White and Brett Sutter. Neither new Cane will be in tonight's lineup, as Sutter is being sent to Charlotte and White will need to clear immigration before joining the team. He will likely meet his new team on Friday in Pittsburgh.

The Sens enter tonight's game with heavy hearts. Earlier today, the team took part in a memorial service at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa honoring Daron Richardson, the 14-year-old daughter of assistant coach Luke Richardson who died tragically on Sunday. They are in the midst of an four-game road trip, and hadn't planned to return to Ottawa before the end of the trip, but the events of the past week required them to return to the city. They just flew into Raleigh this afternoon, and had no time for a morning skate. Given the circumstances, it's hard to know what to expect from the Sens tonight.

Brett Carson has been recalled from Charlotte (and his recall was our first clue that something might be brewing tonight) to take Babchuk's spot in the lineup and keep the seat warm for White. Patrick O'Sullivan will also see his first game action in three weeks, taking Kostopoulos' place on the fourth line. The Canes' healthy extra will be Troy Bodie, newly acquired from Anaheim, who will play on Friday in Pittsburgh.

It's been a wild day, and we haven't even gotten to the game yet. That will come soon enough...

3:55 1st: The Canes have had the better play early, and it's nearly paid dividends a couple of times. Jussi Jokinen had a five-hole chance on Sens goalie Brian Elliott slide off his stick just before shoveling it in, but as a reward for his effort Jokinen lost an edge and went careening into the end boards to the left of Elliott. Ouch.

4:25 1st: Canes lead 1-0; Gleason 2 (LaRose, Samsonov) And playing the role of the offensive defenseman tonight in lieu of the traded Anton Babchuk? If you had Tim Gleason in the pool, congratulations. Sergei Samsonov sprung Chad LaRose with a perfect pass at the Canes' blue line, and LaRose and Gleason had a perfect 2-on-1 set up as a result. Gleason took a pass with a second to set up, and he didn't miss with a top-shelf wrister over Elliott's glove.

10:15 1st: The Canes have had time lately to practice their power play, and it's showed on the first man advantage of the night. They're doing everything they can to create odd-man advantages down low...

10:41 1st: Canes lead 2-0; Staal 7 (Jokinen, Pitkanen) (pp) ...and another of those odd-man situations caught Elliott cheating and Eric Staal shoveled it home off a Jussi Jokinen pass through the five-hole. It was Staal's second good chance of the power play; a few seconds earlier Jokinen tried to hit him on a long cross-crease pass that was in the neighborhood but got caught in Staal's skates.

12:00 1st: Staal nearly had his second in 70 seconds on a clean breakaway off a shorthanded faceoff. He shot it wide, but credit to Erik Karlsson who played it perfectly and messed Staal up just enough to throw him off without taking a penalty.

12:40 1st: A great shift by Brandon Sutter and Patrick Dwyer nearly gives the Canes a shorthanded goal. They earned a standing ovation for their work, and it was well-deserved; the Sens were completely turned around in their own zone despite having the man advantage.

15:06 1st: Not to find fault in a team that's up by 2 and playing very well tonight, but the Sens' Ryan Shannon absolutely bulldozed Cam Ward with no response from anyone, save some polite shoving by Brett Carson. Not exactly a perfect way to stick up for your goaltender, though Shannon did take a goalie-interference penalty.

16:05 1st: Canes lead 3-0; Staal 8 (Jokinen, Corvo) (pp) Eric Staal potted his second of the night and #201 of his career on another rebound cleanup at the top of the crease. Just like last time, it was set up by Jussi Jokinen, this time on a slap shot from the blue line. Jokinen's had a quietly effective game tonight, so he may be turning the corner after all.

16:25 1st: OK, things got weird all of a sudden. Chris Neil did what he does best, antagonizing the opposition and trying to take some liberties with Jeff Skinner, which prompted Jay Harrison to jump in and earn matching roughing penalties with the Sens' Matt Carkner. So what I said about not sticking up for your guys earlier? Retract it a little bit.

16:46 1st: 4-0 lead for Carolina; LaRose 5 (Gleason, Staal) With the sides even at 4, Chad LaRose scored on a similar play to Staal's second goal, shoveling the puck in past Elliott's outstretched stick to bring a quick end to Elliott's night.

End 1st: It's painfully obvious that the Sens are, understandably, not at all engaged in this game. It's almost tough to enjoy the fact that the Canes are up 4-0 and outshooting the Sens 16-5 given the circumstances. Milan Michalek took his frustrations out on LaRose as the period ended, earning a four-minute roughing penalty to offset LaRose's two and give the Canes a power play on fresh ice to start the second period.

1:35 2nd: A dumb penalty by Eric Staal, for boarding Daniel Alfredsson deep in the Canes' zone while the Canes attempted a breakout, was matched by a dumber penalty to the Sens' Jesse Winchester, who stood up to Staal and dropped the gloves to get a piece of the Canes' captain, earning a roughing penalty in the process.

6:30 2nd: And that's the Joni Pitkanen that scares everyone at the RBC. A no-look backhand pass from just outside the crease ends up right in the breadbasket of Chris Campoli, who was the most unfortunate man in the building when a sure goal jumped over his stick.

14:50 2nd: Not nearly the shell-shocked Sens that we saw in the first period, and they're starting to skate better than they have all night. No surprise that it took them this long to get their legs under them.

15:55 2nd: Staal has had two separate shorthanded breakaways tonight and hasn't converted either one. He could easily have a hat trick...or one more.

End 2nd: The Canes had a 2-on-1 with a few seconds left in the period, but Pascal Leclaire kicked out Jussi Jokinen's bid for a five-goal lead with two seconds to go. Shots were 8-6 Sens in the period, indicative of how they played late in the period as the Canes retreated to a defensive shell.

1:26 3rd: Canes lead 5-0, free queso for all! LaRose 6 (McBain, Staal) A few seconds after a section to my left started a "We Want Queso" chant, Chad LaRose delivered the goods on his second of the night. Every goal the Canes have scored tonight, except the Gleason game-opener, has been a rebound that wasn't covered, and it's good to see the Canes getting in position to take advantage of the Sens' goalies' inability to cover the puck.

9:00 3rd: Their fourth good shorthanded chance of the night, Brandon Sutter hit the post on the short side of Leclaire. The chances the Canes have had while down a man have been incredible.

9:31 3rd: Sens on the board, down 5-1; Alfredsson 8 (Gonchar, Kuba) (pp) A few seconds later, a Jason Spezza screen in front of Cam Ward gave Daniel Alfredsson plenty of cover to roof a top-shelf shot over Ward's glove hand. Beautifully placed shot, and the Sens deserved one; they've controlled play for the last 15-20 minutes of game time.

13:44 3rd: Canes up 6-1 on a Staal hat trick; Staal 9 (Samsonov, LaRose) Any doubt this was coming? LaRose made a great pass to Samsonov to spring Samsonov and Staal on a 2-on-1, and Samsonov fired a perfect pass that Staal one-timed past a helpless Leclaire to put the Canes back up by five.

15:54 3rd: To no one's surprise, it's 7-1: Ruutu 4 (Cole) Another laser one-timer puts the Canes up by six, and this time it's Tuomo Ruutu doing the honors. Ruutu was left unchecked at the top of the slot and after a turnover behind the net that Erik Cole collected, he found Ruutu all alone for a rocket of a shot high to Leclaire's glove side.

End 3rd: No more scoring, and no doubt the closing horn couldn't come soon enough for the Sens, not even considering the final score. Shots in the third were 11-6 Sens, who trailed 28-24 overall.

Postgame: Honestly, the story tonight wasn't the Canes' beatdown of the Sens. It was the fact that the Sens even showed up mentally for any of the game, never mind carrying play from the end of the second through about 12:00 of the third.

In talking to longtime Ottawa Sun writer Bruce Garrioch in the press room after the game, the pain of the day was evident in him describing the day as "terrible. Just terrible." The memorial service at Scotiabank Place went for two hours, with friends of Daron Richardson taking the podium one after the other, and after that they have to board a plane and fly three hours south to play a hockey game? That's unconscionable.

It's to the eternal credit of Cory Clouston and the Sens' staff that they were able to get it together to play at all, never mind play well. The final score notwithstanding, the Sens deserve all sorts of credit for playing under absolutely impossible circumstances. Their road trip ends, mercifully, in St. Louis on Friday night.

Click for locker room audio from Eric Staal, Erik Cole and Chad LaRose. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.

The Canes head to Pittsburgh, where they'll meet some new faces, on Friday night, then they're back at the RBC for a cross-conference showdown with Nashville on Saturday. However, we're going on vacation here at Puck Drops HQ for a week or so, meaning we won't be back at the RBC for another game until November 29 when the Dallas Stars come to town. Here's wishing you a happy Thanksgiving (a few days early, of course) and we'll be back in a little over a week.

Canes acquire Ian White and Brett Sutter for Tom Kostopoulos and Anton Babchuk

2010-11-17T18:30:00.000-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Suffice it to say that the Hurricanes' recent performance did not go unnoticed on the fourth floor of the RBC Center.

In a deal designed to spark two struggling teams, the Canes and Calgary Flames completed a deal late Wednesday that sent Tom Kostopoulos and Anton Babchuk to the Flames. In return, the Canes receive defenseman Ian White and forward Brett Sutter, a cousin of the Hurricanes' Brandon and the son of Flames GM Darryl Sutter.

At a hastily-arranged press conference just before the Canes' game against the Ottawa Senators, general manager Jim Rutherford said that this deal had been in the works for a few weeks, and the recent legal troubles surrounding Brett Sutter as a result of an incident outside an Arizona bar a week ago did not factor into the trade one way or the other. White, who played under Canes coach Paul Maurice in Toronto for two seasons, was a player the Canes have had their eyes on for a while, and Rutherford said that the move to acquire him probably would have occurred regardless of the team's recent problems.

But when asked if the last two games have factored into the decision to pull the trigger now, Rutherford was curt: "Darned right." White, a clear upgrade over Babchuk, will immediately see top-four minutes, likely playing over 22 minutes per night including some power play time. He is signed through the end of this season at $3 million, and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Sutter has a two-way deal, and will be assigned to Charlotte to finish a conditioning stint begun on Sunday. He will likely remain in Charlotte for the rest of the season, but will need to clear waivers to be permanently assigned to the Checkers.

Much more on this later...we're half an hour from puck drop at the RBC Center now.

Game 16: Flyers 8, Hurricanes 1

2010-11-11T22:32:00.001-05:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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In the past couple of seasons, the calling card when the Philadelphia Flyers have come to Raleigh has been the return of the only coach to lead the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup, Peter Laviolette. That subplot still exists tonight, but there's some more intrigue in tonight's game than just a rematch between the benches.

The Flyers, after surprising just about everyone with an Eastern Conference title last season, enter tonight's game atop the Atlantic Division and second in the conference with 20 points, largely on the back of their heretofore unknown goaltender, 20-year-old Russian phenomenon Sergei Bobrovsky. As they have for most seasons since the retirement of Ron Hextall, the Flyers entered this season with questions in goal, but Bobrovsky has largely answered those questions and the Flyers look primed to contend again for the Stanley Cup.

There's no change to the Canes lineup that dropped seven on Edmonton two nights ago, but the Canes face a much stiffer test tonight as they try to sweep their homestand. A win tonight could result in the Canes holding second place in the division when the night ends, depending on the outcome of the Tampa/Washington game. Here we go...

5:40 1st: Scott Hartnell sure thought he gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Joe Corvo disagreed, complaining to referee Rob Martell that the puck was kicked in. Martell didn't agree at first, but video review vindicated Corvo and the game remained scoreless. A bad break for the Flyers, who had a beautiful 3-on-2 rush capped off by a Ville Leino spinning centering pass to Hartnell, who tried to hit it with his stick but kicked it instead, resulting in no goal and a scoreless game.

6:20 1st: Not a minute later, a 2-on-1 shot from Claude Giroux beat Ward but went cleanly off the far post. Two huge breaks for the Canes, who could easily be down by two but still keep it scoreless.

7:54 1st: Flyers lead 1-0; Briere 7 (Leino, Hartnell) And the Canes' clock finally strikes midnight. Leino took full advantage of a sub-par play by both Carolina defensemen, as he circled around behind the net to skate away from Jay Harrison then found Briere uncovered at the top of the crease when Anton Babchuk completely lost his man. Nice play by Leino, but the Canes could have emerged from that play unscathed with a bit more honest defensive play.

14:47 1st: On a 2-on-1 created because Jeff Skinner set an inadvertent pick trying to get off the ice, Danny Briere nearly had his second of the night but his shot over Ward's pads bounced off the crossbar. The posts now have two on the night, and it could be way worse than a one-goal deficit for the Canes.

18:42 1st: Flyers take a 2-0 lead; Carter 6 (Pronger, Timonen) (pp) And an assist to Erik Cole, who took a dumb unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty ten seconds before the goal when he went overboard in reacting to a perceived slight from Nikolay Zherdev along the far boards. The Flyers power play moved the puck in a way that called to mind the '06 Canes (hmmm...) and Jeff Carter was the beneficiary of a point shot from Chris Pronger that Ward couldn't cover. Carter shoveled home the rebound to double the Flyers' lead.

End 1st: The Flyers' 9-8 shot advantage is a bit misleading, because every time the Flyers had the puck in the Carolina zone they seemingly created a scoring chance. The Canes have to tighten up in a hurry, something Paul Maurice knows well. He looked rather displeased heading to the locker room.

1:54 2nd: Flyers go up 3-0; Meszaros 1 (Carter, Giroux) All of the Flyers goals tonight could have been prevented by even passable defensive play. Instead, this time an inability to clear led to the Flyers taking a three-goal lead. Jeff Carter skated around behind the net (again) and caught Ward cheating off the near post, but Carter drew Ward down with a fake and after pinballing around the slot for a second or two, it came to Andrej Meszaros who blasted it home from 40 feet.

2:14 2nd: To no one's surprise, Tom Kostopoulos felt the need to drop the gloves with the Flyers' resident pest, Daniel Carcillo. Score it a win for Carcillo, who took Kostopoulos down to the ice with a couple of overhand rights.

5:58 2nd: 4-0 lead for the Flyers; Carter 7 (Briere) (pp) Justin Peters, come on down. Cam Ward's night is over through no fault of his own. This time, it's the inexcusable sin of giving up a 2-on-1 while killing a penalty, and Jeff Carter pots it for his second of the night. That's four goals on 13 shots for Ward, and only one of them was anything near his fault.

7:29 2nd: Chad LaRose is robbed by Bobrovsky with a spectacular flopping save on a five-foot shot that LaRose got all of. Canes can't buy a break.

12:30 2nd: Some loud "Let's go Flyers" cheers coming from the cheap seats. Only surprise is that they took this long to get going.

14:50 2nd: Tom Kostopoulos has been about the only Cane doing anything noteworthy tonight. This time, it wasn't with his fists, but with his hands...a pair of great shots from about six feet, but neither made it through to Bobrovsky thanks to some great blocks by Kimmo Timonen.

End 2nd: The Canes will begin the 3rd with :22 remaining on a Darroll Powe charging penalty, but honestly it might not matter at this point. Shots in the second period, inexplicably, were 14-6 Carolina, who took a 22-15 lead overall, but I have to wonder exactly where those 22 shots came from. I honestly have no idea.

5:20 3rd: There's your night in a nutshell. Eric Staal had the puck on a 1-on-2 rush, danced around Sean O'Donnell to get a clear shot on Bobrovsky, and...passed it to a wing where no one was within twenty feet of the puck.

End 3rd: The blog software ate my last few posts, but it wouldn't have mattered. Final score is 8-1, with Chad LaRose breaking the shutout at 8:44 and more defensive miscues plaguing the Canes. The night was punctuated by a Nikolay Zherdev breakaway goal with 1:50 remaining.

Postgame: The less said about this one, the better. Credit to the guys who stayed out to talk to the media, because no one wants that duty on a night like this. The Canes now hit the road to Montreal, which has been a good place to them over the years, so we'll see if they can bounce back on Saturday night.

Click for locker room audio from Tom Kostopoulos, Justin Peters and Eric Staal. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.

We're back when the Canes return from their one-game road trip Wednesday night, as they welcome the Ottawa Senators to town.

Game 15: Hurricanes 7, Oilers 1

2010-11-09T22:46:00.001-05:00

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...

Game 14: Hurricanes 3, Panthers 2

2010-11-06T22:35:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Last night, the Canes suffered the indignity of having a touchdown scored against them, falling 7-4 on the home ice of the Florida Panthers. Tonight, the two teams make the flight to Raleigh and face off again for their second meeting of the year.

To no one's surprise given his history, Paul Maurice did some line juggling during last night's game, moving Jeff Skinner off Eric Staal's wing and onto Tuomo Ruutu, while Sergei Samsonov went from the proverbial outhouse (the fourth line) to the penthouse (the first) and actually looked good in doing so. Cam Ward was beaten a little too often last night for his liking, but that was largely a function of a Swiss-cheese defense in front of him that surrendered 49 shots to the Panthers. Needless to say, giving up that many won't lead to good things, and the Canes need to lock it down a bit more tonight if they don't want to be swept.

Joni Pitkanen didn't play last night, won't play tonight and likely won't play on Tuesday when Edmonton comes to town, meaning Brett Carson will see action in his second game of the season tonight. Former Cane Cory Stillman suffered an upper-body injury last night and only played a few shifts, and he won't see action tonight either.

We're ready to go, and the good folks at the RBC hope the home team is ready too...

2:41 1st: Press box comment: "Well, this is already better than last night. It's still scoreless." Sadly, that's very true.

5:40 1st: That play was precisely why fans get so frustrated with Anton Babchuk. On a partial 2-on-1 from the blue line in, Eric Staal hit Babchuk as a trailer at the top of the slot. He was in perfect position for a one-timer, but he somehow thought it would be a good idea to pass the puck back to Staal, who was not expecting it at all. As a result, what should have been a goal (or, at the very least, a high-quality chance) turned into a harmless dump-in that the Panthers quickly cleared.

11:35 1st: This time last night there were already three goals on the board. Tonight? None, but we nearly had one after Scott Clemmensen misplayed the puck behind his own net but got back in time to kick Erik Cole's shot out to the far corner.

17:41 1st: Here's a shock: the Canes got a power play and proceeded to do nothing with it. In slightly better news, however, they're currently outshooting the Panthers 8-3.

End 1st: A late flurry led to the Canes' best chances of the period, but Clemmensen stood tall and didn't surrender the first goal of the night, leaving it scoreless after one. Shots were 9-4 Canes in the first period, meaning after taking 105 shots in the last two games the Panthers are on pace for precisely twelve tonight.

4:15 2nd: Not sure how this happened, but a shorthanded breakaway for Brandon Sutter was unsuccessful thanks to some, er, creative backchecking by Dmitry Kulikov that ended with Sutter being pulled down to the ice to the right of Clemmensen. Sounds like a penalty, if not a penalty shot, no? Nothing doing. Go figure.

5:09 2nd: A few seconds after the Florida power play expired, Brett Carson threw a heavy check on David Booth next to the Canes' bench. Hordichuk took exception and took a swing at Carson, which drew a response from everyone on the ice and ended with Brandon Sutter being clocked in the back of the head by Darcy Hordichuk. The only penalty, appropriately, went to Hordichuk.

7:51 2nd: Canes lead 1-0; Staal 6 (Samsonov, Skinner) (pp) A few seconds after Hordichuk went to the box, Mike Santorelli was whistled for hooking Sergei Samsonov behind the net, and with :18 left in the Hordichuk penalty Eric Staal made the Panthers pay. Some great movement and quick decisions in the zone got Staal open at the top of the slot, and Samsonov found him wide open for Staal to wire a shot from one knee high to Clemmensen's blocker side to get the Canes on the board first.

13:00 2nd: The newly-formed fourth line of Jokinen-Matsumoto-Kostopoulos has been relatively quiet tonight, but they nearly got on the board when Jokinen found Kostopoulos sneaking down through the near circle and just missed what would have been a tap-in goal. Like Wednesday night, the Canes are getting contributions from all four lines tonight, which is something that was sorely missing last night in Sunrise.

14:35 2nd: Another open-net chance as the puck pinballed off Clemmensen's pad and slowly toward the vacated net, but Dennis Wideman got back just in time to swipe the puck out of the crease (legally) and out of danger. The top line of Samsonov-Staal-LaRose has been on a roll, and not just at even strength.

18:05 2nd: The Panthers came perilously close to tying the game after Anton Babchuk panicked behind his own net and turned the puck over to Chris Higgins, who fired a shot from four feet that Cam Ward wasn't expecting and missed on. The shot hit the post twice but never went in the net, and Jay Harrison cleared the puck out of harm's way. A little too careless with the puck, and that's what happens.

End 2nd: The Panthers' Higgins came close to burying another one on a bad-angle backhander with 18 seconds left, but Ward stood tall and he's come up big when the Canes needed him to. It shows in the shot count; the Canes lead 20-9 overall after outshooting the Panthers 11-5 in the second period.

2:21 3rd: Canes lead 2-0; Skinner 5 (Cole, Ruutu) While Jeff Skinner gets the goal, Erik Cole did all the dirty work to make it happen. Cole drove the zone and went behind Clemmensen, while Skinner went straight to the net and waited. His patience paid off when Cole came around to the near side and found Skinner alone at the top of the crease for a tap-in.

3:21 3rd: Panthers cut it to 2-1; Hordichuk 1 (Weaver) A minute later, the Panthers' fourth line got them on the board. Darcy Hordichuk took a weird carom off the boards behind Ward and on a second rebound he roofed a shot that fooled Ward and may have been on edge when he shot it. Either way, we're right back to a one-goal game.

8:01 3rd: David Booth had a great scoring chance on a partial breakaway, but Ward shut him down and then Booth cross-checked Ward into his own net. Yeah, that's not looked on too kindly.

11:41 3rd: Canes back up by two; Staal 7 (unassisted) When it's your night, it's your night. Eric Staal is having one of those tonight, and his second goal put the Canes back up by two. It was a harmless-enough shot that would have normally been stopped by Clemmensen, but the puck changed direction off the stick of Panthers defenseman Bryan Allen halfway to the net and snuck under Clemmensen's glove.

14:55 3rd: I'm sure Cam Ward would rather be both lucky and good, but he's had luck on his side for sure tonight. He's had three posts hit behind him and a copule of head-scratching non-goals courtesy of the Panthers' failure to capitalize on mistakes, including just a second ago when David Booth whiffed on an open net from five feet out.

19:17 3rd: Panthers make it 3-2; Frolik 3 (McCabe, Wideman) In a scene that recalled Maurice's pulling Cam Ward with 3 minutes left in the loss to Washington last week, Peter DeBoer pulled Clemmensen with 2:22 remaining and it paid off, at least temporarily, when Michael Frolik took a weird shot that fooled Ward from the far boards along the side of the circle. Ward may have been screened, but the Panthers sure weren't complaining.

End 3rd: The Panthers pulled Clemmensen again and came close with a couple of neat passing plays late in the period, but the Canes survived to win their second straight at home and pull out a split in the back-to-back series. They move to 25-5-2 all-time against the Panthers at the RBC Center, their best record against any team since the 1999 opening of the arena. The Panthers outshot the Canes 11-9 in the third period, to pull to within 29-20 for the night.

Postgame: Paul Maurice had a great line when asked about the shot differentials between here and Florida: "Our shot clock guy wasn't on Red Bull." Energy drinks aside, the Canes played a much more complete game tonight and they earned every bit of the win. It's hard to believe, but tonight's game was the start of the Canes' first homestand of the season; they haven't played more than one game in a row at the RBC all season, but they're back here Tuesday and Thursday of next week. Tuomo Ruutu, for one, was quite pleased.

Click for audio from Eric Staal, Erik Cole and Tuomo Ruutu. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.

Back Tuesday night when the Canes host the Edmonton Oilers in their only meeting of the season, a rematch of the 2006 Stanley Cup final.

Game 12: Hurricanes 7, Islanders 2

2010-11-03T22:46:00.000-04:00

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...

Game 8: Capitals 3, Hurricanes 0

2010-10-27T22:23:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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It's been a long road -- 15,000 miles, to be exact -- but tonight, the Carolina Hurricanes become the 30th team out of 30 in the NHL to host their home opener.

And as a thank you gift, the NHL politely scheduled the reigning Presidents' Trophy champion as the designated opposition. How kind.

Surprisingly, though, the Canes had the number of the Washington Capitals last season. The Canes earned points in five of six games against the Caps in 2009-10, and historically Cam Ward has been stellar against them, with a 13-5-3 record in his career against Washington.

Unsurprisingly, the lineup will remain the same tonight as it was in Saturday's win over Phoenix in overtime. Patrick O'Sullivan and newly-recalled Jiri Tlusty will serve as the healthy scratches. Zac Dalpe and Jeff Skinner will make their RBC Center debuts, and Jamie McBain will go through the motions of his first Canes home opener.

For the Caps, it's a significantly different team than the one that was upset by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of last year's playoffs. Sure, Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and the like are all back, but the goaltending duo consists of youngsters Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth, neither of whom has ever beaten the Canes (Varlamov 0-0-2, Neuvirth 0-1-0). It's a much younger team, similar to the Canes, but with the burden of high expectations; everyone right up to owner Ted Leonsis expects the Caps to make a deep playoff run, if not a run at the Cup itself.

We'll be here for all of it, as the Canes' thirteenth season in North Carolina and their eleventh in Raleigh kicks off tonight...

1:05 1st: The first good shot of the game comes off a faceoff to Cam Ward's left. A broken play resulted in the puck sitting in the circle on a platter for Mike Knuble, who let a shot go that Cam Ward never saw, even when it was past him. Fortunately for the Canes, the shot didn't beat the post, but it was way closer than anyone thought it would be.

4:55 1st: Jeff Skinner received one of the biggest cheers during the player introductions, and he nearly showed why. A bizarre faceoff to the right of Michal Neuvirth ended up hidden behind linesman Jonny Murray, and for about four seconds no one knew where the puck was. Finally, Tuomo Ruutu found it and fed Skinner at the front of the net. Skinner came within about an inch of a backhanded goal but Neuvirth made a great save to kick the puck out and deny Skinner his first point at the RBC.

10:47 1st: Caps lead 1-0; Hendricks 1 (Steckel, Erskine) Or, as Taylor Zarzour says, "Everyone is angry. I have no idea why but what the hell. WE GOT SCREWED!" Maybe not that easy to explain, but David Steckel did a number on Cam Ward, railroading him just outside the blue paint and causing him to be out of position on the rebound that Matt Hendricks deposited easily. Referee Francois St.-Laurent let the contact go because Ward was out of the crease, but that didn't satisfy Paul Maurice or the Canes' bench, who loudly demanded an explanation. Ward, for his part, didn't protest; it seemed like he knew he had made a mistake and didn't want to dwell on it.

16:05 1st: Lots of good chances from both the Staal-Jokinen-LaRose and the Ruutu-Kostopoulos-Samsonov combinations. Neither one has put a shot past Neuvirth, but they've accounted for most of the Canes' six shots so far.

End 1st: The Canes had plenty of chances to get on the board, including a flurry from a newly-formed Staal-Jokinen-Skinner line with ten seconds left, but they lost the puck and couldn't pot the rebound even though all three players were within five feet of the net. Shots in the first period were 8-7 Canes.

4:03 2nd: The Canes have been pressuring the Caps well early in the period, but still with nothing to show for it. Looks like the Staal-Jokinen-Skinner line was a matchup of convenience, as the Canes are back to their original lines. At the other end, Ward came up huge on what could have been a back-breaking tap-in by Mike Knuble.

7:46 2nd: After Eric Staal was sent to the penalty box for being held by Nicklas Backstrom (yeah, it was rather questionable), Ward robbed Alex Ovechkin from point-blank at the near side of the net. It's been that kind of night for Ward, who has been the best player on the ice for either team so far.

9:34 2nd: By any account, Jeff Skinner deserved a goal there. Michal Neuvirth denied it with an unbelievable save that was possibly a result of Skinner waiting a split second to fire. The play went to a lengthy review, which upheld the call on the ice. Definitely the right call, but a terrible break for the Canes.

10:44 2nd: As a power play expired, Neuvirth absolutely robbed Staal with a glove save on an open net. A fantastic pass from Sergei Samsonov at the top of the crease found Staal in perfect position for a one-timer at the bottom of the near circle, and the net was gaping wide but Neuvirth somehow got across and snared Staal's shot in spectacular fashion.

12:07 2nd: To no one's surprise given how this period has gone, Staal hits the post after a perfect pass from LaRose on a shorthanded 2-on-1 a few seconds into a Tuomo Ruutu hooking penalty. Five seconds later, LaRose goads Mike Green into an awful roughing penalty along the boards in the far corner of the Washington zone. Aside from not scoring, a pretty good sequence from the Canes' PKers.

19:25 2nd: Beautiful play by Joe Corvo to break up an Ovechkin rush one-on-one up the ice. Doesn't happen often that Corvo's noticed for his defense, but he deserves kudos for how he handled that sequence.

End 2nd: The Canes deserved at least one, but they're still down 1-0 after two. Shots in the period were 11-9 Canes, who took a 19-18 lead overall in what has become a goaltending duel tonight.

2:10 3rd: Jeff Skinner has been through a lot in his first three weeks in the NHL, but apparently the Caps felt the need to initiate him a bit more. No fewer than three separate players knocked Skinner down on his first shift of the period. To his credit, he bounced up from every one of them.

6:33 3rd: Staal has done everything you could possibly want from him tonight. His latest escapades involved pulling two Caps defenders into the slot and still managing to get a shot off that forced Neuvirth to make a quick save. Seconds later, LaRose whiffed on an open net. If it wasn't for bad luck...

9:55 3rd: Twice in two minutes Erik Cole has come to a dead stop at the blue line for some reason. The first time it happened, it put Jeff Skinner offside and negated a scoring chance. He just did it again and it didn't put Skinner offside, but it did ruin the play and the Caps cleared the zone without any trouble.

12:23 3rd: Caps lead 2-0; Backstrom 2 (Knuble, Ovechkin) Another bad break goes against the Canes. Cam Ward played a 2-on-2 perfectly with Mike Knuble firing a shot that Ward easily handled. But unfortunately for the Canes, the puck bounced square off the shaft of Ward's stick and right to Nicklas Backstrom, who had an easy one-timer from the far circle to put the Caps up by two.

17:17 3rd: Interesting strategy here: Mike Green goes to the box for tripping Staal, and the Canes call timeout to diagram a play with six attackers on the ice. Paul Maurice is going all-in here.

End 3rd: The gamble failed, as Backstrom hit the open net for his second of the night to salt it away. Neuvirth earned every bit of his first career shutout as the Canes fell in their home opener, the only Southeast Division team to do so this season.

Postgame: A clearly peeved Paul Maurice minced no words after the game in describing the first goal of the game: "[The referee] was absolutely wrong." The consensus was that the Canes played decently, but as you'd might expect after a ridiculous road trip the team didn't have their legs under them for the first part of the game and by the time they got in a groove Neuvirth was in his own and he stymied the Canes the rest of the way.

Click for audio from Eric Staal, Tuomo Ruutu and Brandon Sutter. Maurice's press conference is attached.

The Canes hit the road again (what else is new) when they head to New York to face the Rangers on Friday, and then they're back here Saturday to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. No live blog for that one; my wife is running a marathon (!!) on Sunday morning and I'll be out of town serving as the cheering section. Back at it against the Islanders next Wednesday. Until then...

Canes return home over .500

2010-10-24T14:35:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Finally, the Carolina Hurricanes are home.

It's been more than three weeks since their last game at the RBC Center, a preseason tilt against the Atlanta Thrashers on October 1st. It's been eleven days since they were able to sleep in their own beds. It's been 15,710 miles since they first took off for St. Petersburg the night after they played the Thrashers.

And, improbably, the Canes return from their sojourn over .500, with a 4-3 record after an overtime win against Phoenix on Saturday night.

It's certainly too early for these statistics to mean anything of consequence, but it should be noted that the Canes currently sit eighth in the Eastern Conference. Of the seven teams below them in the standings, five have played more games than the Canes' seven. And every team in the league has played at least two home games, which is two more than the Canes can claim for themselves. (Yes, the Canes have technically played a "home" game, but when that game is played 4,500 miles away you can't really say there was any home-ice advantage.)

In other words, the Canes should be very, very proud of what they've accomplished in the first two-plus weeks of the season.

Paul Maurice said before the team left Raleigh that the long road trip to open the season could be viewed as either a good or a bad thing. If the Canes went out and came back with heavy legs, poor play and only a few points in the bank, it would be a deep hole for such a young team to recover from and would make the job that much tougher. But instead, the Canes seemingly gained confidence in every game. Yes, there were some stumbles. The games in Vancouver and Los Angeles proved that.

But no one expected this team to steamroll through the early portion of the schedule. Coming home over .500 is a significant accomplishment, and it gives the Canes the confidence to know that despite being one of the youngest teams in the NHL, they can hold their own with anyone in the league. Even when they've flown enough to qualify for frequent-flier upgrades for the rest of their lives.

On this date last year, the Canes were six games into a club-record 14-game losing streak, while playing a normal schedule with one of the oldest teams in the NHL. This year, they're over .500 after seven games, not one of them at the RBC Center, with one of the youngest rosters in the league.

Go figure.

2010-11 NHL Season Predictions

2010-10-07T12:43:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Short and sweet, here are Puck Drops' predictions for how the 2010-11 season will shake out:

Eastern Conference
1. Washington Capitals
2. Pittsburgh Penguins
3. Buffalo Sabres
4. New Jersey Devils
5. Boston Bruins
6. Philadelphia Flyers
7. Ottawa Senators
8. Tampa Bay Lightning
——————
9. Montreal Canadiens
10. Carolina Hurricanes
11. New York Islanders
12. New York Rangers
13. Atlanta Thrashers
14. Toronto Maple Leafs
15. Florida Panthers

Western Conference
1. San Jose Sharks
2. Vancouver Canucks
3. Detroit Red Wings
4. Los Angeles Kings
5. Chicago Blackhawks
6. Phoenix Coyotes
7. Nashville Predators
8. Minnesota Wild
——————–
9. St. Louis Blues
10. Calgary Flames
11. Anaheim Ducks
12. Colorado Avalanche
13. Dallas Stars
14. Edmonton Oilers
15. Columbus Blue Jackets

Playoffs
Washington over Tampa Bay
Pittsburgh over Ottawa
Philadelphia over Buffalo
New Jersey over Boston

Washington over Philadelphia
New Jersey over Pittsburgh

New Jersey over Washington
—————————-
San Jose over Minnesota
Vancouver over Nashville
Phoenix over Detroit
Los Angeles over Chicago

San Jose over Phoenix
Los Angeles over Vancouver

San Jose over Los Angeles

Stanley Cup Final: San Jose over New Jersey

2010 Hurricanes player-by-player projections

2010-10-07T01:53:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Last season we attempted to predict the Canes' performance with a projected points total for each player. It was a brilliant idea in my own mind that hit a brick wall a month into the season when Cam Ward and Eric Staal both went down with assorted injuries.

So, of course, I'm going down the same road this year. Yes, probably insane (you know, doing the same thing twice, expecting different results, and so forth) but hey, it's decent water-cooler material if nothing else. This year, though, I'm restricting it to three sentences per player, max. (Not that I'm lazy; just trying to consolidate as much as possible.) As with last year, the numbers are pro-rated to 82 games, so that there's some consistency while eliminating the problem of predicting who will miss how many games.

Here goes nothing, in order by projected points...again:

Forwards
Eric Staal: Last year was an injury-riddled aberration, if you can call only missing 12 games "injury-riddled" -- but Staal wasn't at full strength for most of the year, and still managed a point-per-game pace. No reason he can't do the same again this season, with added incentives coming in the form of starting the season as captain and having the All-Star Game in his home arena. The only truly-dangerous offensive player on the Canes' roster (to start the season, anyway) will continue to answer the bell. Projection: 36/47/83

Jussi Jokinen: Will he score 30 again? Probably not, but Jokinen showed no signs of slowing down last season and 50 points is almost a given. Jokinen isn't as streaky as some other potential one-hit wonders, so while he won't hit 30 he'll put up respectable numbers. Projection: 24/31/55

Brandon Sutter: As opposed to last year, when Sutter was inexplicably sent to the AHL and Stephane Yelle, of all people, won a roster spot instead, Sutter will be on the roster from opening night this year. While it was assumed he would become a 20-goal scorer at some point, next to nobody thought it would happen in his second NHL season. He'll have better linemates this season than he's ever had, so he'll be in the 20-goal club again. Projection: 23/32/55

Sergei Samsonov: Really? Yes, really. Samsonov is in a contract year, and he'll use that to his great advantage. That is, if he isn't buried on the fourth line all season, a realistic possibility given the logjam of forwards in front of him on the depth chart. It wouldn't be surprising if he becomes trade bait at some point, but in the meantime he'll at least hold his own. Projection: 19/26/45

Jeff Skinner: I'll be honest: I have absolutely no idea what Skinner will do. I'm reasonably sure he will stay on the roster all year and not be returned to Kitchener, but to expect world-beating numbers from a rookie is somewhat unreasonable; that said, he has the goods to make a real splash. In the end, I expect Skinner to be more like Stamkos (46 points his rookie year) than Crosby (103). Projection: 23/18/41

Chad LaRose: I had him pegged for 20 last year, and an injury kept him from hitting the milestone number for the first time; he was on pace for 16 goals last season. He'll get regular top-six minutes this year, so while I'm not too confident he'll pot 20 he should come close again. Projection: 18/23/41

Patrick O'Sullivan: The revelation of training camp, O'Sullivan was frequently the best player on the ice during the preseason and his ascendance relegated Zach Boychuk to Charlotte. Will he be able to keep up that sterling play all year? Probably not, but considering he had 34 points in a lost year in Edmonton last season it's not too much to expect him to put a few streaks together this year. Projection: 17/23/40

Erik Cole: At this point it's a truism that Cole's power-forward pedigree has hit a wall since his broken neck in 2006. He has good chemistry with Staal, which will account for more than a few goals, but it wouldn't surprise anyone if this is another rough offensive season. One caveat: like Samsonov, Cole is in a contract year, so he might have a mild bump because of that. Projection: 16/20/36

Jiri Tlusty: Like Samsonov, a tweener that doesn't fit on checking lines but doesn't have enough consistent production to earn a regular spot in the top six. Unlike Samsonov, Tlusty is coming off a serious injury which will probably hinder him through the first part of the season. He'll likely be in the press box for at least a few games early in the season, so he will probably take a while to get up to speed given his injury and rehab. Projection: 12/19/31

Patrick Dwyer: He's not on the roster for his offensive exploits, but Dwyer is an integral part of the Canes' penalty kill and that will likely keep him in Raleigh all year. Any offense he chips in will be a bonus. Projection: 9/18/27

Zac Dalpe: It's a long way from the NCAA to the NHL in less than a year. He likely won't spend the entire season with the Canes, but it is worth noting that he had 7 points in 9 regular-season AHL games last year, followed by 6 points in 8 playoff games. That offensive production won't be in the NHL this year though. Projection: 8/15/23

Tom Kostopoulos: All you really need to know about Kostopoulos is his yearly point totals since breaking into the NHL in 2003-04: 22, 22, 22, 13, 22, 21. Why mess with success? Projection: 8/14/22

Drayson Bowman: Somewhat surprisingly, Bowman has carved out a niche as a defensive specialist even though he was a prolific scorer in junior hockey, much like LaRose. He'll be riding the Charlotte shuttle with Dalpe most of the season, so it's doubtful he'll make much of an offensive impact in the NHL this year. Projection: 7/9/16

Defensemen
Jamie McBain: Just about everyone is expecting a strong year from McBain, who will essentially serve as a clone of Joni Pitkanen. Don't expect him to contribute much on the defensive end, where he'll probably take a little while to adjust to the speed of the NHL, but he should be effective in the offensive zone, and he gives the Canes their first competent power-play quarterback since the days of Sandis Ozolinsh. Projection: 13/41/54

Joni Pitkanen: Just about everyone is expecting a strong year from Pitkanen, who will essentially serve as a clone of Jamie McBain. (Notice a trend here?) Pitkanen is the Canes' best all-around defenseman and he'll quietly put numbers up as he always does. Pitkanen will likely have more of an impact at even strength, while McBain will earn most of his points on the power play, so despite the fact I have them pegged for the same number of points they'll be earned in much different ways. Projection: 8/46/54

Joe Corvo: A poor man's Pitkanen, Corvo doesn't make the same split-second decisions that Pitkanen is brilliant with and his defensive zone coverage, while not in Ozolinsh territory, is fair at best. But you know what you're getting with Corvo, which is why he's back with the Canes after being traded to Washington at the trade deadline last year. He may be squeezed out of power play time with the ascendance of McBain, but he's still good for high-30 point potential, which is about where he's consistently been over the past five years. Projection: 11/28/39

Anton Babchuk: He's continually improved, no matter where he's played. That said, he is still prone to some serious defensive gaffes and it's entirely possible the coaching staff could sit him for the likes of Brett Carson or Bobby Sanguinetti depending on how effective his defensive-zone play is. But no one can deny the potent cannon that Babchuk possesses, and he should at least come close to his career high of 35 points if not pass it by a couple. Projection: 14/23/37

Tim Gleason: Despite the fact that he's down this low on the totem pole, Gleason is the Canes' most important defenseman and, especially this year, the one guy that will throw the entire defense out of whack if he misses time. While there's no shortage of Jim Rutherford's adored puck-moving defensemen on the roster, Gleason is the beginning and the end of the list of tough-to-play-against Hurricanes defensemen. His offense is ancillary to his leadership and defensive-zone play, so the projections are almost irrelevant...but we're doing them anyway. Projection: 7/22/29

Bobby Sanguinetti: Look, another puck-mover! Sanguinetti was decent in the preseason, but not a standout by any stretch, and while he'll start the season in the NHL it's likely he'll be on the Charlotte shuttle as well although he needs to clear waivers to be sent down. Since he's only played five games in the NHL, this projection is a bit of a shot in the dark, but that's not stopping us. Projection: 3/18/21

Brett Carson: A 54-game stint with the Canes last year seems to have given Carson the inside shot at being the sixth defenseman this season, but the organization's infatuation with Jay Harrison might block Carson out. Carson's no great shakes offensively, but like Gleason he's rarely caught out of position and he'll likely see extensive PK time while with the Canes. Offensively, though, there probably won't be much there. Projection: 5/16/21

Jay Harrison: It's rather ridiculous that he's even on this list, given his indifferent play last year and his less-than-stellar preseason. But he has a one-way contract for some reason, and a budget team won't pay anyone NHL money to ride buses in the AHL. So here he is, even though Casey Borer and Bryan Rodney probably have better claims to this spot; expecting more than pedestrian numbers from Harrison on either end will probably result in disappointment. Projection: 2/10/12

Goaltenders
Cam Ward: The conventional wisdom is that Ward had a down year last season, but his 2.75 GAA was an indictment of a defense that allowed him to see 1409 shots in just 47 games; prorated to 70 games, that's nearly 2100 shots, which would have ranked him fourth in the NHL. The .916 save percentage was more indicative of his play, even while spending nearly half the season nursing various injuries, and given the fact that the Canes have gotten younger this season the discrepancy will likely be in place again this year. Projection: 2.68/.919

Justin Peters: His first season as Ward's caddy will probably see him in 25 or so games, starting around 15 depending on injuries. Peters looked good at times last year, and playing his introductory games in the NHL for a team going nowhere last season will probably serve him well, since when the games count he'll have some experience under his belt. He's very clearly the second banana in net, though. Projection: 2.85/.902

Justin Pogge: In the Canes' quest to acquire as many goaltenders named Justin, Pogge will probably spend most of the season in Charlotte. He's only on the roster as the third goalie in Finland, and when the Canes return to North America he'll head down I-85. In the event of an injury to Peters or Ward, he'll get the call, but it's pointless to make a projection for a guy who might very well not play an NHL game this season.

Whew...made it before the season starts. Back before noon Thursday with predicted conference standings, playoffs and your Stanley Cup champion.

With a week to go, who will make the Canes' roster?

2010-09-27T00:42:00.003-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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When training camp started, there were more open slots on the Canes' roster than at any point since the lockout. Not to say that six open spots are anything to write home about, but for a franchise that has for years assigned lines and roster spots in June rather than September this qualifies as news. With four open spaces at forward and two defensive spots open, the competition was expected to be fierce. However, as we've gone through the preseason there have been some surprises, both good and bad, so with a week left in camp we look at the chances of the players on the bubble to stick on the roster when the regular season begins next Friday.

Note that the NHL allows teams beginning the season overseas to have an expanded 25-man roster until they return from Europe. One of those extra slots will undoubtedly go to Justin Pogge, who will serve as the third goaltender, and the second will likely go to a defenseman. For purposes of this discussion, we will limit it to a normal 23-man roster and assess the odds from that benchmark.

Already on the team, barring catastrophe
F (8): Eric Staal, Sergei Samsonov, Tuomo Ruutu, Brandon Sutter, Erik Cole, Tom Kostopoulos, Jussi Jokinen, Chad LaRose
D (4): Tim Gleason, Joni Pitkanen, Anton Babchuk, Joe Corvo
G (2): Cam Ward, Justin Peters (plus Justin Pogge, who will go to Europe but will almost certainly be sent to Charlotte after the team returns)

Competition for Forward Spots
Patrick O'Sullivan: Signed the day camp opened, O'Sullivan has been a revelation in camp and a spot is almost certainly his to lose. He has been productive in all facets of the game, including a turn as a penalty killer that resulted in a shorthanded goal in the first preseason game against Florida. O'Sullivan is a historically streaky player, so to expect this great play to continue through the season is unrealistic, but he's more than earned a spot on the roster as he's been the best player on the ice for two of the Canes' four preseason games. Chance of making the team: 95%

Zach Boychuk: No one on the roster has seen his stock fall faster in the first two weeks of camp than Boychuk, who had by all accounts been given every opportunity to make the team but has looked increasingly lost as camp has progressed. He has been tentative on the puck, ineffective off it and has been by far the most disappointing player relative to his potential to this point. The emergence of O'Sullivan has been directly at Boychuk's expense, and while he may make the flight to Europe it will take a remarkable turnaround for him to stay on the 23-man roster. There's probably a decent (maybe 35%) chance of Boychuk being traded for defensive help in the next couple of weeks, although the team will never admit this, because his perceived ceiling (and therefore, his value on the trade market) is higher than anyone else on the bubble. Chance of making the team: 30%

Jiri Tlusty: A torn ACL in the AHL playoffs last year has prevented Tlusty from playing in any preseason games, but he may be cleared in time to play one of the final two games before the Canes leave for Russia. There were never any promises for Tlusty this season, but the fact that he must clear waivers to be sent down (plus the one-way deal he signed this offseason, ensuring he will make NHL money even if sent down) will likely result in a roster spot. Chance of making the team: 70%

Drayson Bowman: Unusually for such a small player, if Bowman makes the team it will be as a defensive specialist. Bowman has earned raves from the coaching staff with his attention to defensive detail. He could use another season in the AHL to bulk up, and with the number of defensive forwards already on the roster (Sutter, Staal, Kostopoulos, LaRose, etc.) he will likely be squeezed to Charlotte. It hasn't been for a lack of effort, though, and he will probably be the first callup if he does head to the minors out of camp. Chance of making the team: 40%

Zac Dalpe: Dalpe's chances of making the team took a serious hit Sunday when the team announced Jussi Jokinen would likely play center on the third line. If Dalpe were to make the team, that's where he would settle, so while he remains on the training camp roster it's likely that he will not be headed to Europe. While looking solid on the puck and generally making good decisions on both ends, Dalpe has made the predictable rookie mistakes, to no one's surprise, and it wouldn't hurt him to play top-six minutes in Charlotte rather than having a ceiling of 15 minutes per game with the Canes. Remember, he only signed his professional contract with nine games remaining in Albany's season last year, so there's still development that needs to occur. Chance of making the team: 15%

Patrick Dwyer: Dwyer is a known quantity, having played 58 games with Carolina last season, and while he would likely clear waivers (and has a minors-friendly two-way deal) it would take an other-worldly performance from either Bowman or Dalpe to knock Dwyer down to Charlotte. Much like Chad LaRose years ago, who always seemed from the outside to have a shakier roster spot than the inside believed, Dwyer is a known quantity in an organization that values the known highly. He's virtually guaranteed a spot on the 23-man roster. Chance of making the team: 95%

Jeff Skinner: Even the franchise that valued him so highly that only the top two draft picks were above him on their board didn't think the decision on whether Skinner would make the team was going to be this easy. If not for O'Sullivan, Skinner would be the story of camp. He's flown all over the ice, creating scoring chances out of nothing, and perhaps most importantly he teamed with Jokinen and LaRose on Friday night as part of the most effective line on the ice for either team. That line is likely to remain intact when the season begins, and not only will Skinner make the opening-night roster, he will be on the roster for ten games, and his contract will be activated. There's no guarantee he will stay up for the entire season, but if he can play at this level all year, why wouldn't the Canes keep him up? Chance of making the team: 90%

Likely to make the team: O'Sullivan, Dwyer, Skinner, Tlusty

Competition for Defense Spots
Jamie McBain: A spot on the 2010-11 roster has been McBain's to lose since last year's trade deadline, and he's done nothing to relinquish that spot. McBain has been solid if unspectacular in the preseason, but unspectacular in his case is a good thing. He's been smart with the puck and he doesn't give up odd-man rushes often, so he is a solid defender in addition to being a valuable weapon on offense. No question there will be some growing pains as he goes through his first full NHL season, but it would take a remarkable regression combined with someone else stepping up for McBain to play anywhere other than Carolina this season. Chance of making the team: 99%

Bobby Sanguinetti: It's no surprise that the Canes are giving Sanguinetti an extended audition while sending potential roster-spot competitors Casey Borer and Bryan Rodney to Charlotte. While the Canes know what they're getting with the likes of Borer and Rodney, Sanguinetti is still something of an unknown quantity. Unfortunately for him, Sanguinetti's play has been shaky in the preseason. He has been caught out of position somewhat regularly, and his offensive exploits have been pretty much nonexistent. Even though Sanguinetti will be in camp for longer than most other hopefuls, he probably won't even be the first option as a callup, especially when considering that Sanguinetti is exempt from waivers and has a two-way deal. Like Bowman, Sanguinetti will likely head to Europe but will be in Charlotte after the Canes return. Chance of making the team: 30%

Brett Carson: A non-factor to the point of being invisible thus far, Carson is nonetheless a known quantity which increases his chances of sticking on the roster. The Canes know what they have with Carson, who proved last year that he can handle regular shifts, and he's probably going to be in a rotation with Jay Harrison (see below) as the sixth or seventh defenseman on any given night. Note that Carson's chance of staying put on the NHL roster will drop quickly if the Canes pull the trigger on a deal for more defensive depth. Chance of making the team: 60%

Jay Harrison: By any reasonable account Harrison has done nothing to deserve a roster spot. So why is only McBain listed with a higher probability of seeing the roster? Simple: Harrison has a one-way deal, and the Canes are in no mood to pay him NHL money to play for Charlotte while paying a two-way player like Carson or Sanguinetti to play NHL minutes. Harrison has been frighteningly bad, and the ill-fated pairing with Anton Babchuk in Friday's game was a logistical nightmare. After Bryan Rodney left with an injury, Harrison was mercifully moved from Babchuk's pairing onto a unit with Tim Gleason, which only proved that Gleason can compensate for Harrison's shortcomings. There is no reasonable hockey reason Harrison should have a roster spot, but the budget being what it is you can safely expect Harrison to hold down a roster spot. Chance of making the team: 80%

Likely to make the team: McBain, Harrison, Carson (unless a trade is pulled off)

We'll know by Wednesday who makes the team. The Canes have one more cut to get down to 25, but since the budget is a consideration there's a decent chance the Canes will cut more players and only take 23 or 24 to Europe. In any case, by the time the team comes back to the USA after the games in Helsinki the roster will almost certainly have no more than 21 players.

Who will they be? We'll find out soon enough.

Preseason Game 3: Predators 2, Hurricanes 1

2010-09-24T22:02:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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The second of three games in as many nights sees the Canes come back to Raleigh for one night only, between trips to Nashville yesterday and Atlanta tomorrow. After beating the Predators 3-1 at Bridgestone Arena last night, the Canes look for a sweep tonight against a slightly more-veteran Preds team than what the Canes saw last night.

Patrick O'Sullivan continued his great play, scoring the game-tying goal last night and looking like he has one of the open spots sewn up even this early in camp. At the other end, there's some separation occurring, and Zach Boychuk in particular needs to step up his play to have any chance of sticking with the Canes when they leave for Helsinki by way of St. Petersburg next Friday. Zac Dalpe and Patrick Dwyer have also impressed in limited showings, and with Jeff Skinner likely to at least begin the season on the Canes' roster the number of open spots is quickly dwindling.

Justin Pogge will get the start tonight and, according to Paul Maurice, will play the entire game. This is the last chance for fans to see the Canes in an evening tilt before returning from their lengthy road trip on October 27; there's one more game next Friday, but it's at 1:00 (and open to the public for free) to accommodate the team's departure for St. Petersburg later in the afternoon.

Here we go...

End 1st: Canes lead 1-0; O'Sullivan 2 (Babchuk, Skinner) (pp) Notice something missing? It was a late night at the office for yours truly, and we didn't make it to the rink until there were six minutes left in the first period (in other news, the first period flew by, with only a handful of whistles). Anyway, here's what you missed: a 5-on-3 goal that further cemented Patrick O'Sullivan's place on the roster in Helsinki, on a one-time shot from the right point off a slick pass from Anton Babchuk.

2:50 2nd: Not a great play by Bobby Sanguinetti. On a clear into the Hurricanes' zone, Sanguinetti fumbled the puck and nearly handed the Preds a 3-on-1 below the hash marks in the low slot. Pogge was sharp, and the Canes escaped trouble by scrambling back to cover, but that was a scoring chance that never should have happened.

7:45 2nd: Preds tie it at 1; Legwand 1 (unassisted) Kind of a bizarre play there. Pogge left the puck behind the net for Jay Harrison, who evidently never got the memo and didn't pick up the puck, so David Legwand picked it up uncontested. Instead of looking for an outlet pass, though, Legwand wrapped it around and surprised Pogge with a long slot to the far post that somehow beat Pogge even though he had most of the net covered. Not a red-letter moment for Harrison, who hasn't impressed anyone thus far in the preseason, but the goal was a weird shot that Pogge looked to have covered but didn't by a few inches.

12:06 2nd: Preds take a 2-1 lead; Tootoo 1 (Halischuk) This is why line changes are important, folks. The Canes got caught in a lazy line change and the Preds broke out on a 3-on-2 as a result. Matt Halischuk, acquired over the summer from New Jersey for Jason Arnott, started the rush and fed Jordan Tootoo at the top of the right circle for a one-timer that Tootoo perfectly placed over Pogge's glove for Nashville's first lead of the night.

14:54 2nd: Nice recovery by Pogge on a dangerous play from behind the net on the near side. The Preds are trying all sorts of stuff behind the net. I wouldn't think they've been watching film this early in the season, but it seems like every shift they have at least one play set up from behind the Carolina net.

17:10 2nd: Francis Bouillon politely introduces himself to Zach Boychuk at the red line. And by a polite introduction I mean "flattened him and stood over him admiring his handiwork". Brandon Sutter, of all people, jumped in to keep the peace.

End 2nd: The ice was tilted toward Pogge for most of the period. Shots were 11-6 Predators, who had held the Canes to just two shots for a long stretch of the period. Not really the best showing for the guys who have jobs on the line. Bobby Sanguinetti, Zach Boychuk and Jay Harrison, I'm looking at you.

1:02 3rd: Chad LaRose was wondering why he didn't draw a tripping penalty when he was wiped out by David Legwand and went careening into the net. Probably a good question.

1:13 3rd: Francis Bouillon is quickly becoming public enemy number one in the stands at the RBC. This time, a nasty knee-on-knee hit on the Canes' Jussi Jokinen drew the ire of the fans and players alike. Jokinen stayed on the bench, but Bouillon earned four minutes in penalties including offsetting roughing calls with the Canes' LaRose.

11:00 3rd: They haven't scored, but the combination of Jokinen, LaRose and Jeff Skinner has created a scoring chance every time they've gone down the ice in this period. Skinner in particular looks much better tonight than he did on Tuesday, and it's obvious that the whirlwind surrounding his contract signing Tuesday was a significant distraction. He and O'Sullivan are confirming their spots on the opening-night roster with every shift they take.

17:19 3rd: LaRose and Bouillon nearly go at it again after LaRose got up high on a Preds' defender behind the Nashville net. LaRose is lucky he didn't get sent off for elbowing, but he got a nasty facewash courtesy of Bouillon and David Legwand as a result.

End 3rd: Despite a power-play with ten seconds left that looked to generate some good offense, the Canes failed to put a second one in the net and they dropped their second consecutive home game to split the home-and-home with the Predators.

At this point it's obvious that even the players know who will be on the sides of the chopping block, perhaps as soon as after tomorrow's game in Atlanta. Patrick O'Sullivan and Jeff Skinner will make the team, barring injury, and it's highly likely Zach Boychuk will not. Patrick Dwyer will probably make the team as a depth forward, although he really isn't in competition (at least, from an offensive-production standpoint) with the likes of Skinner and Boychuk. Still up in the air are the statuses of Drayson Bowman and Zac Dalpe; it's likely Dalpe has the inside track since he's a natural center and the Canes need one more, but Paul Maurice singled out Bowman's defensive acumen tonight and there's a chance he could sneak on the team. Much more on this coming in a column early next week.

On defense, no one really stood out (or, in Maurice's words, maybe they did for the wrong reasons). Jay Harrison is nothing more than a depth defenseman, but Maurice singled him out for solid play. We all scratched our heads at that one. If he makes the team, it will likely be at the expense of Bobby Sanguinetti and Casey Borer, neither of whom have shown much either. The overriding concern is that no one on the defense, other than Tim Gleason and Joe Corvo, has done anything at all on the ice so far, so a trade to shore up the blue line is a realistic possibility before the Canes jet off to St. Petersburg next Friday.

Click for audio from Patrick O'Sullivan and Jeff Skinner. Maurice's press conference is attached.

Much more on the roster-spot battles coming up early next week. We'll be back in game action October 27 when the Canes welcome the Washington Capitals to town for the first regular-season game at the RBC after their nearly month-long road trip.

Preseason Game 1: Panthers 4, Hurricanes 1

2010-09-21T22:22:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Not that preseason games ever have any relevance to the regular season, but this year might be more important to Canes fans than past years. For one thing, tonight and Friday are the only two chances to see the Canes in action at the RBC Center before the home opener on October 27th. (In case you forgot, there's the little issue of a multi-continent road trip involved in the meantime.) For another, there are some unfamiliar names on the backs of the red jerseys in the building tonight.

Foremost among those unfamiliar names is a guy Caniacs will likely get to know pretty well in the coming season. Fresh off signing his entry-level contract at a press conference earlier today (the only press conference I can remember the team holding for a rookie signing his first contract), Jeff Skinner will debut tonight plaing wing alongside Patrick Dwyer and Chad LaRose. The other names in the lineup are a mix of people you know and some new names. There's going to be some adjustment in looking at the unfamiliar numbers on the ice, but you'll be well-versed with these guys by the time they get back from Finland.

We're going to be here for all of it (well, except for the Finland part), so join us as we begin Puck Drops' 4th season tonight...

1:50 1st: Some nice pressure down low from a combination of Jon Matsumoto and Drayson Bowman, helped out by a helpful rebound from Florida's Scott Clemmensen. The Canes had about four great scoring chances from the low slot and were generating a ton of pressure for about 25-30 seconds.

2:56 1st: And the first power play of the season goes to the Canes. Florida's Mike Duco bowled over Cam Ward with no one around, and it was an obvious interference call. Tom Kostopoulos took exception and jawed at Duco on the way back to the bench, with Jay Harrison coming in for backup and hip-checking Duco at the blue line.

3:45 1st: Panthers lead 1-0; Gudbranson 1 (Matthias) Didn't take long for the Panthers to hit paydirt. Tuomo Ruutu was sent off for interference, and off the ensuing faceoff Erik Gudbranson fired a rifle shot from the near circle that flew past Ward and into the back of the net.

5:39 1st: Now a 3-0 lead; Santorelli 1 (Callahan) (pp) 4:56, then Timmins 1 (Grant, Gudbranson) 5:39 The bottom is falling out of the Canes' defense, six minutes into the preseason. Santorelli absolutely undressed Anton Babchuk in the far circle, freezing Ward and firing it home while Ward was helpless to stop it, then the goalie lost sight of the puck on the third goal and the trash was cleaned up in front of him by Scott Timmins after a double-deflection. An ugly set of sequences, no two ways about it.

15:20 1st: The officials have been, to put it politely, letting the boys play tonight. Things could get a little heated if they keep up. Tuomo Ruutu was just railroaded into the near boards by Rostislav Olesz and Ruutu made note of the guilty party, probably for future reference. The Canes' D has loked a little more solid, but it's still a very obvious work in progress.

End 1st: Things have settled down a bit. It's a good thing this game doesn't count, because there would be a lot more bellyaching in the locker room otherwise. The shots were a deceptive 13-11 for the Panthers, but while the Canes had a couple of good chances the ice was tilted toward Cam Ward for long stretches of the period.

3:44 1st: Canes on the board, Babchuk 1 (O'Sullivan, Kostopoulos) (sh) And that's what we expect from Anton Babchuk, isn't it? Rather uninspired play for 33 minutes, noticeable by his lack of defensive awareness, then pop up out of nowhere (on a penalty kill, naturally) and convert a 2-on-1. Saw it coming, didn't you? Patrick O'Sullivan was the setup man for the odd-man rush, feeding Babchuk with a nice tape-to-tape pass in the high slot that Babchuk roofed over Clemmensen's glove to put the Canes on the scoreboard.

10:40 2nd: Should have been 3-2 if not for some bad luck. Riley Nash took a turnaround shot from the bottom of the near circle that surprised Clemmensen and had him beat, if not for the near-side post getting in the way. The puck slid parallel to the goal line from one side to the other, an unfortunate break that the Canes deserved better from.

15:00 2nd: Great pressure from the Canes, particularly Tom Kostopoulos and Drayson Bowman. Kostopoulos twice tried to feed Bowman from behind the net and if not for some great reflexes by new Panthers goalie Jacob Markstrom, he'd have had the Canes' second of the night. As it was, Kostopoulos is showing some nice hands tonight, which is a good sign for the Canes' necessary scoring depth this season.

End 2nd: It was better, which is faint praise given how long stretches of the first period went, and we're learning more about exactly how the new players are adapting to Carolina's system. Patrick O'Sullivan and Riley Nash have looked particularly good, and I'd think at this point they're likely to play a good number of games with the Canes this season. Shots in the period were 10-9 Canes, who trail 22-21 overall.

3:20 3rd: Another what-might-have-been moment in front of Markstrom. This time, Tuomo Ruutu was the unlucky party. Markstrom bounced a rebound to the left side of his net and Ruutu was right there to clean up, but he was unable to elevate it over Markstrom's glove and it ended up buried under a Panthers defenseman for a whistle.

9:44 3rd: Paetsch scores to make it 4-1 Panthers And don't tell Tim Gleason this is a meaningless game. After Nathan Paetsch scored on a one-timer from the right side of the far circle, Gleason and Tristan Grant went at it behind the net and the Canes somehow came out with a power play on a four-minute roughing penalty to Grant while Gleason was only handed a single minor.

10:50 3rd: Patrick O'Sullivan's unlucky night continues, as he whiffed on a silver-platter puck at the top of the crease with Markstrom well out of position. He could easily have had a three-point night if things had gone according to plan in the game.

End 3rd: At least the Canes showed life in the third period, outshooting the Panthers 13-2 in the final frame. It didn't matter, though, as they weren't able to get another one past Markstrom for a 4-1 final. Paul Maurice said after the game that he almost expected the weary legs that the team saw in the first period, given how much excitement was in the locker room before the game and the pace of training camp up to this point. More to the point, he said that if the team was up to speed from the opening faceoff that they hadn't worked them hard enough in camp.

There's obviously not much you can take from a game like this, but it has to be said that there are certain players who did their best to stake a claim to a roster spot, foremost among them Patrick O'Sullivan. He was bar none the best Hurricane on the ice tonight, and it's a fair argument to say that he was the best player for either team. It will take some serious competition from elsewhere to keep O'Sullivan off the opening night roster.

Click for audio from O'Sullivan and Jeff Skinner. Maurice's press conference is attached.

Back at it Friday night when the Nashville Predators come to town.

Canes sign NC native Patrick O'Sullivan to one-year deal

2010-09-17T12:25:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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As first reported by TSN's Bob McKenzie on Twitter last night, the Hurricanes have agreed to a one-year, two-way deal with forward Patrick O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan spent the 2009-10 season with the Edmonton Oilers, posting 11 goals and 34 points in 73 games. At the 2009 trade deadline, O'Sullivan was a go-between in a three-way deal that saw the Canes send Justin Williams to Los Angeles and reacquire Erik Cole from Edmonton, so technically this is his second tour of duty with the Canes although the first lasted but a few minutes.

While O'Sullivan was born in Toronto (according to Canes PR whiz Mike Sundheim, his family was on vacation and he came early), he spent the first eight years of his life in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the hometown of his mother and the city where his father played minor-league hockey under then-coach and current Atlanta Thrashers GM Rick Dudley. Winston-Salem is about two hours west of Raleigh, and 30 minutes from the Canes' first North Carolina home in Greensboro (1997-99). That makes O'Sullivan the first-ever player to suit up for the Canes who grew up in North Carolina, although he was here (and moved away) well before the Canes came to the state.

O'Sullivan is a talented, yet inconsistent player whose main claim to fame (or infamy) is the saga of his father, John. A middling forward for the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds, John O'Sullivan was by all accounts an abusive father who lived out his own NHL dream vicariously through his talented son. There are restraining orders, jail sentences, bodyguards, and God knows what else involved in this story. I won't repeat them all here, but this is a signing that comes with a lot of baggage -- moreso than any other signing Jim Rutherford has ever made.

The sad thing is that O'Sullivan will never be able to lead a normal NHL career. Everywhere he goes, he is forced to look over his shoulder. It happened at the 2003 draft in Nashville, where O'Sullivan was projected to go in the first round but slipped to the late second before Minnesota snapped him up. His father was supposed to stay far away from the Gaylord Entertainment Center on that day, but he showed up and NHL security was forced to keep surveillance on him at all times. It will certainly happen in Carolina, at least until he gets comfortable back in his home state. And everywhere he goes, the first question is about his father, no matter what happened that night at the rink. It's a sad piece of baggage that O'Sullivan will carry with him until the day he retires.

As a pure hockey move, this is another of Rutherford's patented reclamation projects, next in line behind Sergei Samsonov, Jussi Jokinen and the like. It's a low-risk signing (again, strictly in the hockey sense) and gives the Canes a little more wiggle room if the youngsters at camp underwhelm and show that they need more time to develop. O'Sullivan never panned out to his high ceiling in his draft year, due in no small part to the family drama that encircled him, but if all goes right he can still chip in 15-20 goals. That would take a significant amount of performance pressure off the likes of Drayson Bowman, Zac Dalpe, Jiri Tlusty and the like.

We're headed to the first on-ice day of training camp tomorrow, so it will be easier to get a handle on exactly what the Canes have on their hands. From first impressions, this could be another bargain-basement signing that ends well for the team.

Recap: Canes Media Day and Interview Sessions

2010-09-08T23:59:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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Every year, the Hurricanes graciously host the local media in a "getting-to-know-you" setting that, for some, includes a day on a local golf course with Canes players, coaches and executives. That group, unsurprisingly, does not include yours truly, and will not unless they decide to hold the outing on a local miniature golf course. (I'm mean with a putter, but more of my golf balls hit off a tee wind up on local highways than they do on greens. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.)

To no one's surprise, GM Jim Rutherford's group finished first (for the third year in a row) among about twelve foursomes, and I have a feeling the Canes stashed an intern at the back of each green to always give the big boss a good lie á là a Simpsons episode from years ago, with Rutherford playing the role of Mr. Burns and the unsuspecting intern in the role of Smithers.

Anyway, rather than recapping the golf game of various players and media members, I figure you care more about what those players and their coaches and executives had to say about the upcoming season. Last year, the general sense among the attendees was that the Canes were well on their way to reprising their appearance in the conference final. Then, last year happened.

So it's rather unsurprising that the mood this year was upbeat for a different reason. Instead of having great expectations, there's almost a carefree sense throughout the organization. They still feel that the team will be competitive and, if everything goes right, perhaps sneak into the postseason. But where last year the scuttlebutt was that the playoffs were all but assured, by contrast this year the P-word was never even mentioned in six interviews I conducted.

So what was mentioned? Youth, for one. I got the sense that coach Paul Maurice in particular is relishing the chance to have the ability to mold the young players that will comprise most of the roster this year. It was a shock for a couple of us when I realized that fully three-quarters of the roster is younger than me, and a writer for the Associated Press who is only a couple of years older than I am is now older than the entire team. It's going to be incumbent on the likes of Eric Staal, Tim Gleason, Cam Ward et al. to take the mantle of leadership; indeed, when we thought about it for a second, we realized that Staal is the only player left in the locker room to have worn a captain's letter for all of last season.

Obviously, the early-season trip to Finland was a topic of conversation as well. Given how last year started, a good start is imperative to begin the 2010-11 season. But since the Canes will not play a game at the RBC Center until the season is three weeks old, just keeping the team's collective head above water will be a challenge. (Paul Maurice said that he's figured out that he will spend just four nights the entire month of October in his own bed. Sounds like fun, right?)

One minor bit of news: Rutherford says he anticipates one or two NHL veterans attending training camp, either on a tryout basis or on a two-way contract that he will finalize in the next week or so. He was very clear, though, in saying that no one would be gifted a roster spot, and to that end he will not be handing out one-way deals with open invitations to claim a spot. In other words, don't expect a Stephane Yelle or Josef Melichar-type signing this season.

It was a great time in a very relaxed setting, with plenty of opportunities for candid commentary from all sorts of folks within the organization. Click below for the audio files from today's event:

Paul Maurice (5:21)
Chad LaRose (3:11)
Joe Corvo (2:45)
Cam Ward (2:16)
Eric Staal (4:51)
Jim Rutherford (14:33)

One more week until training camp starts. The Canes will report on Friday, September 17 for physical testing, and they hit the ice for the first time at the RBC Center the next day.

The Brave New World of Social Media

2010-09-03T15:23:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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In the beginning, there was the sports media. Teams and players dealt with the media, the media dealt with the fans, every once in a while a player or two would come out and sign autographs, and that was largely that for the first 100 or so years of sports journalism.

Then, along came Twitter. And the rules of engagement changed in a way no one could have predicted.

As little as two years ago, Twitter was seen as a fad at best, and a useless time-waster at worst. I personally saw little point in posting what amounted to Facebook status updates for the whole world to see. Not only was it a little uncomfortable from a privacy standpoint, but I figured that no one cared what I ate for breakfast, how awful my day at work was, or anything else. More to the point, the people that needed to know such things already knew.

But then social media, and Twitter in particular, took on a life of its own, and the end result is a paradigm shift the likes of which have never before been seen in journalism or in sports. And it's been so quick that the rules of engagement are essentially being set on the fly, sometimes changing from day to day, or even minute to minute.

Hockey player-turned-blogger-turned-reporter Justin Bourne is only a year removed from playing professional hockey, yet even in that short amount of time, he says, everything players ever knew about dealing with fans and the media has been turned upside down.

"Last year was my first year not playing, and in that time I think things have changed drastically just because of Twitter. When I was playing we would get a media prep sheet, and it was just the basics: don't tear apart the other team in the media, the way to answer questions so that everything is basically sterile. They really don't want you to say anything too interesting. Now, I'm sure they have to coach players in a whole different way because of Twitter."

Hurricanes director of media relations Mike Sundheim leads casual discussions for newly-drafted players at rookie conditioning camp in July. Unlike in the past, where the discussion could mostly be limited to what to say and what not to say to the media, Sundheim says that players now need to pay attention to what they post on public social networking sites, and to expect little to no privacy.

"We talk to them about having common sense when they use [social media], and especially who they're friends with on Facebook, because when you're friends with people on Facebook they have access to everything that's on your page and often have the ability to tag photos of you. It gets almost to the point of being a safety concern in some cases, but also obviously an image concern with what ends up there."

Where in the past teams were largely able to ensure that players' communications with their fans were filtered through the media, with the advent of social networking the players and fans can converse directly with each other, sometimes with disastrous results. Just ask Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Dan Ellis. On August 17, a tweet from Ellis comparing goaltenders to brain surgeons, given their need for specialized training and the danger they put themselves in front of every day, elicited unsurprising results. Ellis fired back at his critics, and within ten minutes the situation boiled over into back-and-forths between Ellis and fans following him.

The danger of a spat like this occurring increases the amount of work team media relations departments have to do, and Sundheim says that while he personally would be in favor of a Hurricanes player establishing a Twitter account and interacting with the fans, ultimately they have to keep their job in mind.

"These guys are professionals, and they go into visiting buildings and have just about everything in the world said to them that you wouldn't believe. It's up to them to be professional and maintain their focus, to play a sport and not respond to those things. It's really up to the player to be responsible, and at the end of the day if somebody reacts poorly it's going to reflect worst on that person as an individual."

Scott Norton and his agency, Norton Sports Management, have been at the forefront of encouraging players to sign up for Twitter. Norton believes that the value of Twitter lies not in its ability to bypass team media relations departments, but rather in putting a human face on players who for years have been largely faceless, with the notable exception of the few superstars that the NHL promotes to no end.

"In hockey, with the exception of Ovechkin or Crosby, the individuals aren't marketed. I think hockey players are by far the most well-grounded and the best people who are professional athletes. It's really a shame, because there are a lot of good stories, there's a lot of good people doing a lot of good things, but really no one ever knows about them. As far as I'm concerned, [social networking] can do nothing but good."

To that end, Norton has encouraged his clients to utilize Twitter for greater societal good, and not necessarily a simple window into the player's private life. This past week, Norton and a few of his clients began a program dubbed "Make My Day Monday," an initiative designed to have players give a helping hand to the homeless and other less fortunate people in their communities. The concept is one of several similar ideas that players and agents have used to publicize charitable works and giving via social media.

But Bourne believes that, ironically, the greater access afforded by social media into players' personal lives could result in more of the boilerplate soundbites that reporters have heard for years.

"We're probably creating more actual boring people. In the old days, when 'the game was bigger than us', you could have a player go answer some questions, then they would go out and tear it up and no one would really know. There was no reporter there with a camera, no one was taking cell phone pics. Now, they're filtering their messages so strongly that there's no release for Sidney Crosby. He's just got to be boring. That's his only option. They're aware that any message they put out there will get out there to a million eyes. I think we are forcing these people to be boring."

No amount of cliches can be too much for players who have been trained since junior hockey to speak in generalities and never give bulletin-board material to the other team. Especially in hockey, where the culture emphasizes the team over all else moreso than in other sports, social media allows players to express themselves in a way that has never been available to them in the past.

With the uncharted territory that social media continues to occupy, and given the opportunities for self-promotion that social media encourages, Norton thinks that teams will continue to crack down on players using Twitter and other forms of social media, and that ultimately the matter may be decided in collective bargaining when the next agreement is up for negotiation in 2012.

"As we get into the new CBAs -- for all the sports -- there will be clauses covering social media. Whether it's they have to go through the team, whether it's the team can have final say, whatever it might be, I see it as something that they will try to address, because other than that it just comes down to freedom of speech. It's pretty difficult to tell a player, especially a player who's in your core players that you're not going to bench or whatever might be, 'hey, don't do this'."

Sundheim, however, says that at least in the case of the Hurricanes, while the media relations staff would need to keep tabs on any potential Tweeters in the Canes' locker room, it's not something the organization dismisses out of hand.

"I don't think that [social media] is necessarily a bad thing. We like social media -- we have our own Facebook page, we have our own Twitter, and I think all these things are good. They're a way to communicate with fans that we hadn't had previously, and frankly it's changing the way marketing works to a certain extent. At the same time, we just have to keep an eye on what players are doing. If anyone decides to start a Twitter, obviously I would have to follow that person and just keep an eye on how it's going. For the most part, I trust our guys. If a guy was going to start something like that, we would trust that he would be responsible with it."

Until the new territory is settled and understood by all sides, teams and players can expect a feeling-out process to figure out where the line should be drawn between a productive amount of information and, in the case of Ellis' situation, a public relations headache. Norton says he impresses on his clients the importance of continuously being aware of what they are posting and not to simply post at will with no regards for the consequences.

"There's going to be the isolated incident, not just in any sport but in any business. But that's why I feel the onus falls on me as an agent, or my marketing team, or whoever it might be, to educate the players on where you go with these things, what you do, what you don't do, the areas you don't get into. Every player that's signed up [for Twitter] I've told the areas to stay away from. You want to find the fine line of bringing the fans into your life, but still keeping the privacy."

A potential flash point in social media is the lack of transparency; Sundheim says that since absolutely anyone can create a social media account pretending to be someone who they aren't, the teams have to be on guard against any fake pages and ensure that what's out there is as accurate as possible.

"The only real direction we've had is a heads-up from the NHLPA to keep an eye on the fake Facebook pages, and frankly that's difficult because it's easy to create a fake Facebook page pretending to be a player and misrepresent yourself. Their concern is basically that it's a form of identity theft, and if those 5,000 people think they're friends with Eric Staal and the fake Eric Staal says something offhand, there's not a whole lot we can do about that. At this point, even working with Facebook to take those things down has proved to be a little bit of a challenge."

According to Bourne, players today have an opportunity that their predecessors would have never dreamed possible. But until the generations of hockey players catch up with the technology available, social media will continue to be an evolving aspect of the media landscape.

"I'm petrified at some point, because I haven't been doing this media thing for a whole lot of time. Growing up playing the game, you just fire back at your opponents. I don't know if it's a certain sensitivity or not, but there's definitely times when I can see myself just having a five-minute brain [cramp] and firing off on about ten people, and all of a sudden I don't have a job anymore. "

As the world of social media continues to evolve, teams, players and fans will all have a steep learning curve to define "normal" moving forward. As the Ellis and Paul Bissonnette sagas proved, there are still some real questions about how much is too much when it comes to posting information on social networking. Ultimately, limits will be set, as they have been in the past with other evolving methods of communication, but when those limits come down the road is anyone's guess.

Until that point, it's likely to remain the free-for-all that Twitter has enabled, and while controversy might not be any more prevalent than it already is in locker rooms around the NHL, the next one might come from an angle no one has any chance to predict.

2010-11 NHL TV schedule released

2010-08-25T15:42:00.003-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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The NHL's national television schedule came out today, and the Hurricanes will have four nationally-televised games this season. If you're scoring at home, that's following a season in which the team lost fourteen straight games and finished 24th overall in the league; compare that to last year, where the Canes were coming off an appearance in the conference final and received precisely zero games on national TV.

Yeah, makes perfect sense to me as well.

Anyway, here's the breakdown:

The two games in Helsinki, on October 7 and 8 against Minnesota, will be televised by Versus at 12 PM Eastern time. Incidentally, of the three series (Carolina/Minnesota, Boston/Phoenix, Columbus/San Jose) that begin the season in Europe, only the Canes and Wild will have both of their games on Versus. The other two games that will be televised nationally are November 29, a 7:30 (changed from 7:00) start against the Dallas Stars at the RBC Center, and a March 15 game (also moved from 7:00 to 7:30) in Buffalo against the Sabres.

Expecting to see the Canes on NBC? Don't get your hopes up; despite the fact that NBC can "flex" games to broadcast on Sunday afternoons, the Canes only have two options: a February 13 game in Atlanta that is competing for airtime against the likes of PIT/NYR, BOS/DET and LA/PHI (good luck with that) and a home game against Buffalo on April 3 that competes with a NYR/PHI game. In other words, the chances are very slim that the Canes will be on broadcast television this year. (Unless they make the playoffs and face a favorable -- read, "Pittsburgh, Washington or Philadelphia" -- opponent, that is.)

As for the Versus blackout, the schedule monkey treated the Canes slightly kinder this year. This is entirely unofficial, but taking into account the number of games scheduled for a certain night you can normally figure out which games televised on Versus will be exclusive, meaning no other network in the United States can televise a game, either locally or nationally, during Versus' broadcast window. The "in the United States" disclaimer is crucial, because Canadian networks can still broadcast even if the game is in the US, so anyone with NHL Center Ice will still have an option to watch the game. This year, there ~~are only two games that are~~ is only one game definitely affected by the blackout, but it is January 24 at home against Toronto so it will be televised in Canada and available on Center Ice. Additionally, a third game might be impacted (I can't tell from looking at the schedule whether the Versus game is exclusive that night or not), but that game is against Montreal and will be on Center Ice as well.

(After I posted this I went line-by-line through the Versus schedule and determined that only the 1/24 game is affected by a Versus blackout. The other two games that I thought were impacted are airing on nights when Versus is carrying games, but not on an exclusive basis.)

The good news? The only game impacted by a blackout is a home game, so every Canes road game will be eligible for broadcast. The question is whether Fox Sports Carolinas will broadcast those games, and we'll get the answer to that in a month or so when the FSC schedule comes out.

A couple of game-change times to accommodate rightsholders also came down the line with the schedule today: in addition to the two Versus games above that moved to 7:30, the October 14 game in Ottawa is moving to a 7:00 start (it was originally at 7:30), and the 7:00 start of the February 18 game against Philadelphia has been shifted to an 8:00 faceoff.

In case you were wondering, there are six teams with the maximum eleven appearances on Versus this season: Washington, Pittsburgh, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and the New York Rangers. Raise your hand if you're shocked...thought so. (Although I'm a little surprised Philadelphia isn't on that list.) At the other end of the spectrum, Edmonton, Florida and Ottawa receive no love from Versus with no nationally-televised games in the US for any of those teams. The two Canadian teams, of course, will be on regularly on Canadian television, and Florida has a few games on Canadian TV as well, but as you can see....it could be much, much worse.

Just ask last year's Canes.

Reduced payroll? No problem!

2010-08-24T12:24:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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With news emerging yesterday that the agent for forward Scott Walker has been in contact with the Canes' front office, and Jim Rutherford summarily dismissing the likelihood of Walker re-signing with the team, it's time for anyone who wants to see a youth movement take hold in west Raleigh to thank their lucky stars that Peter Karmanos is interested in selling a share of the team.

And yes, those two seemingly unrelated issues are actually connected in a fundamental way.

Twice in the past ten years, circumstances beyond Rutherford's control have forced him to make decisions that he otherwise would have been hesitant to make. The first time was in 2004, when the lockout wiped out the season and, as a result, a decent-sized group of players who otherwise would have been in Raleigh (Eric Staal chief among them, as well as Cam Ward, Chad LaRose, and probably Mike Zigomanis) instead spent a year in the American Hockey League sharpening their skills.

In a classic case of good things emerging from a bad situation, all of those players came back up to the NHL the following year, and were all instrumental in one way or another in delivering a Stanley Cup to the Hurricanes. Zigomanis was traded in the Doug Weight deal, so while he was an indirect part of the puzzle he was nonetheless a necessary component of the championship team.

To prolong the success of that 2006 championship team, Rutherford loaded up on veteran players in the '06-07 season.

And again in '07-08.

And again, with some success, in '08-09.

And again in '09-10.

The roster reads like a who's who of cautionary tales against signing veteran players to low-dollar contracts: Trevor Letowski, John Grahame, David Tanabe, Jeff Hamilton, Josef Melichar, Stephane Yelle. Every one of those players took a roster spot from a younger player who, especially in '07-08, could have benefitted from a slot on an NHL roster.

Finally, Rutherford's hand was forced this offseason. With Karmanos interested in selling a portion of the team, the Canes' self-imposed salary cap is significantly lower than it has been in the recent past. Unlike the past two seasons, where the Canes spent in the low- to mid-$50 million range on payroll, this year the Canes will be in the mid-$40s. And on top of that, Cam Ward's new contract extension kicks in this season, so the Canes will have $21 million - nearly half of their current $42.5 million payroll - tied up in four players: Staal, Ward, Tuomo Ruutu and Joni Pitkanen.

So with only $20 million or so left to fill out the rest of the roster, and with the Canes requiring flexibility to keep payroll as low as possible, the youth movement has begun in earnest. Look no further than the battle for the centers of the bottom two lines. Instead of names like Yelle and Hamilton being batted around, you're hearing the likes of Zac Dalpe, Riley Nash and Jiri Tlusty being mentioned. And with Erik Cole and Sergei Samsonov both unrestricted free agents after this season, that's two more slots that will open up for a Zach Boychuk or a Drayson Bowman to grab after spending this season on the Charlotte-to-Raleigh shuttle.

Last time Rutherford's hand was forced and he had to get out of his comfort zone, it resulted in a championship season. The same thing has happened this year, and we can only hope that it leads to good things down the road yet again.

It might be one of the rare times that a fanbase actually looks forward to a reduced payroll and ownership uncertainty. Who knew?

A quick review of Day 1 of free agency

2010-07-02T00:32:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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July 1 is always either the equivalent of hockey Christmas or a significant disappointment. The past few years, the glacial pace of signings on July 1 has led to such profound and lengthy discussions on the TSN panel as what the signing of Niklas Hagman will mean to the Toronto Maple Leafs (note: this actually happened, for inordinate amounts of time, in 2008).

And then this year happened, and it's a shocker Twitter didn't have a few dozen Fail Whales pop up through the day with all the action going on.

Approximately three seconds after the clock struck noon, the New York Rangers fired the first shot of free agency, signing goaltender Martin Biron from the crosstown Islanders for a pittance, one of the more reasoned signings of the day. And by the end of the day, we lived in a world where Derek Boogaard had earned a four-year deal (incidentally, the same stretch of time the heavyweight has gone without a goal) to suck up six million of Cablevision's dollars, where Manny Malhotra went from an afterthought signing last year to one of the higher-paid third line centers in hockey, and -- dear Lord, help us -- where Darryl Sutter completely lost his mind.

With a focus on players relevant to the Canes, let's review, shall we?

Obviously the biggest news of the day from a Canes fan's perspective was Ray Whitney signing with the Phoenix Coyotes. The man who nixed a deal to Los Angeles a few months ago, saying he wanted a three-year contract to go west, just joined the Kings' division on...wait for it...a two-year deal. As usual on Canada Day, minds change rather quickly. Whitney receives $3 million per year for the next two years, plus a no-movement clause, a small pay cut from what he made with the Canes but not at all out of line given the salaries being thrown around. (Case in point: in what parallel universe do Ray Whitney and Colby Armstrong make the same amount of money?)

The writing was on the wall as early as a month ago that the Canes' salary structure for next season wasn't going to be enough to keep Whitney, and indeed it wasn't. Whitney joins a Coyotes team that made a surprising run to a 100+ point season last year, and could have used his scoring in the playoffs against Detroit. He's a great fit in Phoenix, but Caniacs won't be able to see him at the RBC next year -- the Canes' only game against the Coyotes is in Phoenix on October 23, their last game of the post-Finland State Fair road trip.

Erstwhile Cane Matt Cullen, meanwhile, made good on a bundle of rumors and headed to his hometown (well, home state, anyway) Minnesota Wild on a three-year deal that will pay him $10.5 million. Given the Wild's offensive struggles, Cullen will provide a shot in the arm, but Wild captain Mikko Koivu is the only person standing between Cullen and first-line minutes. Cullen's a good secondary scorer, and will help the Wild's special teams, but for his sake I hope that Todd Richards and the Wild braintrust don't over-extend Cullen and expect regular 70-point seasons out of him given what he's being paid. Unless you plan to fly to Helsinki in October, you won't see Cullen next year; the Wild's two games against the Canes open the season in Finland.

Whitney was the only free agent the Canes lost on Thursday, although beyond him it's fair to say there isn't much there. Brian Pothier is the next biggest name on the list, and it would be surprising for Pothier to sign in the next week or so; he may well get to training camp without a contract. Joe Corvo is also still on the market, and his agent did talk to Jim Rutherford earlier today, but with so many defensemen coming off the market today (the free agent run for about three hours, from 2-5 pm, was almost exclusively defensemen) Corvo could take advantage of some team's desperation and sign an overpriced contract. That will certainly price him out of the Canes' budget; if they weren't willing to give $3 million to Whitney, there's no way they consider giving that much to Corvo.

As for everywhere else, the day was summed up when Olli Jokinen, he of the burned bridges on his way out of Calgary in February, somehow re-signed with the Flames in a deal that had every TSN talking head completely speechless. (I told a Rangers fan in my office about this development and he couldn't stop laughing. That's a fair assessment of the rest of the NHL's reaction. Flames fans, obviously, excluded.) Meanwhile, Ilya Kovalchuk, the undisputed alpha dog of this year's free agent crop, remained on the market Thursday night, with the Kings and Devils in hot pursuit. (So much for my theory that Whitney would have to wait for Kovalchuk to set the market before signing.)

So, let's recap: Jokinen's back with the Flames, Kovalchuk is still unemployed, Derek Boogaard makes nearly as much as Alex Tanguay. Yep...July 1 always brings surprises. July 2 should bring some as well.

Rod Brind'Amour retires: a look back

2010-06-30T19:16:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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In January of 2000, Jim Rutherford had a problem.

His captain, Keith Primeau, was holding out and had yet to play a game in Raleigh; even though the RBC Center had opened three months prior, the team's captain had not yet seen the home locker room in the new building. The well was so poisoned between the Canes and Primeau that Rutherford had little choice but to shop his captain to the rest of the league. Finally, after an excruciatingly long three months that cast a pall over the team finally being home in Raleigh, Rutherford pulled the trigger to acquire an injured player, a prospect and a draft pick, an indication of just how far Primeau's stock had fallen.

Ten years, two contracts, 299 assists, three division titles, two Prince of Wales Trophies, two Selke Trophies and a Stanley Cup later, that injured player retired, likely on his way to the Hall of Fame.

Rod Brind'Amour's retirement today was not unexpected. Ever since tearing his ACL in a February 2008 collision with Montreal's Georges Laraque, Brind'Amour has been slowing down, and with the Hurricanes poised to go considerably younger next season (to wit: with the expected departures of Ray Whitney and Brian Pothier, the old man of the roster next year will be 32-year-old Sergei Samsonov), his role has diminished to the point that a buyout seemed increasingly likely.

But it's obvious from talking with both Brind'Amour and Rutherford that this was the most agonizing hockey decision either man has ever faced. Rutherford brought up the experience of dealing with Steve Chiasson's death in saying that this isn't the most difficult situation he's ever faced as a GM, but in terms of actual on-ice scenarios, nothing compares to this. How do you tell the man who's been the face of the franchise since at least 2004, the man who captained your team to its only Stanley Cup, that he no longer has a role on the roster?

You don't. You let the decision make itself. Today, that decision was made, not by Brind'Amour or Rutherford on their own, but by the circumstances surrounding the two men. Rutherford said to Brind'Amour, we think it's time. Brind'Amour said to Rutherford, I think it's time. And so, it was time.

When Brind'Amour arrived in Raleigh, it was just before that famous 20-inch snowstorm that shut the city down for the better part of two weeks. The snow's arrival felt to Raleigh natives much the same way Brind'Amour felt toward the city he'd been traded to: cold, unfamiliar, difficult to comprehend. He himself admitted today that he had every intention of hitting the highway approximately six seconds after his contract expired in July of 2002, but then a funny thing happened: he grew to first respect, then like, then love, the area and the Hurricanes franchise.

By the time the extension that he signed in 2001 expired, he had won a Stanley Cup, and his name had become synonymous with Hurricanes hockey. Who'd have thought that?

Check out the picture of Brind'Amour with Ron Francis and Glen Wesley on the ice in Toronto in 2002. You can almost see it in his face: "We won an Eastern Conference title? A team from Raleigh, North Carolina? Maybe there's something here after all."

There's going to be a debate in days to come as to who the greatest Hurricane of all time should be. If we're restricting things to players since the Canes moved to North Carolina in 1997, there's no question. Rod Brind'Amour is the greatest Carolina Hurricane of all time. Greater than Francis. Greater than Wesley. Greater than any other player who have put the jersey on in the past thirteen years.

Brind'Amour may not have wanted to hang up the skates. He thought that he still had something to give. But in the end, he did what a captain always does: he did what was best for the team.

Eric Staal is now the captain. He has every chance to surpass Brind'Amour and be the fourth jersey in the rafters of the RBC Center. But as of right now, he might be the captain, but he is not The Captain. That's an honor reserved for the man who was so impatient for Gary Bettman to finish his accolades on June 19, 2006 that he ripped the Cup out of Bettman's hands before the photo ops were even completed.

That's The Captain. And at the risk of hyperbole, it's not unfair to say that an era ended today.

Puck Sage's NHL UFA Challenge

2010-06-29T23:26:00.020-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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One of my favorite tweeters is a fellow who I only know as Puck Sage. He (?) is a Bruins fan who does a great job of covering and commenting on his hometown team, while reaching out into the rest of the NHL every so often. After his Bruins were unceremoniously dumped in the East semifinals, becoming the first team to blow a 3-0 series lead since the 1975 Penguins, he turned his attention to free agency with a cool contest that I figured I'd try my luck at.

There are four aspects to the contest. The rules are listed here; I won't list them again to save some space, but you'll need to refer back to them to figure out what the heck I'm talking about.

Here goes nothing...

Part 1: The First Domino

Forward: I might be called a homer for this pick, but I'm going to go with Matt Cullen. Here's why: we know Kovalchuk won't be the first to sign. He'll sign on July 1, no doubt, but it will be later in the day. That rules out guys like Whitney and Frolov signing early, because they're going to have to wait until Kovalchuk sets the market. Cullen is the type of player that teams like to target right off the bat. He signed early with the Rangers in 2006, and I think he'll probably do the same on Thursday.

Defenseman: Doubt it will be either Martin or Volchenkov, so I'm going to go with Willie Mitchell. Like Cullen, he's probably already being targeted by at least a couple of teams, and someone will snap him up quickly. A wild card is Henrik Tallinder, who I could see being signed early if he doesn't re-sign with Buffalo.

Goalie: I don't think it will take too long for Marty Turco to find a new home. And I'll go ahead and throw this out there: I think he goes to San Jose.

Part 2: Team UFA

Short and sweet:

Forwards

F	Kovalchuk	5 years	$44,250,000	Cap hit:	$8,850,000
F	Stempniak	3 years	$9,250,000	Cap hit:	$3,083,333
F	Satan	2 years	$5,250,000	Cap hit:	$2,625,000
F	Lombardi	3 years	$6,750,000	Cap hit:	$2,250,000
F	Kariya	1 year	$2,250,000	Cap hit:	$2,250,000
F	Cullen	2 years	$4,250,000	Cap hit:	$2,125,000
F	Koivu	6 years	$11,250,000	Cap hit:	$1,875,000
F	Prospal	1 year	$1,875,000	Cap hit:	$1,875,000
F	Tanguay	2 years	$3,500,000	Cap hit:	$1,750,000
F	Lehtinen	1 year	$1,500,000	Cap hit:	$1,500,000
F	Begin	2 years	$2,150,000	Cap hit:	$1,075,000
F	Madden	1 year	$1,000,000	Cap hit:	$1,000,000
F	Veillieux	1 year	$875,000	Cap hit:	$875,000

Defensemen

D	Mitchell	3 years	$11,000,000	Cap hit:	$3,666,667
D	Tallinder	5 years	$14,250,000	Cap hit:	$2,850,000
D	Sutton	2 years	$5,500,000	Cap hit:	$2,750,000
D	Lilja	1 year	$1,750,000	Cap hit:	$1,750,000
D	Mara	2 years	$3,500,000	Cap hit:	$1,750,000
D	Krajicek	3 years	$4,950,000	Cap hit:	$1,650,000
D	Foster	1 year	$1,125,000	Cap hit:	$1,125,000

Goaltenders

G	Turco	2 years	$6,500,000	Cap hit:	$3,250,000
G	Niittymaki	3 years	$4,250,000	Cap hit:	$1,416,667

Part 3: Worst Contract

The Toronto Maple Leafs. Two years ago, it was Jeff Finger. Last year, Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek (who is getting around what Anton Volchenkov will command, even though Volchenkov is indisputably better). You watch them give four years and $24 million to, say, Olli Jokinen.

Part 4: Where's Ilya

If there's any team that's going to throw an insane amount of money at Ilya Kovalchuk, it's the Leafs. I think there's a chance that Kovalchuk will end up in Los Angeles, but Dean Lombardi won't allow himself to get into a bidding war for Kovalchuk's services, not when they can sign a guy like Alex Tanguay or Marek Svatos (or even Ray Whitney, if he decides he wants to play in LA). Am I comparing Kovalchuk to those types of players? Obviously, no. But the Kings already have Kopitar, and he is to the Kings what Kovalchuk would be to the Devils, or the Leafs, or anyone else who'd seriously court him: a top-line scorer.

I fully expect the Kings to make a pitch to Kovalchuk, but they won't break the bank to sign him. (Remember, Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson are RFAs after next year, and they'll eat up plenty of cap space. Doughty by himself could approach $7 million per year.) The Leafs have cap space to burn, a GM that loves to make a splash and a fanbase that would eat up a signing like this. They're my pick to land Kovalchuk.

Of waivers and buyouts

2010-06-29T15:44:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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For a couple of hours on Tuesday, there was a good bit of confusion in the Twitterverse about when a player needs to clear waivers to be eligible for a buyout. Since the blog doesn't have a 140-character limit, it's easier to explain here than it is over the course of five or six tweets, so here goes.

The governing rule of buyouts is paragraph 13 of the Standard Player's Contract, which is (obviously) a standardized contract that every player in the NHL signs and is specified in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Here's what it says about buyouts:

(a) The Club shall offer the Player on Unconditional Waivers, either before or promptly after the notice of intention to exercise the Ordinary Course Buy-Out option (herein called "notice of termination") is given.
(b) Termination pursuant to this Paragraph shall be effective upon receipt by the Player of the notice of termination and the Player clearing Unconditional Waivers pursuant to Paragraph 13(a) above.
(c) The notice of termination shall be effective if given in the form attached as Exhibit 20, with a copy faxed to the NHLPA and Central Registry as follows:
(i) beginning the later of June 15 or forty-eight (48) hours after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals and ending at 5:00 p.m. New York time on June 30; and
(ii) For Clubs who have Club or Player elected Salary Arbitration filings pursuant to Article 12, within the forty-eight (48) hour period beginning on the third day following the later of:
(i) the Club's receipt of its last salary arbitration award; or
(ii) settlement of its last case (provided such award was received or such settlement occurred after 7:00 p.m. New York time; awards or settlements that occurred or were received after 7:00 p.m. New York time will be deemed to have occurred or received the following business day for purposes of this provision).

So in English, that means that A, B, and C all must happen, but -- and here's the key -- they aren't required to happen in that order. The most important things in the above are that (1) the player must be placed on waivers and (2) the buyout form must be into the NHLPA and the NHL Central Registry by 5pm Eastern on June 30. As long as those two things happen by 5pm Eastern on June 30, the buyout is valid no matter when the player actually clears waivers.

A quick note on waivers. Players placed on waivers must be available for no less than 24 hours, and the waiver wire processes daily at noon. So a player placed on waivers at 11:58 am on Tuesday will hit the wire at noon Tuesday and clear at noon Wednesday, but a player placed on waivers at 12:02 pm Tuesday will hit the wire at noon Wednesday and will clear at noon Thursday.

The understanding of plenty of media members and agents, self included, was that the player must clear waivers by 5pm on June 30 to be eligible for a buyout. The "promptly after" clause of paragraph A above indicates that the buyout may be performed in the reverse order, and while "promptly after" is not defined, in practice it means that a player can be placed on waivers at the same time as the buyout notification. That effectively makes the buyout deadline noon on June 30, because the player must hit the waiver wire on June 30 to make the buyout valid.

A second buyout window opens if the team involved has two or more players involved in salary arbitration, whether it's player- or club-elected arbitration. This is the window in which the Canes bought out Frantisek Kaberle last offseason. The window opens three days after the final case is settled, and closes 48 hours later. The Canes have four players eligible for arbitration this season: Justin Peters, Justin Pogge, Bryan Rodney and Casey Borer. If two of these players elect arbitration, or if the Canes elect arbitration for two of them (or one apiece), the second buyout window will come into play and the Canes will have the ability to buy out a player after the cases are settled or after the players involved sign new deals that avoid arbitration.

Hope all this makes sense. It's not easy to parse, and as we learned today, even veteran hockey minds can be confused by the mind-numbing legalese of the CBA.

Canes busy in trade market at 2010 Draft

2010-06-26T21:21:00.002-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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In a relatively quiet draft day in terms of player movement via trades, the Canes made waves a couple of times throughout the day. As mentioned earlier, the Canes moved their second pick of the 2nd round, number 45 overall, to Edmonton for Cornell center Riley Nash, a former first-round pick who just completed his junior season at Harvard University. Nash projects to a third-line center who won't put up astronomical numbers but is a solid two-way forward in the mold of an undersized Ryan Kesler. Assistant GM Ron Francis is unsure whether Nash will stay for his senior season with the Big Red, but he was having trouble agreeing to a contract with the Oilers and he may have one foot out the door already. If he leaves Cornell, Nash will fall in line with the likes of Zac Dalpe and Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll as candidates for callups from Charlotte next season.

The biggest trade of the day (and really, that's a commentary on how quiet the trade market was today) saw the Canes acquire defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti from the New York Rangers for a sixth round pick this year plus Washington's second rounder next year, previously acquired as part of the Joe Corvo trade at this year's trade deadline. Sanguinetti is one of the not-quite-ready for prime time players Jim Rutherford loves to stock up on; he's developed in the Rangers' system, making his NHL debut this past season, and is a self-described offensive defenseman with a good transition game yet is defensively solid in his own end. If that sounds to you like a description of Joni Pitkanen, you're not the only one who thought that. Sanguinetti said that while he was disappointed to leave the Rangers, he had mentioned to them that he wouldn't mind being moved given the Blueshirts' logjam on defense with unsigned RFA Marc Staal, Michael del Zotto and Matt Gilroy all standing in the way of getting Sanguinetti regular NHL playing time. Sanguinetti is signed through next season with an NHL salary of $765,000 on his entry-level deal.

With the addition of Sanguinetti to the Canes defense corps, they now have four former first-round draft picks on their defense, including the impending re-signing of Anton Babchuk. Pitkanen and Tim Gleason are the other rearguards chosen in the first round, and a roster spot is almost certainly Sanguinetti's to lose at training camp. It sounds like with the acquisition of Sanguinetti and the eventual signing of Babchuk, Rutherford is basically casting his lot with this group next season, plus maybe Brian Pothier if the Canes can make the numbers work. He ruled out any quick strikes in free agency, although he said they'd sniff around in late July or early August if any bargains fall through the cracks. If they do, expect an Andrew Alberts-type signing, a near-minimum-wage signing that will keep the Canes well within their budgetary constraints.

Late in the day, the Canes flipped Washington's seventh round pick, previously acquired for Scott Walker, to Philadelphia (and it's been a while since the Canes made a deal with their one-time frequent trading partner) for AHL center Jonathan Matsumoto. A player the Canes have had their eyes on for a while, Matsumoto scored 30 goals for the Flyers' AHL team this season but he was stuck in a similar logjam as Sanguinetti; with Mike Richards, Claude Giroux and presumably Jeff Carter all signed in Philly there was no space for Matsumoto. Rutherford said that Matsumoto will be a depth center, so it's likely that he will start 2010 in Charlotte but he'll be on the short list of potential callups. Matsumoto is a restricted free agent on Thursday, partly explaining his bargain-basement price on the trade market, and he had an NHL salary of $550,000 last year although he has yet to play a game in the NHL.

It seems obvious that the Canes are planning for life without Rod Brind'Amour, and while a buyout seems increasingly unlikely the Canes are lining up potential replacements to fit in behind Eric Staal and Brandon Sutter, if not this season then next for sure.

Now the Canes will turn their attention to free agency, with a haul of players who will be without a contract on Thursday. In addition to the news today that Brett Carson and Alexandre Picard will be tendered qualifying offers, we expect offers to also hit the mailboxes of Matsumoto, Bryan Rodney, Justin Pogge, Justin Peters and Casey Borer. It wouldn't surprise me to see Nick Dodge and Nicolas Blanchard the odd men out, although both could certainly receive offers. Among the unrestricted free agents, only Michael Ryan and Tim Conboy seem like players who may return to the organization, plus Pothier if the Canes can fit him in their budget. Ray Whitney is not coming back; you can take that to the bank.

We'll be back if and when the Canes make a splash in the free agent market...

2010 NHL Entry Draft: Day 2 and Recap

2010-06-26T20:44:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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On Friday night, Jim Rutherford told us that he planned to take two defensemen among his three second round draft picks. Mission accomplished, with a trade thrown into the mix as well.

At number 37 the Canes took U.S. under-18 team defenseman Justin Faulk, who is committed to Minnesota-Duluth next season. Faulk describes himself as a good all-around defenseman who can shoot and skate well, with good offensive instincts. GM Jim Rutherford told the media that Faulk was the player they had targeted at 37 and were quite pleased to see him fall to them without needing to move around. Click for audio from Faulk's media conference call.

The Canes traded their second pick of the round, #45 overall, to Edmonton for center Riley Nash; more on him in a bit. To finish the round out, the Canes selected Minnesota high school defenseman Mark Alt, a big (6'3"), powerful rearguard who was recruited to the University of Iowa as a quarterback; he played both hockey and football in high school. He has a long way to go to make the NHL, but with that kind of size in high school he could eventually serve in a shutdown defenseman role. Alt will attend the University of Minnesota next season.

In the third round, the Canes again went for defense, taking Harvard freshman defenseman Danny Biega, the youngest of three brothers playing on the Crimson hockey team. Biega, a Montreal native, told us that he thought Carolina was an option to draft him, and was thrilled at how things turned out. He describes himself as a hybrid defenseman who enjoys jumping up on the play but also has a sound defensive foundation. The International Scouting Service scouting report on Biega noted that he goes looking for the big hit sometimes, and Biega said that his hitting ability is something he can use to contribute both defensively and as a momentum-shifter. He plans to play at least one more season at Harvard, but after that he said that his options are open and it sounded like he may have one eye on going professional in 2011. Click here for Biega's call with the media.

An annual rite of passage, it seems, is the Canes taking a player from the Plymouth Whalers, the Ontario Hockey League team that Canes owner Peter Karmanos also owns. This year, the token Whaler was defenseman Austin Levi, a stay-at-home defenseman taken at number 85, late in the third round. Levi admitted to the media that he was caught off-guard when his name was called because he was busy texting his teammate Scott Wedgewood, a Plymouth goaltender who went one pick before Levi to New Jersey. Despite the connection with common ownership, Levi was caught by surprise when his name was called, and he described himself as a stay-at-home defenseman who was just now coming around to worrying about offensive contributions. If he makes the NHL, it will be as a defensive specialist or penalty killer; it's doubtful he ever develops a true two-way game. Click here for Levi's media call.

The Canes' fourth round pick, Windsor Spitfires left wing Justin Shugg, was a steal at number 105. Shugg was projected as a mid third-rounder, at the latest, and the Canes were pleasantly surprised that he fell to them early in the fourth round. He was also the first forward the Canes took since drafting Jeff Skinner in the first round, so the team's priorities on defense were quite obvious. Shugg spent the OHL playoffs riding shotgun on first-overall pick Taylor Hall's line, but in the regular season he played most of the time on the third line and so he told us he takes a lot of accomplishment and pride in his defensive game. Shugg is a potential captain of the Spitfires next season, and will be among those leading the charge to win Windsor an unprecedented third straight Memorial Cup. Click for Shugg's conference call with the media.

Two more draft picks rounded out the Canes' draft. In the sixth round, they took a Stahl to go along with their two Staals. Chilliwack Bruins (WHL) defenseman Taylor Stahl racked up 146 penalty minutes, but only scored six points this season, so if he makes it to the NHL it will probably be as an enforcer. In the seventh round, the Canes took Danish goaltender Frederik Andersen, who played well at the World Championships a month ago and (trivia question!) is the first Danish player the Canes franchise has ever drafted.

Overall, it was a good if slightly disappointing haul for the Canes. They got a surefire NHLer in Jeff Skinner at number 7, and they indeed loaded up on defensemen like they promised they would on day two, but none of the drafted defensemen really jump off the page and project to a long NHL career. Of the defensemen, Justin Faulk and Danny Biega seem like the most promising prospects, with Mark Alt an outside shot many years down the road. I would be surprised if Levi (an incredible reach in the third round; he probably would have been available in the 5th, if not later) and Stahl ever play an NHL game, and Shugg has AAAA player written all over him; like Keith Aucoin and, to an extent, Patrick Dwyer, he will likely light the AHL on fire and be a serviceable NHL fill-in, but never pan out to anything of consequence. Andersen is nothing more than depth in goal; with Mike Murphy, Justin Pogge and Justin Peters all in the pipeline the Canes have plenty of organizational depth at goaltender.

Back in a second with a breakdown of the trades…

2010 NHL Entry Draft: Day 1 - Canes select Jeff Skinner

2010-06-25T21:58:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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It wasn't outside the realm of possibility that the Canes would have at least one of the top three defensemen in the draft when their turn to pick came around at number 7. Two of them indeed fell to them, but the Canes went off the board and took Jeff Skinner, an undersized left wing who was the leading scorer in the Ontario Hockey League this season.

Skinner told the media that he didn't know what to expect today, and tried to prepare himself for the unexpected. "At any point when you get drafted, you try to not be surprised and excited," he said, "but you can't help but be excited and surprised" at finally being selected. He met with the Canes once before the draft, and he said it was a very good meeting.

He expects to get bigger and faster over the summer and to do "whatever it takes" (sound familiar?) to make his success translate to the NHL. A center by trade in the OHL, he said that he would prefer to play the pivot in the NHL, but he would be willing to play anywhere the team asked him to. A self described "competitive" player, he said a few times that he hates to lose and is driven to succeed.

Oh, and this: Skinner was a figure skater in a former life, and while he said that the training he received there helped his balance and agility in hockey, he admitted that he gets good-natured ribbing from his teammates about his former occupation. (No doubt that will continue in the NHL, right?)

As for Jim Rutherford, it was a bit of a surprise to all of us but Rutherford said that Skinner rated behind only Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin on the team's chart. Rutherford described Skinner as a "great competitor with great character", and remarking on Skinner's scoring output Rutherford said "anyone who scores 50 goals in his draft year is impressive, but more impressive is his 20 goals in 20 playoff games. We talked to a couple of OHL coaches, and they all said that this guy is very difficult to shut down."

Rutherford had hinted that the guy they had their eye on had potential to play in the NHL next year, and he didn't back off that tonight. "With the transition of our team, the opportunity will be there. We will watch him closely in camp, but the big advantage is that physically he is as fit as anyone his age, and he is ready to take the next step to the NHL."

When asked why Skinner over Brandon Gormley or Cam Fowler, the two defensemen who were free-falling through the first round when the Canes' number came up, Rutherford couldn't give a concrete answer, saying that the team liked all three players and simply felt Skinner was a better fit. He did say, though, that the Canes attempted to trade back into the first round and grab one of the defensemen, but were unsuccessful in doing so.

In tomorrow's second round, where the Canes have three picks, Rutherford expects the team to take at least two defensemen. He isn't specifically ruling out trades, but there's a high likelihood that the Canes will stay put with their three picks. They plan to go off their list with regard to ratings, so don't be surprised to see a surprise or two tomorrow.

We'll be back tomorrow for more fun and excitement...

The youth movement has begun

2010-06-12T00:12:00.002-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Two bits of news from the corner office at the RBC Center this week that seem to indicate the Canes are at least leaning toward a youth movement for 2010-11, if not yet committing to it wholeheartedly.

First, the smoke signals seem to indicate that Ray Whitney's time with the Canes may be numbered. Chip Alexander talked to both Whitney and GM Jim Rutherford earlier this week, and reading between the lines it seems that Whitney and the Canes aren't seeing eye-to-eye on Whitney's potential earnings, never mind discussing the length of any new contract. Sources I've spoken to also indicate that Whitney may be at the end of his road with the Canes, with the Canes hesitant to give Whitney a significant salary and Whitney believing (almost certainly correctly) that he will command a hefty salary on the open market.

The skeptical types might say, correctly, that last year the Canes said the same thing about Erik Cole and Chad LaRose, essentially writing both of them off before re-signing them early in the free-agency period. The difference, though, is that last year the Canes were preparing for a playoff run that never came, and believing that the team who lost to the Penguins in the Eastern Conference final in 2009 could repeat history simply by coming back together was the prime motivation for re-signing Cole and LaRose. This year, the three things that matter on Edwards Mill are the budget, the budget and the budget; Whitney at anything other than a significant discount from his $3.55 million salary for 2009-10 doesn't fit with any of those three goals.

Then today, Rutherford told Chip that the backup goalie question has been settled and Justin Peters has been anointed the backup goaltender for 2010-11, leaving Manny Legace to pursue an NHL contract elsewhere that he almost certainly earned after swooping in and saving the day when Cam Ward was hurt in November. This is all well and good, and indicates that for the first time in a while (probably since the 2003 offseason) the Canes aren't going to look to plug holes with veterans; as we learned the past few years with the likes of Trevor Letowski, Andrew Hutchinson, John Grahame and Stephane Yelle, that idea seems to be the proverbial good idea in theory that never pans out well in practice.

However...

A disturbing trend of Paul Maurice-coached teams is the propensity to play the #1 goaltender in a high number of games. In ten full seasons as an NHL head coach, Maurice has played his #1 goalie in more than 60 games six times, topped by Arturs Irbe's ridiculous 77-appearance 2000-01 season, tied for third all-time in NHL history in games played by a goalie. Including the 2008-09 season, when Maurice took over in December and coached the final 57 games (or nearly 70%) of the season, the number rises to seven in eleven seasons.

Here's the full list:
2000-01: Arturs Irbe, 77 GP
1999-2000: Irbe, 75 GP
2006-07: Andrew Raycroft, 72 GP
(2008-09: Cam Ward, 68 GP)
2003-04: Kevin Weekes, 66 GP
2007-08: Vesa Toskala, 66 GP
1998-99: Irbe, 62 GP

The last thing the Canes need is for Peters to sit on the bench and make eighteen appearances in a season. However, getting Maurice to change his ways in regards to goaltenders has proven difficult in the past. Even this past season, when Ward was limited to 47 games due to various injuries, over half of those games came in one stretch when he started 24 in a row from December 16 until February 3, after which his back started acting up and he hit the bench for two months. With Legace as the backup, 24 straight starts is still a very long stretch, but it's at least sort of OK since Legace is in no need of further development as an NHL goalie. With Peters serving as Ward's caddy, his development will be severely stunted if he goes two months without seeing live fire in a game.

As I wrote at the start of the season, Canes backups have generally fallen into two categories: fall-on-your-face bad (Eric Fichaud, Tyler Moss, Jamie Storr) or good enough to eventually wrest the starting job from the incumbent (Trevor Kidd, Irbe, Weekes). Peters has shown signs that he will not belong to the former group, and no one expects him to supplant Ward as the starter anytime soon, if ever. However, the Canes are doing a disservice to both goaltenders if Maurice insists on playing Ward 65 or 70 times next season. Not only is Ward recovering from two injuries suffered this past season, but Peters has earned the shot to play regular minutes in the NHL. Playing Ward a manageable 50-55 games, with 30 or so starts thrown in for Peters along the way, is a good mix that should reward both goalies and keep them both fresh for the stretch run. As we've seen with Grahame and Michael Leighton lately, irregular starts for a goalie keep him off-balance and more susceptible to inflated statistics. The Canes don't have the luxury to play Ward every game, nor does Peters deserve the table scraps that have so often been fed to Canes backups. Will Maurice be able to snap his habit and give Peters the ice time he will hopefully earn?

The new sheriffs in town

2010-05-26T00:04:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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Jim Rutherford has long been the dean of Southeast Division general managers. Since taking over the GM’s seat in 1994, he has presided over three division titles, two conference championships and the 2006 Stanley Cup champions, while being named executive of the year by the Sporting News both years that his team made the Stanley Cup Final. Rutherford and Washington Capitals GM George McPhee are the two rocks of stability in the division, and that loyalty has been repaid in the form of eight combined division titles out of 11 awarded since the division was created in 1998.

But in the last couple of months, the corner offices in the other three division teams’ front offices have changed rather substantially, and Rutherford and McPhee now face their first sustained challenges from the other members of the division. To this point, they’ve enjoyed a monopoly on the division that’s only been challenged by one team, at most, at any given time.

To wit:

The Florida Panthers have now gone nine straight years without making the postseason. Since making the Stanley Cup Final in 1996 under Bryan Murray, the Panthers have fallen into a slow decline that bottomed out in 2006 when then-GM Mike Keenan shipped Roberto Luongo to Vancouver for seven games of Todd Bertuzzi and some spare parts (with apologies to Alex Auld and Bryan Allen, “spare parts” might be a bit generous). In a bizarre coincidence, Keenan resigned three months later to be replaced by coach Jacques Martin, who assumed both roles and did his best to keep the Panthers mired in mediocrity. Martin, of course, was last seen leading the Montreal Canadiens to an improbable berth in the Eastern Conference final.

The Tampa Bay Lightning posed the most long-term challenge to the Carolina/Washington superiority, with two straight division titles starting in 2003 and a Stanley Cup in 2004. However, those glory years were sandwiched in between some seriously poor play, including the only time in NHL history a team has lost 50 games for four straight years and another year at dead last in the league in 2007-08.

And then there’s the Atlanta Thrashers. Dear Lord. Since entering the NHL in 1999, the Thrashers have yet to win a playoff series, or even a playoff game (their sole appearance led to a sweep by the New York Rangers in 2007, a year in which they won a fluke division title), they’ve used first-round picks on the likes of Patrik Stefan and Boris Valabik, they’ve made some awful trades (Braydon Coburn for Alexei Zhitnik? Yep, that happened), and they sold their only indisputable franchise player, Ilya Kovalchuk, for ten cents on the dollar at the 2010 trade deadline. The only consistent piece? Don Waddell, who was GM from day one until he was bumped up to team president in April. (The Atlanta Thrashers: where sustained mediocrity earns you a promotion to president! Get your season tickets today!)

However, in the last month, the division has seen a radical readjustment, and Rutherford will need to be on his game.

In April, when Waddell was promoted, Rick Dudley was named his replacement. Dudley was plucked from the Chicago Blackhawks in 2009, and in case you hadn’t noticed, the Blackhawks have done pretty well for themselves lately. Dudley was assistant GM to Dale Tallon, and helped engineer a turnaround for the ages, from dead last as recently as 2004 to 20,000+ sellouts and two straight appearances in the conference final. Dudley’s track record also includes rebuilding the Lightning from rock bottom in the early 2000s, laying the groundwork for Jay Feaster to build a Stanley Cup champion, and the Thrashers job is his third within the Southeast; he also ran the Panthers before heading to Chicago in 2005. Dudley was a flop with the Panthers (but, then again, who wasn’t?), but his time with the Blackhawks has rejuvenated his career and made him a hot commodity among GMs. He was hired to be the heir apparent if Waddell fell flat on his face again; he did, and here we are.

Meanwhile, on the other coast of Florida, when Martin left to head to Quebec his replacement was assistant GM Randy Sexton, who in his only previous turn as a GM he oversaw a historically bad 30-109-15 Ottawa Senators team in the early 1990s. It should surprise no one that Sexton was unsuccessful in getting the Panthers back to the postseason, so it was no surprise that Sexton was out of work after one season as Panthers GM. Who replaced Sexton was a candidate that was way out of the Panthers’ comfort zone. Dale Tallon, the man Dudley reported to in Chicago, was named Panthers GM last week, and brings with him the most impressive resume of any Panthers GM since Mike Keenan. Tallon is widely regarded as the brains behind the Blackhawks’ success, and despite losing his job thanks to a paperwork snafu that momentarily made three young Hawks players unrestricted free agents Tallon was one of the most sought-after GM candidates in the league. His hire immediately upgrades the Panthers’ front office, and gives some much-needed respect to an organization that hasn’t earned any in the last nine years.

As for the Lightning, when Jay Feaster was shoved out the door in 2008 by the gong show otherwise known as the Oren Koules/Len Barrie administration, the destruction of the franchise was complete. Newly-minted GM Brian Lawton did his best to handle the circus, but when Jeff Vinik took over ownership he put Lawton out of his misery. Then, today, Vinik hired Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman as Lightning GM, a stroke of brilliance that has immediately changed the narrative in Tampa. No longer is the Lightning front office the Keystone Kops in suits; now, they have a Hall of Fame forward running their hockey operation and have taken a huge step toward restoring the respectability that the Lightning had earned by winning the Stanley Cup and destroyed by severe incompetence from the owner’s suite. Comparisons of Yzerman to Wayne Gretzky aren’t accurate, since while Gretzky apprenticed under no one before being named to an executive position with the Phoenix Coyotes, Yzerman served in the front office of the most successful NHL franchise of the past fifteen years.

What does all this mean for Rutherford? The immediate reaction is that no longer will the Southeast be a division of pushovers. The proven track records of Tallon and Dudley, combined with the respect Yzerman has earned over nearly 30 years of service to the NHL in some capacity, immediately make all three destinations more attractive than they were just a few months ago. Rutherford has proven in the past that he’s able to adapt to changing forces at work around him, but this is the biggest upheaval the division has seen since its inception. Nearly overnight, the division got a whole lot tougher, and it starts in the general managers’ suites. While no one is expecting Atlanta, Florida or Tampa Bay to contend for the Stanley Cup next season, the pedigree of success brought to all three franchises by their new GMs will trickle down and make all three teams tougher to play against.

Rutherford will need to be proactive if the Canes are to stay among the cream of the Southeast crop. For the first time in a long time, there will be more than one team nipping at the heels of the Canes and Caps, and now it’s up to Rutherford and McPhee to keep their teams in the position they’ve been accustomed to occupying.

Report: Karmanos interested in selling up to 50% of Hurricanes

2010-05-24T10:59:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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We interrupt our retrospective of the Canes’ season to bring up news that isn’t exactly breaking, with the exception of one twist.

It’s been a longtime open secret around the Hurricanes offices that owner Peter Karmanos would like a minority investor to share the wealth, so to speak, in the operation of the team. Since general partner Thomas Thewes passed away in 2007, Karmanos has held 100% ownership of the team, but even before Thewes’ death Karmanos, then majority owner but not sole owner, had been looking to sell a portion of his stake in the team to a local investor or group.

Today’s news simply reiterates the longtime boilerplate news, but it does lend some urgency to the proceedings, as Karmanos has retained search firm Allen and Company to assist him in finding a local partner to purchase up to 50% of the team. In an interview with Sports Business Journal’s Daniel Kaplan, Karmanos flatly states that he has no desire to sell the entire team, and reading between the lines it seems that he still intends on being the lead decision-maker for the team, and the search will initially focus on North Carolina-based potential investors.

Assuming the search firm finds one of those local investors, this could potentially mean very good things, both from a franchise-stability perspective and a more practical, dollars-and-cents viewpoint. Karmanos has lost money every year the Canes have been in North Carolina with the exception of 2006, the year the team won the Stanley Cup. No owner wants to subsidize losses forever, even one as dedicated to the game of hockey as Karmanos, so looking for a partner now could preclude a fire sale down the road.

However, if the search firm is unable to find a local investor, or only finds people interested in 100% ownership, things could get a little hairy. As the SBJ article noted, it’s a buyer’s market, and any potential investor has the upper hand with Karmanos in regards to ownership percentages.

Either way, this looks like it may be the start of an endgame for a soap opera that’s run along in the background for nearly ten years.

Reviewing the prognostications: Forwards

2010-05-23T01:23:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Every season, one of the requisite assignments for hockey writers is to come up with a list of predictions for the upcoming season. Here at Puck Drops, we willingly obliged last September, offering predictions of what we thought would happen in the Canes’ 2009-10 season.

However, few sites actually dig those predictions out of the mothballs at the end of the season and see how they did. We have no problem doing so, even though after reading back through the predictions you might (rightly) wonder why we even waste our time doing them in the first place.

Here, then, are the predictions we made at the start of the season and exactly how far offbase they were. Remember that the predicted totals assumed that the player would play every game, so we also give the per-82-games pace for the player’s season stats.

Here we go…

Eric Staal

What was said then: “Expect the consistent Staal to come close to 100 points again, with a chance to pass the plateau for the first time in his career if everything goes right. Projected totals: 42 goals, 55 assists, 97 points”

What happened: It was a wild year for Staal, who played through almost the entire season with a host of injuries, including an upper-body injury that knocked him out for most of November at a time when Cam Ward was also injured. Despite a slow start, Staal caught fire after being named captain on January 20, going for 19-18-37 in the final 34 games of the year (an 89-point pace) and notching two hat tricks, the second his franchise-record 10th career hat trick. An odd year for the Canes’ captain, but if his end-of-season performance is any indication he should bounce back just fine next year. Totals: 29-41-70 in 70 games; per 82 games, 34-48-82

Tuomo Ruutu

What was said then: “He's the space clearer that Erik Cole used to be, and while he might be hard-pressed to replicate last year's success he still should be able to pile in some of the garbage goals he made a living off of last season. Projected totals: 22 goals, 37 assists, 59 points”

What happened: Ruutu rode shotgun on Staal’s line most of the year, at least until January 10 when he injured his shoulder in a fight with Colorado’s Darcy Tucker. Even though he came back before the Olympics (and played in Vancouver) he clearly was not the same player after the injury, and he finally shut it down for good in late March. When healthy, he was a force, and he proved our guess correct by scoring 11 of his 14 goals (most of them of the dirty variety) before he was injured. Ruutu and Staal seem to be developing the same sort of chemistry as Staal had with Cole back in the day, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Ruutu-Staal-Jokinen combination together most of next year as long as everyone stays healthy. Totals: 14-21-35 in 51 games; per 82 games, 22-34-56

Erik Cole

What was said then: “As long as the expectations aren't set too high, Cole should be fine, but an extended cold spell could result in him toiling on the third line. Projected totals: 19 goals, 34 assists, 53 points”

What happened: Cole broke his leg in the second game of the year and never really gained a foothold even after returning at the beginning of November. A second injury, probably to his neck although the team never confirmed it, knocked him out for more than two months and when he finally returned he indeed toiled on the third line alongside the likes of Patrick Dwyer and Tom Kostopoulos. It’s hard to admit for a guy who has meant so much to the Canes over the years, but Cole is little more than a role player now and his days of consistent 50-point seasons are probably gone for good. Totals: 11-5-16 in 40 games; per 82 games, 23-10-33

Ray Whitney

What was said then: “Whitney is the playmaker of the second line, and he should be in line for another quietly effective season. Projected totals: 29 goals, 58 assists, 87 points”

What happened: It was probably a bit excessive to pencil Whitney in for a career-high in assists and points at age 37, but Whitney had earned that respect after going for 77 points the year before and showing that he still had it. Whitney spent most of the year on a line with Brandon Sutter, who was the biggest surprise of the season but isn’t an offensive dynamo by any stretch, his 20-goal season notwithstanding. Likewise, Whitney saw his production drop, although he still finished third on the team in scoring and, since he was not traded at the deadline, will likely return next year to do more of the same. Totals: 21-37-58 in 80 games

Matt Cullen

What was said then: “Playing the point on the power play all season might inflate his assists total at the expense of his goals, but the consistent Cullen will likely see his 40-point streak continue this season. Projected totals: 17 goals, 33 assists, 50 points”

What happened: Cullen was shuffled to the third line for most of the year as the emergence of Brandon Sutter gave the Canes two #2 centers, but his production didn’t dip much and he continued to form a great penalty-killing tandem with Chad LaRose, tying with Tom Kostopoulos for the team lead with two shorthanded goals apiece. Since Cullen was to be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, the Canes shipped him to Ottawa just before the Olympics for Alexandre Picard and a second-round draft pick, but while in Raleigh Cullen continued to put up consistent numbers. Could Cullen return for a third tour of duty in Raleigh this offseason? It seems unlikely, but as we’ve learned, the Canes are by far the best situation for the consistent Cullen. Totals: 16-32-48 in 81 games

Chad LaRose

What was said then: “The temptation is to mark Rosey down for a letdown season now that he has his contract in hand, but don't doubt the guy that has worked his tail off for everything he's ever earned in a Canes sweater. His first career 20-goal season should be in reach after he missed out by one goal last year. Projected totals: 21 goals, 27 assists, 48 points”

What happened: Like so many others on the Canes roster, LaRose had a season hampered by injuries, including a lower-body concern that kept him out of action for over a month in December and January. He got off to a horrendously slow start, not scoring a goal until November 21 and bringing to mind the 2006-07 season where he couldn’t buy a goal to save his life. LaRose did indeed have a letdown season, although most of it wasn’t of his own doing and he got hot toward the end of the year when finally healthy. His pairing with Matt Cullen worked well for both players both at even strength and on the penalty kill; with Cullen gone, will LaRose mesh as well with anyone else on the roster? Totals: 11-17-28 in 56 games; per 82 games, 16-25-41

Sergei Samsonov

What was said then: “Depending on what happens with Cole, Samsonov is the most likely candidate to move around in the lineup, and his play last season shows that he will fit just about anywhere on the roster. Projected totals: 17 goals, 32 assists, 49 points”

What happened: Given who he played with, it’s a wonder Samsonov even got to 14 goals. Like last year, Samsonov spent a good amount of time on a wing with Rod Brind’Amour, who was even more offensively challenged than he was last season when Samsonov had 48 points. As a result, Samsonov’s production tailed off to a level not reached since 2006-07 when he was in Montreal, and he enters this offseason as a potential trade or buyout candidate depending on what the Canes do in the market. Samsonov elicited the same frustration that he showed in Chicago and Montreal this year, and he didn’t display the consistency needed to play top-nine minutes. As a result, he’s stuck in no-man’s land and there doesn’t seem to be a quick out for him. Totals: 14-15-29 in 72 games; per 82 games, 16-17-33

Rod Brind’Amour

What was said then: “His position in the pecking order of centers is now a clear third behind Staal and Cullen, so he might not have the ice time necessary to reach 50 points. He'll come close, though. Projected totals: 19 goals, 26 assists, 45 points”

What happened: Take your pick. Stripped of the captaincy? Check. Ice time levels not seen in his career? Check. A healthy scratch (December 7 in Pittsburgh)? Check. Add it all up and it was bar none the most disappointing season of Brind’Amour’s career, and his late-season renaissance in 2008-09 seems more and more to be an anomaly. His nine goals tied a career low set in 1999-2000, the season in which he was traded to Carolina and only played 45 games. In the last two seasons, Brind’Amour is a stunningly awful minus-52 (!!!!!!!!!!!), following a team-worst-by-a-mile minus-29 this season. It would still surprise me if he didn’t return next year, but his role will essentially encompass that of elder statesman and faceoff specialist, and little else. Totals: 9-10-19 in 80 games

Jussi Jokinen

What was said then: “A full season in the Carolina system may provide some pleasant surprises for Jokinen. Projected totals: 22 goals, 17 assists, 39 points”

What happened: With apologies to Brandon Sutter, whose emergence gave the Canes a pleasant surprise and allowed them to survive with Brind’Amour’s sub-par production, the fact that Jokinen led the team in goals was the story of the year. Jokinen found a home on Eric Staal’s wing and didn’t move much from there, and as a result he earned his first 30-goal season at any level in his career. When Team Finland looked elsewhere for the Olympics, Jokinen insisted that he wasn’t disappointed, but considering 22 of his 30 goals came after he learned of the snub you can draw your own conclusions. Jokinen’s versatility allowed the team to weather the double-whammy of Staal’s injury and Brind’Amour’s disappointing play, and it’s beyond amazing that the Lightning were willing to let him go for next to nothing a year ago. Totals: 30-35-65 in 81 games

Scott Walker

What was said then: “Walker will be in a purely checking role for the first time in his Carolina career, and his point production will probably drop accordingly. Additionally, his style lends itself to being frequently banged up, so this projection is clearly a best-case scenario. Projected totals: 16 goals, 21 assists, 37 points”

What happened: Yeah, that definitely was a best-case scenario. Walker spent most of his time this season on a line with Brind’Amour and Stephane Yelle, and it goes without saying that a line like that isn’t going to set the world on fire. Accordingly, Walker only scored three goals with the Canes before an injury took him out of commission for January and February, and he was eventually traded to Washington for next to nothing at the deadline. He ended his season with his team blowing a 3-2 lead to Montreal in the first round of the playoffs, and it would surprise no one if he said enough and called it quits. Totals: 5-3-8 in 42 games; per 82 games, 10-6-16

Stephane Yelle

What was said then: “Given the propensity of accomplished penalty killers on the Canes' roster, Yelle will add to one of the top corps in the league, and perhaps most importantly he will buy the Canes another year to develop Brandon Sutter in Albany to take this spot in the lineup in 2010. Projected totals: 8 goals, 14 assists, 22 points”

What happened: When the Canes needed to do something to shake up the roster early in the season, they indeed called up Brandon Sutter, though it was no fault of Yelle’s that the Sutter-in-Albany experiment ended almost before it began. Sutter marched right onto the second line and promptly scored 20 goals, while Yelle did exactly as advertised: kill penalties, score every once in a while and play about ten minutes a night. Mission accomplished, I suppose, and with the Canes out of contention in March Yelle was shipped back to Colorado to lend a veteran presence on a young team that unexpectedly made the playoffs and put a scare into top-seeded San Jose in the first round. Totals: 4-4-8 in 70 games; per 82 games, 5-5-10

Tom Kostopoulos

What was said then: “A plugger who will eat up ice time while being responsible defensively, Kostopoulos will mirror his counterpart Walker on the other side of the line and the two should make the Canes' fourth line a very tough one to play against. Kostopoulos has scored precisely 22 points in four of his five full NHL seasons; why mess with success? Projected totals: 7 goals, 15 assists, 22 points”

What happened: If you can say that a guy who was brought in to play 12-14 minutes a night exceeded expectations, then Kostopoulos certainly did. He didn’t exactly show a massive scoring touch, but he tied with Cullen with two shorthanded goals, was the only Canes player to appear in every single game and was one of three players (Staal and Jokinen were the others) to finish with a plus rating. What you see is what you get with Kostopoulos, and while he will never be on a top-two line he is perfect for what a team needs on its third or fourth line. In a year where quite a bit went wrong for the Canes, Kostopoulos was one of the things that went very right. Totals: 8-13-21 in 82 games

What did we miss?

The obvious omission from the list is Brandon Sutter, who was sent down to Albany out of training camp but came up in the first month of the season and went on to post a 21-19-40 line in 72 games. I’m still not convinced you can pencil him in as a perennial 20-goal scorer, but he definitely made the decline of Brind’Amour much more tolerable, such as it was.

As the wheels started coming off the season and the Canes called more and more youngsters up, Sutter and Patrick Dwyer (7-5-12 in 58 games) were the most reliable scorers. Other forwards getting their feet wet included Zach Boychuk (3-6-9 in 31 GP), Jiri Tlusty (1-5-6 in 18 GP), Drayson Bowman (2-0-2 in 9 GP) and Jerome Samson (0-2-2 in 7 GP). Those four plus Oskar Osala (0-0-0 in 1 GP), who was acquired in a deal for Joe Corvo from Washington at the deadline, will compete for a couple of roster spots at training camp and all five are expected to see at least some consistent NHL ice time next season. Steven Goertzen and Tim Conboy were also called up for a few games apiece, but neither accomplished anything on the scoresheet aside from a few fights and roughing penalties.

Back in a few days with a review of the defensemen…

Did the Canes let the right goalie go?

2010-05-19T00:26:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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At the end of tonight's Eastern Conference final game 2, in which Michael Leighton pitched his second straight shutout behind a team that's now scored fourteen straight goals against the opposition, a friend texted me with a question that I'm sure was on many minds around here: "Why did the Canes get rid of Leighton again?"

And it's a fair question. After all, Leighton became the first Flyers goaltender to record two shutouts in a row in the postseason since Bernie Parent in 1975, and if you had Leighton sharing a sentence with the only goaltender to backstop a Flyers team that won the Stanley Cup when the Canes lost him on waivers to the Flyers last December, you're either a liar or you hold the winning lottery numbers for tonight.

So did the Canes make a mistake when they sent Leighton packing and anointed Manny Legace as Cam Ward's backup?

Go back to November 7. Starting that night, when Ward's leg was cut by the skate of Columbus' Rick Nash and knocked him out for a month in the midst of a franchise-record 14-game winless streak, Leighton was the only option the Canes had. Legace was playing for Chicago of the AHL and, despite playing 6 games and posting a pedestrian 3.21 GAA and .898 save percentage, wasn't in any condition to step in and start immediately in the NHL. Thus, the job fell largely to Leighton, who hadn't distinguished himself to that point, what with a 6.09 GAA and .786 save percentage in a game and a half to that point.

Essentially, what followed was a monthlong audition to run with the ball as Ward's backup after he returned. That audition was clearly won by Legace.

Legace: 10 GP, 4-4-2, 3.08 GAA, .900 sv%
Leighton: 5 GP, 1-3-0, 3.68 GAA, .869 sv%

Even the woebegone Vesa Toskala, the poster child for awful goaltending this season (and the worst statistical goaltender among qualifying players), managed an .880 save percentage and 3.48 goals-against this season. So Leighton's performance was almost comically bad in comparison to even the worst goaltending the NHL had to offer this year.

So to the surprise of no one, Legace won the job and Leighton was put through waivers, where he wasn't claimed. It wasn't until the Canes put him on re-entry waivers that the Flyers snapped him up, and since he went to the Flyers on re-entry the Canes were stuck with paying half of Leighton's remaining salary, although honestly that amount ($182,926.83) is nothing more than the cost of doing business in the NHL. (As an aside, the Flyers paid Leighton less than $200,000 and he has two straight shutouts in the conference finals. Go figure.)

Leighton's stats with the Flyers (16-5-2, 2.48, .918) were better than Legace's (6-3-3, 2.49, .913) after the latter was awarded the backup job with the Canes, but except for the number of wins they were remarkably similar. But since no one had any idea what Leighton would do when he joined the Flyers, the Canes made the only reasonable move they could: they went with the better goalie. On December 15, when Leighton was claimed by Philadelphia, that goalie was very clearly Manny Legace.

So it might be a little frustrating for Canes fans to see their team sitting at home while Leighton backstops his team into a potential berth in the Stanley Cup Final, but considering he cut down his goals-against by over a goal (and, over an entire season, would have ranked him 11th in the NHL in both GAA and save percentage) when he changed teams, there's no doubt that the Canes made the right move in cutting Leighton loose.

By the way, for those interested: Cam Ward's stats were 2.69 and .926, not much worse than Leighton's after joining the Flyers. In other words, what was a very average year for Ward was a career year for Leighton.

What went wrong in the circle this year?

2010-05-08T01:35:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Faceoff winning percentage might be one of the most unglamorous stats that the NHL keeps. No one's going to win an award for top faceoff percentage, unless you consider the Selke Trophy a rough approximation since faceoff wins are so crucial in defensive situations. It correlates well to success in making the postseason; six of the top 10 teams, led by San Jose at 55.6%, made the playoffs this year, while only two (23rd-place Buffalo and 29th-place Colorado) from the bottom ten advanced to playing meaningful games in mid-April.

The Canes have long been one of the best faceoff teams in the NHL. Since moving from Hartford in 1997, the Canes finished no lower than 19th, and had an eight-season run from 2000-01 to 2008-09 where they finished first in the league once (2001-02), second twice, in the top ten for seven of the eight seasons and no lower than 12th place.

All that changed this year, when the Hurricanes fell all the way to 25th in the league in faceoff percentage.

Rod Brind'Amour is a longtime ace in the circle, but with his steady downward progression came a similar trend for the Canes on faceoffs. Brind'Amour finished third in the league in faceoff percentage, but he takes many fewer draws these days than he did in his heyday; 849 this year compared to over 2000 (!!) in 2001-02 when the Canes led the league in faceoff percentage.

When Eric Staal took over as captain for Brind'Amour on January 20, the Canes' fortunes in the faceoff circle took a noticeable swan dive. The numbers bear out the sad truth:

Under B'A:
Games winning FO:	19
Games losing FO:	25
	W	L
Record when winning FO:	6	13
Record when losing FO:	7	18
When FO equal:	1	3

Under Staal:
Games winning FO:	7
Games losing FO:	25
	W	L
Record when winning FO:	6	1
Record when losing FO:	13	12
When FO equal:	1	1

More stunning is the dropoff after the February 10 trade of Matt Cullen to Ottawa. Cullen was a key faceoff man when Brind'Amour was unable to take a draw for any reason, and while he usually didn't hit Brind'Amour's high-50% range he was usually somewhere around a 50/50 man in the circle. Check out what happened when Cullen hit the road and left the faceoffs largely in the hands of Staal and Brandon Sutter:

Before Cullen trade:
Games winning FO:	23
Games losing FO:	32
	W	L
Record when winning FO:	10	13
Record when losing FO:	11	21
When FO equal:	1	4

After Cullen trade:
Games winning FO:	3
Games losing FO:	18
	W	L
Record when winning FO:	2	1
Record when losing FO:	9	9
When FO equal:	1	0

You're reading that correctly: in 22 games after Cullen's trade, the Canes won the majority of faceoffs in three of those games. That's simply horrific, and raises a couple of salient points.

First, how well could the Hurricanes have potentially done in the standings if they had won the faceoff battle in, say, ten of those 22 games? Maybe an extra 3 or 4 wins? For the record, the Canes missed the playoffs by eight points, or...four wins.

Second, what now? Brind'Amour isn't getting any younger and Cullen is unlikely to return. Brandon Sutter is the best faceoff man the Canes have remaining, and despite taking the most draws of anyone on the team Eric Staal finished dead last in the NHL among qualifying players with a paltry 41.8% faceoff percentage. For comparison's sake, the distance between Staal in 84th place and 83rd-place Nik Antropov was 1.6%. From Antropov to 82nd-place Daymond Langkow? 0.1%.

The Canes are lucky to have Brind'Amour, who's on the short list of the five or ten best faceoff men of the last 15 years, and Ron Francis, who is near the top of that list, both on the payroll. Sutter seems to be developing into a capable faceoff man (49% this year, up from 38.6% in '08-09), although he still has a bit of a road ahead of him before he becomes Brind'Amour's heir apparent as the go-to faceoff man. The key, though, is Staal, who will probably take upwards of 1,500 faceoffs next season with Cullen gone and no immediate help on the horizon. Staal has never cracked the 50% barrier on draws in his career, but if the Canes are going to have any success in the circle he needs to step up to the plate and at least get to the point where he's a capable option on faceoffs.

Bottom line? When Brind'Amour retires, whenever that time comes, the Canes' faceoff situation could be ugly and remain that way for a significant length of time, barring player movements. No one else in the system, save maybe Jussi Jokinen (51% in '09-10), shows any signs of becoming a faceoff whiz, and Jokinen's strength is at wing, not center. For a puck possession team like the Canes, they desperately need to control the puck off as many faceoffs as possible, and by spending time hemmed in their own zone after losing a draw they're increasing the pressure on Cam Ward and the defense, certainly not an ideal situation for any team.

Next year, the Canes will likely have to cross their fingers and hope someone answers the bell. If Brind'Amour is still around, he will certainly help in the circle, but if he decides to hang up the skates the Canes could be in for a long season at the faceoff dot.

When the Canes changed captains, what changed besides the letter on the jersey?

2010-05-05T15:51:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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On January 20, the Canes dropped a bombshell in naming Eric Staal the 13th captain in team history, relegating Rod Brind'Amour to elder-statesman status and inaugurating a new era in the history of the Canes. The move was made 48 games into the season and sparked a red-hot run through the following two-plus months that saw the Canes go 19-8-2 and make a serious run at a playoff spot, a feat thought impossible after the team entered December with 15 points in 27 games.

To anyone paying attention, the Canes' play in their aborted attempt to make the postseason was a direct result of Staal assuming the captaincy. But do the stats validate the move? Puck Drops has crunched the numbers and looked inside what fueled the Canes' rise up the standings after January 20th.

Power Play: Under Brind'Amour: 31-195, 15.9%; Under Staal: 25-137, 18.2%
The power play was a bone of contention all season for the Canes, and while the man advantage clicked more frequently after the switch it wasn't much of a bump. More interesting to me than the stats under different captains is the stats with and without power-play quarterback Joni Pitkanen. Without Pitkanen in the lineup, the Canes' power play hit at an anemic 12.5% in the eleven games he missed, while with #25 the power play clicked at 17.6%; not great by any stretch, but a significant improvement nonetheless.

Jamie McBain's emergence late in the season gives the Canes a pair of potential power-play quarterbacks, and hopefully will take the onus off Pitkanen as the linchpin of the Canes' man advantage.

Penalty Kill: Under Brind'Amour: 160-204, 78.4%; Under Staal: 98-116, 84.5%
It was widely thought that the power play would be the beneficiary of the captaincy change, at least in the short term, but the penalty kill improved by more than six points after January 20 and had as much to do with the Canes' late-season success as anything. Fifteen times the Canes allowed more than one power-play goal in a game, but only twice after January 20. Before becoming captain, Staal didn't kill as many penalties as he found himself killing late in the season, and it seems that the switch allowed Rod Brind'Amour to fall back into a secondary penalty-killing role, with the likes of Brandon Sutter, Patrick Dwyer and even Staal himself picking up the heavy lifting while down a man.

Goals For: Under Brind'Amour: 117 in 48 GP (2.44 avg); Under Staal: 109 in 34 GP (3.12 avg)
Goals Against: Under Brind'Amour: 161 in 48 GP (3.35 avg); Under Staal: 90 in 34 GP (2.65 avg)
Now we're starting to see where the captaincy change sparked the team's late run. Just looking at those numbers makes you wonder where the second-half team was in October and November. A 3.12 goals-for average for the entire season would have ranked the Canes fifth in the NHL, and the 2.65 goals-against average would have ranked 11th, not great but certainly better than the 26th overall the Canes finished the season at. Given that the power play struggled both before and after the switch, the difference was largely at even strength and shorthanded, where the Canes went from 1.79 goals per game under Brind'Amour to 2.47 under Staal.

Shots For: Under Brind'Amour: 1417, 29.5/game, 8.5% shooting pctg; Under Staal: 985, 29.0/game, 11.0% shooting pctg
Shots Against: Under Brind'Amour: 1492, 31.1/game, 10.8% shooting pctg for opposition; Under Staal: 1082, 31.8/game, 8.3% shooting pctg for opposition
The shot stats are the most striking example of the change that took place in the team after Staal was named captain. Despite taking fewer shots per game and allowing more, the shooting percentages for and against were almost mirror images of each other. Before the switch, the Canes' shooting percentage extrapolated to a full season would have ranked 27th in the NHL, while the shooting percentage for the opposition would have ranked dead last. Meanwhile, after the switch, the opponent's shooting percentage would have ranked sixth over the full season, while the Canes' 11% shooting percentage would have trailed only Washington's 11.6% rate for a full season.

So what happened? Simply put, the Canes got more confident. With the early-season struggles, the Canes were encouraged to put any puck on net that they could get and hope for rebounds or a fortunate bounce. As the team's confidence came back by winning more games, the Canes were able to pick and choose better shots and the likelihood of those shots going into the net increased substantially. The shots against are a little more concerning, but what's really impressive is that for the majority of the stretch run the net was manned by Manny Legace and Justin Peters. The Canes did a good job of clearing lanes late in the season and allowing whoever was playing to see the puck and make easy saves.

Now, the question becomes how can the Canes translate their late-season success into a full season of solid play in Staal's first full season as captain? Paul Maurice was asked in the end-of-season press conference if he anticipated any problems in keeping the work ethic up where it needs to be; after all, changing captains in midseason is a rarely-fired bullet, and once it's fired you (a) can't go back and (b) don't have it at your disposal again. Maurice was unsurprisingly optimistic about the Canes' abilities no matter who wears the C, but the team now has no margin for error. They've seen what happens when a team takes the first half of the season off, and more importantly they know what needs to happen to succeed in a playoff push. Now, with Staal the unquestioned leader of the locker room, will they be able to translate that knowledge into success on the ice?

NHL Playoffs Round 1 Day-by-Day Calendar

2010-04-11T23:10:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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For everything the NHL and the blogosphere does right (and that's quite a lot, especially at this time of the year), one of the things that's been sorely lacking is a calendar to show you what teams are playing at what time on which day. After all, it's not real easy to figure out what games are on the docket for a certain day by looking at the list-based schedule the NHL puts out.

Enter Google Calendar.

I've compiled all of the schedules together and put a calendar up so you can easily see what games are scheduled for which days, and what networks they'll be on. I'll update TBDs when they, um, determine them. (TBD times depend on the outcomes of other series.)

Even though the Canes aren't in the postseason, this is still a great time of year to watch hockey, and there are some great series. I'll have my previews up on Tuesday, and tomorrow I'll have a look at what the Canes' roster could look like next year.

Game 81: Hurricanes 5, Canadiens 2

2010-04-08T22:44:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
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Six months ago, the season started with expectations that tonight's game would simply be a stepping stone to bigger and better things. After all, most folks expected the Canes to make the postseason, and some among us even had them pegged for 100 points.

How silly those people (ahem) look now.

Gary Bettman was in town this morning to make what would otherwise be a disappointing day to end a disappointing season significantly better, announcing that after a long and sometimes maddening wait the NHL would indeed award the 2011 All-Star Game to the Hurricanes, giving everyone something to look forward to for next season. With the All-Star Game finally in the Hurricanes' immediate future, an expected sellout crowd will be at full throat for the last home game of the season. And why not? Despite being one of the better teams in hockey since the Olympic break ended, the Canes have been eliminated from the postseason, and tonight is the last opportunity for the home fans to see a win at the RBC Center this season.

The opponent, the Montreal Canadiens, do have plenty riding on tonight's game, and a point tonight will secure a postseason berth for the Habs. A loss, and they're right back in the jumble of teams hoping to earn one of the last three playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. The likelihood is high that the Habs will earn a point in their last three games and comfortably make the playoffs, but the Canes would like nothing better than to prolong the agonizing wait for their frequent playoff rivals.

Drayson Bowman is out tonight due to a contractual situation; tonight would be his ninth game of the season, and I haven't confirmed this with anyone but I believe it has something to do with burning the first year of his entry-level deal (which kicks in for salary cap purposes after he plays ten games). I'll try to confirm. Joni Pitkanen was injured Tuesday night in Tampa, and the Canes have called up Tim Conboy and Casey Borer from Albany to take their places, meaning the Canes will roll 7 defensemen tonight. Borer will get a loud ovation, as this is his first appearance in Raleigh since the River Rats' bus crash last February.

Will the Canes send their fans home tonight for the last time this season on a positive note? We're about to find out...

Begin 1st: OK, so here's the story with Bowman's inability to play. Players who are up on emergency recall (which Bowman is, after the surgery to Tuomo Ruutu) are only eligible to play as long as they are filling out the roster. In other words, the team can't have more than 20 players on the active roster; the player on emergency recall cannot be on the roster if there are more than 20 active players. With Joni Pitkanen's injury, he remains on the active roster even though he isn't playing, so when the Canes called up Tim Conboy to replace him that put 21 players on the active roster and makes Bowman ineligible. So there you go.

5:30 1st: Not much action yet for either goaltender, but it's obvious this isn't the Devils we're seeing here tonight. There's been some great up and down action on both ends, and some halfway decent scoring chances on both ends.

9:15 1st: Sergei Samsonov is cursing the name of Client Jaroslav Halak so far tonight. Two great scoring chances and two big saves by Halak.

15:02 1st: A few seconds after a great Ward save on Travis Moemn, stretching his leg out as far as it could go to deny a tap-in on a cross-crease pass, Brandon Sutter marched back down the ice and Halak matched Ward's save with a quick kick save and a swallowed rebound. The Canes are sure getting some great opportunities; I think they've had more in the first fifteen minutes tonight than they did all night on Saturday.

19:40 1st: Ward robs Andrei Kostitsyn on what could have been an easy redirection to put the Habs up by one. The entire team has shown up tonight, including Ward, who has looked sharp all night.

End 1st: Scoreless after 1, and shots were 10-7 for the Canes in the period. Like I said, that was a really, really entertaining period. Nothing like Saturday night, and that's a very good thing in more ways than one.

1:24 2nd: 1-0 Canes; Staal 27 (LaRose) Great play by Staal and LaRose, who played give and go all the way up the ice and after LaRose took a sharp angle shot that Halak kicked out but didn't cover, Staal cleaned up the garbage and potted his 27th of the year on a fortuitous shot over Halak's blocker to give the Canes the first goal of the night. Still an outside chance at 30 for Staal, who has been injured nearly all year. That's a heck of an accomplishment.

4:51 2nd: 2-0 Canes; LaRose 10 (Staal, Kostopoulos) I'm not entirely sure where that line came from, but it's got two goals in three and a half minutes to put the Canes up by two. Kostopoulos gets an assist I wasn't sure he'd get for starting the play with a brilliant poke check in the high slot to spring Staal up the ice two-on-two. Staal fed LaRose at the blue line, and Rosey got behind the defense and drew what would probably have been a penalty shot before going five-hole on Halak while falling to the ice in highlight-reel fashion.

11:21 2nd: Habs cut it to 2-1; Gionta 27 (Moore, Markov) Finally, the Habs break through on Ward with some hard work in front of the net. Brian Gionta was in perfect position at the top of the crease to receive Dominic Moore's pass from behind the net, and it took a few pokes but Gionta eventually willed the puck past Ward on a rebound.

14:30 2nd: Marc-Andre Bergeron breaks up what would have been a Patrick Dwyer breakaway from the blue line in with a great defensive play, one of a few we've seen tonight from the Habs' defense. Except for getting caught napping on LaRose's goal, the entire Habs blue line has played very well.

14:50 2nd: No sooner do I say that than Erik Cole somehow whiffs on a tap-in at the far post, fooling even the guy on the goal horn who gives a short toot before realizing the puck never went in. By all accounts it should have, and there's no explanation for why it didn't.

End 2nd: Another entertaining period, if a little looser on both ends. Shots were 14-9 Canes, who have earned every bit of their lead tonight. Nothing like a good way to send the team into the offseason like a win, right guys? (Right...?)

2:42 3rd: Canes lead 3-1; Staal 28 (McBain, Rodney) (pp) The Canes' first power play of the night cashes in on a couple of sweet passes. First, Bryan Rodney started the play with a dish to Jamie McBain along the far boards, and McBain didn't hold on for long before firing to Staal in the near circle. Staal one-timed it home for a short-lived two-goal lead...

3:03 3rd: Habs get it back, down 3-2; Bergeron 12 (Gomez, Cammalleri) ...because just 21 seconds later, Marc-Andre Bergeron wired a one-timer from the top of the near circle over Ward's glove and into the net to make it a one-goal game again. Ward will probably be kicking himself for that shot later, but he's had a strong night even discounting that goal.

8:13 3rd: There have been only three penalties tonight, and they've all been tripping calls. Odd.

12:50 3rd: The Habs are slowly starting to take the game over, and the Canes need to be careful. They don't want to cough up this lead in the last game of the season...

15:40 3rd: A 2-on-1 to ice the game for the Canes leads to nothing, as Ray Whitney's pass intended for Erik Cole was just a bit too long and couldn't be converted. The Habs are still all over the Canes this period, and they've nearly pulled even in shots.

17:22 3rd: Canes lead 4-2; LaRose 11 (Staal, McBain) Beautiful play. Staal led a 3-on-1 down low, and while his shot didn't go in, bouncing right off Halak's right pad, LaRose was right there to clean up the mess and put the Canes up by two for the third time tonight. Staal has 4 points tonight.

End 3rd: A hat trick goal for Eric Staal into the empty net sealed the deal. A hat trick on hat night, the Canes' third or fourth in history, gave the home crowd something to cheer for heading into the offseason, and even though the Canes won't make the postseason they sure made today one heck of a day. An All-Star Game announcement, and then this? Not too shabby. Shots in the third were 16-9 for the Habs, who pulled to within one of the Canes overall at 33-32.

Postgame: Staal didn't even realize it was hat night until they started raining down from the stands after his goal. Guess that's what happens when you're playing focused. It was obvious from the drop of the puck which team was playing with house money and which team was gripping their sticks just a bit too tight, and now the Habs do indeed have to sweat it out to learn whether they'll make the postseason. Again, it's all but a foregone conclusion, but knowing Montreal this game has to send them (the team and the city) into some serious soul-searching.

Click for locker room audio from Cam Ward, Chad LaRose and Eric Staal. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.

I usually use this space to tease the next home game, but since that won't be known for awhile I'll just have to leave you to figure things out on your own. I mean, technically the next home game is October 7 against Minnesota, but that's in Helsinki and unless I hit the lottery I'll be watching on TV like a good many of you. Instead, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for all your contributions to the blog this year. It's been a lot of fun, and we have some great things planned for next season that will really make it even better.

I know I kid often about how many (few?) people I'm talking to in this space, but I want you to know how appreciated you are and how gratifying it is to see so many fans interact through Twitter and on the blog. I hope you have a fantastic offseason, and come back next year for an All-Star season at the RBC.

More All-Star Game intrigue

2010-04-06T22:22:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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A few more nuggets of intrigue tonight with regards to a potential All-Star Game announcement.

Signs are pointing to Thursday as the day on which an announcement will be made. A source with knowledge of the situation tells NCSportsTalk.com tonight that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will be in Raleigh on Thursday, and since he made his annual visit to the RBC Center before the Olympics one would think that a second trip to the Triangle has a purpose and isn't just for showing up in town for the Canes' home finale.

As you may have heard on tonight's radio broadcast, Chuck Kaiton announced during the first period that the Canes had "a big announcement, and you know what it is" planned for Thursday. It's highly doubtful that the Canes will be announcing an All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, no?

If Thursday is indeed the day that the Canes announce that the All-Star Game is coming to town, it's a great move on two fronts. First, the Canes will have the opportunity to celebrate the fulfillment of Bettman's promise from ten years ago with their fans at what's sure to be a raucous RBC Center for the home finale. Also, the announcement will be coming on game day against a Canadian team, meaning there will be a good number of cameras from north of the 49th parallel in town for the game and present to get the Canes some great PR in Canada.

Still no official word from the Canes, and there's still no word from anywhere on what year an All-Star Game (if any, a necessary if too-careful caveat) will be awarded, but if gambling were legal you could easily be forgiven for putting some money on the "big announcement" indeed being what we've all thought it would be.

2011 All-Star Game rumblings

2010-04-06T16:09:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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It's long been a dream of many in this area, and now it finally appears to be coming true.

The National Hockey League is expected to award the 2011 All-Star Game within the next week, and multiple sources confirm to ncsportstalk.com that the Hurricanes are on the very short list of teams still in the running for the game. There are rumblings that a press conference has been tentatively scheduled, but the Hurricanes are not commenting on any potential dates or topics, and are not saying anything at all about the potential game.

That said, it would be an absolute stunner if the Canes are not hosting the 2011 All-Star Game. When the NHL announced a few weeks ago that Pittsburgh would host the 2011 Winter Classic, presumably against Washington at Heinz Field on January 1, 2011, the writing was essentially on the wall. The Penguins' new Consol Energy Center was considered the co-front runner for the All-Star Game, with the RBC Center right there at the top of the race as well, but it's highly unlikely the NHL will award both the Winter Classic and the All-Star Game, which are held just over a month apart, to the same city.

Working against the Hurricanes is the fact that, if true, the '11 ASG will be the third straight held in the Eastern Conference (Atlanta '08, Montreal '09, no game in '10 due to the Olympics), so it's possible that the NHL will wait and award the 2011 game to a Western Conference team then come back east in 2012. However, one would think that if the NHL was going to award the game to a Western team it would have done so already, as we're already well past the usual date for an All-Star Game announcement.

The theory is that the NHL told the Hurricanes that in order to receive an All-Star Game, certain benchmarks (hotels, restaurants, activities, etc.) must be met, and since the NHL realizes that it risks serious humiliation for promising an All-Star Game in 2000 but not delivering, they kept extending the deadline for the team's ability to meet the benchmarks. Jim Rutherford hand-delivered an application to the NHL office in New York in late January, so we know the Canes have officially thrown their hat into the ring for the 2011 game, and ironically the longer the process has dragged on the more the likelihood has increased that the Canes would be awarded the game.

It would be great if the team could announce the game before the last home game of the season on Thursday against Montreal to give the fans one last big piece of excitement in a disappointing season, but as of now there is no indication that any announcement is imminent. The announcement, however, will be made at some point soon, and we'll let you know as soon as we receive official word from the NHL, whenever that may be.

Game 79: Devils 4, Hurricanes 0: Canes eliminated from playoffs

2010-04-03T22:19:00.001-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Two teams with vastly different trajectories meet at the RBC Center tonight. The New Jersey Devils, to no one's surprise, have already locked up a playoff spot and are battling with the Pittsburgh Penguins for a division title. The Carolina Hurricanes are on life support, but their push for a playoff spot has been extended well beyond anyone would have ever thought a few months ago. Thanks to a ridiculous number of teams (Bruins, Thrashers, Flyers, etc.) who can't get out of their own way, the Canes enter the final week of the season still technically alive for a playoff spot.

Of course, the key word there is "technically". Thanks to the Canes' last-second overtime loss to Ottawa on Thursday, their tragic number is down to three, and depending on how the nights events shake out the Canes could be eliminated as early as tonight. If the Canes earn two points tonight, they will remain alive. If they don't, then they're at the mercy of the Boston Bruins, who would eliminate the Canes with a win over Toronto. Needless to say, there will be a bit of scoreboard watching tonight.

The lineup remains the same for the Canes tonight as it was on Thursday night in Ottawa, with the exception of the goaltender, as Cam Ward will man the crease for the Canes tonight. On the other side, unsurprisingly, will be Martin Brodeur, who needs no introduction.

We'll know in just under three hours if the Canes still have postseason life...

1:00 1st: The Canes have gotten away with a couple of bad miscues early. First Cam Ward bobbled the puck behind his own net and nearly handed the Devils an open-net chance, then an inability to cover the puck gave the Devils about three good scoring chances from just outside the crease. The Canes have been loose defensively so far and, unsurprisingly, haven't done much of anything in the offensive zone either.

6:05 1st: A few seconds after Colin White nearly scores into his own net, Marty Brodeur reminds everyone in the building why he's the winningest goaltender of all time with a ridiculous windmill kick save on Brett Carson, who had what looked to be an open net before Brodeur wheeled his legs around and kicked the puck out. Carson still has no idea how that didn't go in, and I don't think anyone else does either.

13:13 1st: Devils lead 1-0; Zubrus 9 (Parise, Greene) (pp) Not really a surprise that it came to this, seeing as how the Canes have looked inept at both ends of the ice so far. With Chad LaRose in the box for interference, Zach Parise made a great play to keep the puck in the zone, then shoveled a pass through a couple pairs of legs to Dainius Zubrus, who has always burned the Canes dating to his days in Washington and did so again tonight, snapping a shot through Ward's five-hole just before he closed it up to put the Devils on the board first.

18:18 1st: Devils lead 2-0; Elias 16 (Kovalchuk, Clarkson) The Canes look like they'd rather be watching basketball right now, as they're allowing the Devils to skate circles around them to this point. Ilya Kovalchuk set up Patrik Elias at the top of the near circle, and Elias skated around through the high slot and to the other circle where he ripped a shot past Ward high over the glove. It was such a quick shot that it looked like it may have hit the post, and David Clarkson cleaned up the garbage after the whistle, but either way it was a 2-0 lead for the visitors.

End 1st: Is it too early to say the Canes need to stop sleepwalking? They looked thoroughly uninterested for the entire period, save maybe the Carson chance early. Fortunately for them, the Bruins are losing to the Leafs, but that's about the only thing that's gone right so far. Shots in the period were 12-7 Devils, but it wasn't even that close.

6:30 2nd: We're a third of the way through the second period and there's been absolutely nothing worth writing about. The Canes killed off a Rod Brind'Amour holding penalty, but that's about it. Nothing's changed much from the first period. And so it goes...

9:25 2nd: The Devils have gone 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, and I have yet to figure out if it's because of inept play by the Canes or solid defense by the Devils. I think it's more of the former, but the Devils are somewhat coasting through things themselves, highlighted by a lazy two-on-one led by Dean McAmmond that could have been an easy goal but led to an easy kick save instead.

End 2nd: Yeah, there wasn't an entry for the last ten minutes of the period, although the Canes finally did get a good scoring chance with a few seconds left while the teams were at four-on-four. Shots in the period were 10-7 Devils, who led overall 22-14. Yawn.

At this point I headed upstairs to a broadcast booth to do color commentary with a friend of mine who's putting some demo tapes together. So no live blog from here till the end...

End 3rd: 4-0 is your final, as David Clarkson scored into the empty net after Paul Maurice pulled Cam Ward with three minutes to go. Zach Parise had the other Devils third-period goal, jamming a puck in at the near post at 7:34 to make it a three-goal lead.

Postgame: As you'd might expect, not much going on in the home locker room tonight. The Canes were well aware of their precarious position, and the Bruins' overtime win over the Leafs means that the Canes will not be in the playoffs. Still, full credit to a team who had no business being in the postseason conversation at Christmas yet still made enough noise to get some teams a bit nervous as late as the final week of the season.

Click for audio from Zach Boychuk and Drayson Bowman. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.

The Canes head to Tampa Tuesday night, then we're back for the home finale Thursday night against Montreal, a 7:30 start thanks to Canadian television. Join us, won't you?

Game 75: Thrashers 4, Hurricanes 0

2010-03-27T22:18:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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For the Canes, tonight's first part of a home-and-home with the Atlanta Thrashers is a perfect opportunity to play spoiler. With next to no chance of making the postseason, the Canes are reduced to attempting to derail someone else's chances.

That opportunity couldn't come at a better time for the Canes, or at a worse time for Atlanta. Since trading away Ilya Kovalchuk in early February, the Thrashers have somehow remained in the playoff conversation in the Eastern Conference, but an ill-timed loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday dealt a serious blow to those chances.

Now in need of some help to make the postseason, the next two games against the Hurricanes will go a long way to determine if the Thrashers surprise everyone and make the postseason in a year when they dealt away their franchise scorer.

The big news for the Canes came yesterday, when they returned Justin Peters to the Albany River Rats for their playoff run, indicating that Cam Ward is ready to return after nearly two months on the shelf with a wonky back. Ward will back up Manny Legace tonight, and he will earn a start of his own when the Canes head to Atlanta on Monday night.

Lots of storylines tonight as we get our first look at the Kovalchuk-less Thrashers, so here we go...

2:40 1st: It's been a fantastic second year for Thrashers defenseman Zach Bogosian, but he almost gifted the Canes the first goal of the game. I'm not sure what he was thinking, but I guess he was trying to set the table for Johan Hedberg to start a breakout at the side of the net. Yeah, it looked about as bad as I described it, and Ray Whitney came darned close to making the Thrashers pay.

8:07 1st: The first power play of the night, to the Canes courtesy of a rather dumb Ron Hainsey penalty, generated next to nothing, with the best chance coming late in the man advantage when Erik Cole fanned in the high slot on an open shot. Not really the way the Canes wanted to start, but at least they haven't sacrificed the first goal of the game.

12:06 1st: The Canes have been giving up way too many quality chances so far. In the span of about two minutes they allowed three separate odd-man breaks to develop, and they've been way too careless with the puck in the Thrashers' zone. It's a credit to Manny Legace that the game is still scoreless, because it could easily be a multiple-goal deficit despite a 2-0 power play advantage to the Canes thus far.

18:35 1st: Needless to say, the Canes' special teams have left some things to be desired so far. Two rotten power plays followed by a scary-bad penalty kill in which the Canes were caught with all four penalty killers strung out in a line through the slot in front of Legace. The Canes are very, very, very lucky that this game is still scoreless.

End 1st: The Canes will begin the second period on the power play after Brian Pothier took an uncalled dive to hand Clarke MacArthur a cross-checking penalty with seventeen seconds left in the period. Shots were 17-6 Thrashers, and they have to be all sorts of upset that they aren't leading this game. Certainly the Canes had no interest in leading, in one of the worst periods of hockey we've seen at least since the new year.

3:15 2nd: For all their trouble at creating anything resembling a coherent scoring attack, the Canes actually came close on a Zach Boychuk one-timer on their best shift of the game so far. It didn't result in a goal, though it did draw a Maxim Afinogenov hooking penalty to put the Canes on their fourth power play of the night.

7:46 2nd: Thrashers lead 1-0; Peverley 21 (Afinogenov) The only surprising thing about that goal is that it took so long. Rich Peverley was on the receiving end of a great centering pass from Afinogenov and had an easy tap-in from ten feet, right through Legace's legs to put the Thrashers on the board first.

8:43 2nd: Thrashers lead 2-0; Artyukhin 7 (Thorburn, Enstrom) Now the Thrashers are just making up for lost time by scoring twice in under a minute. Evgeni Artyukhin, a fourth-line grinder, undressed Patrick Dwyer who was attempting to play defense in the absence of a pinching defenseman, and that went about as well as can be expected. Artyukhin won't set the world on fire with his skill, but even he could make that puck go in, past Legace's stick and in off the near post to make it a two-goal lead.

14:30 2nd: Comment in the press box: "This game's like watching paint dry." Actually, I'd take home improvement over watching the likes of Evgeni Artyukhin, Marty Reasoner and Chris Thorburn control play. Inept doesn't start to describe it.

17:43 2nd: Thrashers lead 3-0; Bergfors 21 (Little, Kubina) Can't really fault Legace for any of the goals so far. They've been the result of some sorely lacking defensive work in front of him, the latest coming when Niclas Bergfors backed a defender up and danced around him in the low slot, surprising Legace with a high backhander to give the Thrashers a 3-0 lead.

End 2nd: Some scattered boos to escort the Canes off the ice, and the way they've played so far it's hard to say they haven't earned it. Shots in the period were 12-9 Thrashers, who got the results they probably should have gotten in the first, leading to a 29-15 (!) differential through two.

4:40 3rd: More of the same to start the third period. Outside of one good chance, the Canes have generated absolutely nothing, and Paul Maurice has juggled the lines as a result.

7:45 3rd: Great play by Johnny Oduya to break up what would have been a Staal breakaway from the blue line. Granted, it was Staal with the chance, who's anything but money on breakaways, but still a nice play to keep Hedberg's shutout bid intact.

14:34 3rd: Hedberg hasn't had to work hard tonight, but he's been big when the Thrashers needed him to be and he still has a shutout going, now heading towards 55 minutes into the game. The Canes' line shakeup looks to have sparked them a bit, but they haven't been able to get one past the Moose, who's being serenaded with "Mooooooose" cheers from a Thrashers contingent in section 114. Hedberg has something for the Canes; he's been great against them his whole career.

End 3rd: Hedberg now has two career shutouts after Jim Slater scored on a late power play to make it 4-0 Thrashers. Shots in the third were 19-14 Canes, but it didn't matter; the hole they dug in the first two periods was more than substantial enough to ensure the outcome even with Hedberg standing on his head in the third.

Postgame: The Canes knew they blew one tonight. They knew exactly what the Thrashers were going to do tonight, and when the game started they allowed the Thrashers to do precisely that. Not really a recipe for success there.

With Boston's win earlier today, the Canes' tragic number now stands at six, meaning there's a high likelihood that they'll be eliminated from the postseason by the time they return home next Saturday to face New Jersey and it could happen as soon as Tuesday; if the Canes lose in Atlanta Monday night and the Bruins sweep a Buffalo/New Jersey back to back Monday and Tuesday, the Canes are likely out (depending on results of other games, but it's highly likely). They won't be back at the RBC until next Saturday, as they head to Montreal and Ottawa after the game in Atlanta.

Click for audio from Eric Staal, Manny Legace and Brandon Sutter. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.

We'll be back next Saturday when the Canes face the New Jersey Devils, and we'll see if there's still hope for the Canes in the race to the postseason. Until then, take it easy.

Game 74: Hurricanes 3, Capitals 2 (SO)

2010-03-25T23:06:00.000-04:00

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
Email Puck Drops

With less than three weeks to go in the season, the Washington Capitals come to town for the second time in a week to face the Hurricanes in a game that means little to either side. The Caps played last night, scoring a come-from-behind 4-3 shootout win over the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins, while the Canes have had a day off after an overtime loss at Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.

The biggest news out of Canes camp is the shoulder surgery for Tuomo Ruutu, successfully performed earlier today. Ruutu injured his shoulder in a January fight with Colorado's Darcy Tucker, and while he's tried to play through the pain since just before the Olympics he decided to shut it down and get the necessary operation out of the way now. Ruutu will be on the shelf for 4-5 months, placing his return sometime in early to mid August and giving him plenty of time to prepare for the new season, including two games in his native Finland.

To compensate for Ruutu's absence, the Canes have called up Drayson Bowman for his second tour of duty and juggled the lines, with some interesting looks that we'll see for the first time tonight. Eric Staal will center a line with the, ahem, delicately sized Chad LaRose and Zach Boychuk, no doubt making Staal feel like Zdeno Chara in the process. Manny Legace will get the start, his second straight and perhaps one of his last, as Cam Ward could return before the end of the week from his injured back.

With a win, the Canes will improve their record to 4-1-1 against the NHL's best team, but even a worst-case scenario loss will still mean that the Canes are 3-2-1 against the Caps, an impressive achievement for a team that's had few of them this year. We're 60 minutes away from knowing the end result...

2:11 1st: Canes lead 1-0; McBain 2 (Jokinen, Whitney) At some point we're going to get tired of Simpsons references when discussing Jamie McBain, but they haven't gotten old yet, not when the man has points in five of his first six NHL games. Rainier Wolfcastle put the Canes on the board first with a seeing-eye point shot from the blue line, one-timing home a pass from Jussi Jokinen along the far boards through traffic and cleanly past Semyon Varlamov to give the home team a 1-0 lead.

7:45 1st: The Canes seem really intent on peppering Varlamov with shots from outside. They're throwing it at the net every chance they get without really taking their location into account. Not saying it's a bad thing, as they've clearly made him uncomfortable and he seems to be fighting the puck a little bit, but just a change in the Canes' normal "wait for the perfect shot" routine.

9:09 1st: Canes lead 2-0; Rodney 1 (Jokinen, Dwyer) With all the Rats in tonight's game, it's no surprise that the second of the night was off the stick of another player who spent most of the season in Albany. Bryan Rodney has the Canes up by two on the strength of his first in the NHL, off a broken play in the neutral zone. It looked like Eric Fehr had stolen the puck for the Caps, but it rolled off his stick and right onto Patrick Dwyer's lumber. Dwyer started a 3-on-2 rush into the offensive zone, capped off by a Rodney 30-footer (again, a shot from well out) that beat Varlamov high to the blocker side.

10:05 1st: Nearly 3-0 on an open net that Erik Cole couldn't quite get a handle on. The Caps look every part the team that played an emotional game last night.

17:26 1st: Not sure how that wasn't a Washington goal. Mike Green wound up and fired from his office in the high slot with all sorts of traffic, but Legace not only stopped the puck but caught it cleanly for a faceoff. The Caps looked a little stagnant on their first power play of the night, but they did get a couple of great looks.

End 1st: That was an impressive showing by the 28th-place team in the NHL against the first-place team. Shots were even at 13, but it sure seemed like the Canes had better chances and their game plan was certainly well-rounded. The Canes will begin the second period with a 56-second power play thanks to a John Erskine interference penalty late in the first.

1:43 2nd: Caps pull to 2-1; Semin 35 (Fleischmann, Morrison) It wouldn't be a Canes/Caps game without Alexander Semin scoring, would it? Off a faceoff, Brendan Morrison won the puck backwards, and Semin fired a shot on Legace that was originally stopped. The rebound, though, bounced right back to Semin, and he fired it home through Legace's five-hole to put the Caps on the board.

5:00 2nd: Twice in one shift Mike Green has gotten away with a penalty, first on Chad LaRose then on Zach Boychuk behind the Canes' net. The Caps are really lucky they avoided a penalty there.

11:30 2nd: Green gets the favor returned to him by Sergei Samsonov, of all people, as Samsonov knocks Green down earning some serious applause from the home crowd.

12:02 2nd: For all the griping about the Crosby/Ovechkin rivalry, it seems that the battle lines are being pretty clearly drawn. Ovechkin looks like the prototypical wrestling heel, doing things to get a rise out of the crowd and for no other good reason. This time, he ran over Manny Legace in the crease for no good reason with a forearm shiver to the head, buckling Legace's left knee and earning himself some loud and sustained boos. This crowd hasn't forgotten what happened between Ovechkin and Tim Gleason in November, that's for sure.

16:36 2nd: Give Varlamov credit. After a shaky start, he's really settled down and has risen to the occasion. I'm sure he'd appreciate a little more help at the other end of the ice, but he's done his job in the second period, even as the Canes have piled up seven more shots.

17:02 2nd: Alex Ovechkin certainly thought he had tied the game, hands up and all ready to celebrate. Problem was, his celebration didn't fool referee Frederic L'Ecuyer, who saw that the puck never crossed the goal line behind Legace and whistled the play dead keeping the Canes up by one.

End 2nd: Well, that was certainly an entertaining period, and the Canes came close to making it a two-goal game again on a Whitney backhand with a few seconds remaining. Shots in the period were 12-9 Caps in the period, who took a 25-22 lead overall.

:28 3rd: Erik Cole's second close call of the night, as the puck got behind Varlamov and lay in the crease for a second before a Caps defender poked it to the corner a millisecond before Cole was about to pool-cue it into the net for a 3-1 lead.

2:12 3rd: Caps tie it at 2; Carlson 1 (Chimera, Erskine) Of the four goals so far tonight, two have been first career markers. Caps defenseman John Carlson finished off a 3-on-2 rush to tie the game at 2, dancing around Bryan Rodney in the low slot and surprising Legace with a quick snap shot through the five hole. At this rate, I fully expect Drayson Bowman to get the game winner.

10:35 3rd: LaRose just took a run at Ovechkin in front of the Canes' bench. If this wasn't a tie game we could see it get out of hand very quickly.

End 3rd: A great end to the third without any other scores. Shots were all Washington in the third. Off to OT for the fourth time this year.

Postgame: Canes win 3-2 in a shootout; LaRose with the GWG We'll send you to Twitter for the play by play of the shootout, but after Ray Whitney scored in the third round to send the shootout to extra shooters Chad LaRose won it in round 5 with a great move to beat Varlamov around his left skate and into the net. When Manny Legace stopped Mike Green to seal the win, he had more than earned the first star with 41 saves during the game and another four in the shootout.

Both teams finished 3-1-2 against the other this season, but the Canes won the season series based on goals scored, as they outscored the Caps 21-20 over their six games. Go figure that one out.

The Canes' tragic number remains at ten with their win combined with a Boston loss to Tampa Bay. It's still not likely, in the least, but at least there's still hope on the horizon.

Click for audio from Bryan Rodney, Jamie McBain, Manny Legace and Chad LaRose. Paul Maurice's press conference is attached.

Back at it Saturday when the Atlanta Thrashers come to town for the last time this season. We'll be here, and hopefully you will as well.