Canes Choke in "Fly Town" - Flyers 6 Canes 5, SO

by Bob Wage on Dec 13, 2008 2:53 AM EST

The Carolina Hurricanes blew a 5-1 lead in the third period and lost to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, 6-5 in a shootout. It was the biggest comeback for the Flyers in 20 years.

Thanks to the blog's "technical difficulties", we are late to the party commenting about this game. But I'll throw out a couple of observations anyway.

Remarks from the peanut gallery-

As easy as it would be to blame Michael Leighton and the rookie defense for this loss, the coaching staff has to take their fair share of the blame. The ice time for several players seemed way out of whack.

Rod Brind'Amour - (27:48) Why? He was -1 for the game and is -21 for the season. Is he the best forward on the Canes and do you really want him on the ice that long?

Eric Staal - (20:49) He was red-hot, had scored two goals, and had some jump to his step. He should have been on the ice more.

Joni Pitkanen - (33:23) After the game, Maurice mentioned that some of the defensemen were tired. I wonder why?

Tim Conboy - (8:07) Conboy played a solid game against Washington and hadn't made any glaring mistakes against the Flyers. Where were he and Borer in the third? Borer had even fewer minutes.

Chad LaRose - (4:04) Not sure why Maurice has the hate for LaRose, but Eaves got 18 minutes and has yet to score a goal all year. Perhaps a little equity would be nice?

Scott Walker - (7:28) Walker is an experienced vet, has several 20 goal years under his belt, is an ex-captain, and loves to hit, yet he finds himself playing fourth line minutes and is behind Patrick Eaves and Ryan Bayda on the depth chart. My guess is that he is not a happy camper right now.

Brandon Sutter - (6:50) We have talked about this before, it's tough to develop a rookie when he gets little chance to play. Not counting the fact that Sutter has been one of the better players on the team when he has had the chance during certain games.

Brett Carson (26:06) As good as Carson looked against Washington, he looked lost at times Thursday night. 26 minutes is a lot to ask a player playing in his second ever game in the NHL. Again, why not a bit more of Conboy or Borer, both who have more experience?

The shootout did not look very good. The only positive thing about it was that the pain was over after just two shooters.

Next up will be the Rangers in New York. I will have a game preview up around early Saturday afternoon.

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Comments

Good summary Bubba.

The TOI was very glaring to me….especially Walker. I don’t get that. The one guy that would not take Flyer crap gets benched.

I was willing to give Mo a shot…but…

by WStout on Dec 13, 2008 10:05 AM EST reply actions

Last night, the Rangers came back from down 5-1 against the Devils to tie the game, then went on to lose 8-5, so their last game was a bit like the Canes’ meltdown. It should be interesting to see how both of these teams respond.

by John on Dec 13, 2008 10:07 AM EST reply actions

Walker is only on his second game back from injury. Last time he came back, he got injured again and couldn’t play.

I’m not saying that is the reason why he’s not getting much ice time, but in his second game back, wouldn’t that certainly make sense? We already know he was playing with a messed up hand for a long stretch earlier in the season — perhaps it was decided to lay off of him so we don’t repeat his injury troubles.

by John on Dec 13, 2008 11:50 AM EST reply actions

That’s certainly a possibility John. Although I would assume that Walks is pretty healthy, or he wouldn’t be fighting. But with him you never know.

by Bubba on Dec 13, 2008 12:50 PM EST reply actions

here’s a surprise: Maurice doesn’t know what he is doing. I guess all those winning seasons with the Leafs took their toll. Maybe Rutherford can build a time machine and go back and get a do-over on the whole firing thing.

by repenttokyo on Dec 13, 2008 12:52 PM EST reply actions

Philly just got another win over the Penguins in another high scoring game.

by neaux on Dec 13, 2008 3:48 PM EST reply actions

You know, Mo pulled the same crap on Staal his rookie year too. JR had to call out Mr Von Trap in the press to get Staal more playing time. The guy just plain doesnt know how to work with young players. Not only are we throwing our season away with Mo-Ron we are now tossing a year of Sutter’s development out too.

Good I wish this ownership group would sack up and say that they want to move to Hamilton…..

by Douchebbag St John on Dec 13, 2008 6:19 PM EST reply actions