Carolina at Toronto - Pregame Hype

I strongly dislike moving Rutuu off Staal’s line. Not just because they play well together & now he gets stuck on Brindy’s “Quicksand” line (as in whoever he plays with gets dragged down too) but also because Ruutu will at least respond to any liberties taken with Staal. One of these days Staal is going to get seriously hurt off a cheapshot from somebody who knows he’ll never have to answer for it.

And above all else, Ruutu has played very well. He deserves better.

I dunno Sunny. Like you, I love Staal and Ruutu playing together, but I wonder if taking Ruutu off his line will force Staal to be more physical b/c he won’t have Ruutu to do the banging. Also, while Justin is no fighter, he’s definitely one of the team’s feistier players and is always the first into a dust-up.

Ruutu with Brind’Amour will also get Rod off the boards a little … it’ll move Ruutu and LaRose into the dirty spots and let Rod sit back some, wait for scoring chances and be more prepared for moving back into the neutral zone.

I’m curious to see if this works at all.

Hey… I checked the link to the “alternate viewing source” you had posted… and then I clicked on one of the games in progress and it was a very good feed!!!

Thanks for the heads up….

-M.

I’m with you Cory, this is an interesting move, and I can’t wait to see how it goes tonight. Everyone would love to see Brind’amour be less of a liability on the ice this season (I still can’t believe we are even saying that), and using Larose and Ruutu to cover up his weaknesses could maybe do the trick.

Williams was playing like a man possessed in Buffalo, obviously dropping him to the 4th line woke him up a little bit. Maybe a trip down will do the same for Ruutu? Not that he needed any help.

Also, tomorrows game is the HD game for NHL center ice, but it is being broadcast locally, so blackout. Tonight, no local broadcast, but no HD. Damn you center ice schedulers.

I guess it’s a waste of time fretting about it since I’ll be shocked if these lines last an entire period ;-)

^ true enough … lol

About CentreIce, has anyone been having problems with the HD feeds freezing? I haven’t had problems with any other HD channels. I have TWC.

you are not the only one. If I change it to the HD feed and then hit the menu button.. it will freeze the channel. Sometimes if I change channels and change back it will freeze.

so basically if you watch it in HD on center ice, DONT press any buttons.

I think the Brindy line should be 4th and the Sutter line get’s 3rd line time on ice and rotate Larose and Ruutu on higher lines. I have to agree that taking Ruutu away now looks to be a poor choice. I think that line was getting the hang of eachother and Staal was starting vulture around the net a tad. Sami needs to cough up the puck (to our guys) or shoot with Staal and Williams on the line. They both need to be putting pucks on net. I think there is a chance that we may see Rod just get left in the dust. He can’t hope to compete with Rosies energy and speed and Ruutu will always have whatever thug is on the ice on him, so if Rod’s not there, can’t get a puck up to Larose, turns it over and Rosie goes back and covers and a whole host of other things and this could make Rod look worse. I’d like to see Larose, Sutter and if Eaves can bring his A game, Eaves on a third line. It also pisses me off when I see Sutter have a breakaway and he doesn’t take it. We can’t score 5-5 or even 5-4, so let the kid loose and try 4-5 scoring. This better be a breakout game with an asskicking victory. The bufuckalo game was sad, but, I liked the way many of the guys played. While it sucked, it was better hockey than the last several under Lavi.

A

Sunny…. Sometimes if you have cable… if the lines running to your neighborhood, house, or apartment building are old then they may not handle the feed for HD (or even digital). I had this problem where I live about three years ago… I switched to DirecTV after TWC wanted to charge ME for re-wiring the entire building….

Sunny – I agree with you on the Roddy quicksand thing, BUT consider this: Way back when… the Rosie/Ruu/Helminen line was awesome. I think Rosie and Ruu can play very well together and might keep roddy from pulling them in… That said, P6 is right that Roddy might be too slow for them (one of his many problems this year) I guess we’ll see soon enough. Actually, now that I think about it, I’d really like to see a Rosie/Ruu/Sutter line.
Oh, and I also noticed that Staal was a little more physical in the last TO game than I remember him being at other times – maybe he’s being encouraged to do that a little more…?
P6 – I’m with you on setting sutter loose. I love that kid! Oh, and on the ass-kicking victory, too.

From the hurricanes website preview for tonight’s game:
“Hurricanes captain Eric Staal, who leads the team with 19 goals and is second with 34 points, has nine goals and 21 points in his last 15 matchups with Toronto.”
Nice typo – or have they already stripped roddy of the captaincy? (just kidding!)

Nice catch Andrea, I read that and it went right over my head. I didn’t even notice…L

Associated Press article.

http://hurricanes.nhl.com/team/app?gameNumber=679&gameType=2&page=Preview&season=20082009&service=page

What is the website where we can watch the game online?

Yikes!!! I just checked that out and both Eric and Rod are mentioned as Captains. So I checked the roster…Rod is still listed as Captain and Eric is Assistant.

Is there precedent for stripping the Captaincy off of an active player? I really like Rod, but he is hurting the team and he knows it. I would think that taking his C would be so humiliating. I hope that is not the plan.

Would love to pick his brain and see what the hell is going on in there.

On the CI issue – does not pushing buttons apply to volume too? It could be the wiring but no other HD channels, HBO, Vs, etc do it, just CI. I have been thinking about getting DirectTV actually…I have serious issues with TWC that I won’t bore folks with, but I really have almost had it. Mateo is the NHL Network in HD on DirectTV? Sure you know on TWC it’s not (but lucky me the Big 10 network is)

AD – no it was just a typo. I’m sure it was supposed to read “center” and they would never ever do that to Rod. It was just a really prescient typo – considering that it is Staal that is being groomed for captaincy, and poor Roddy is just getting old and unable to recover… or whatever is going on with him…

Andrea, I sure hope you are right. After the recent “classlessness” shown by PK, your post just made my heart skip a beat for Rod. Would hate to see anything else happen to him.

argh I KNEW Pitkanen would take the first penalty!

Sorry, I didn’t mean to indicate that the AP article was correct. If Brind’Amour was stripped of the captaincy, it certainly would be huge news. Just an interesting mistake or “typo” by the AP writer.

Vintage Brindamour on the assist there. Great to see. finally broke this stalemate.

Wow … brilliant job by Brind’Amour there. Two very smart passes.

ALRIGHT CANES! Two late goals in the period.

It almost brought a tear to my eye seeing Brind’amour making a play like that.

LaRose, Cullen line looked good. Ruutu is playing like a mad man again on any line. Rod’s made a few and blew a few, better than most nights!!!! Staal looks uncoordinated…

Go ’Canes!!!

A

Williams and Samsonov are skating hard, too … especially the last half of the second.

The almost accidental hit by Eaves on Grabovski was great. It is one of the best, if not the best, hit of the year.
I wish that Sutter, Bayda, and Eaves got more playing time, but they are a nice 4th line to have. As Brind’Amour’s line gets less time, Sutter should get a chance to put more points on the board.
I really like the hustle and sense of urgency that the team is playing with tonight. Lets all hope it continues in the third and also the rest of the games. It sucks to be on the outside looking in when it comes to playoff hockey.
GO CANES!!

Totally agree grasshopper, knock on wood, this has been a great team effort through 2 periods. Looking forward to seeing how this team closes out the game. This third period will be telling. Can they put Toronto away, or will the Leafs creep back in.

Wardo is playing a really solid game, and doing it very quietly.

SO much for quietly. Cam seems to have a more active stick recently. It just payed off big time clearing that long rebound out.

At the end of the day, all that matters is the W. But I really hope the team shuts it down and gives Ward what he deserves tonight.

Not going to say the word.

Shutout … there, I said it!

WTG Cam & Co.!

That was a huge win and I think even better for their confidence with the shutout against a team they recently gave up 6 goals against!

Ward much deserved the first star!!!

Thanks for the link to the “alternative viewing”, that is great to have, and really great to see the Canes win!

My capitalized SO wasn’t a mistake. I’m surprised TO’s announcers didn’t try to jinx him. I get so superstitious about that particular aspect of the NHL shutout. Maybe I should start keeping stats on how effective the dreaded “Jinx” really is.

Wardo tomorrow night in Pittsburgh, or should he get a break before the break?

I think they did try to jinx him. They said that Ward has never had a shutout against Toronto with about 4 minutes left. I thought the same thing! haha

I think after the way he played tonight and with a week off coming up I think you put him back in the net and ride him!

Wooo-hooo!!!
Did anyone else catch the three stars… what a joke!
OK, Wardo with the first (obviously) then, as displayed on screen…
Pitkanen (TOI 23:27, 1 assist)
Ruutu (TOI 15:16, 1 shot)
Um, hello? what about Corvo and the game winning goal? or Rosie for the second? or Cully for that wicked assist? or maybe Seids, who had the most hits, and I noticed was clearing people away from the crease?
Sorry, I’m still laughing about that… ’let’s give Ruutu a star for his one shot on goal’ I’m not trying to knock ruu, or anything, it’s just… funny
Well, I’m glad I was wrong about the minus-2 for Roddy! Way to go!

Yeah, I was a little confused by their stars of the game. Again, Ruutu was only credited with one hit; I thought he had more.

I wonder if Hagman’s teammates call him JR. That would be awesome.