Carolina Offense Breaks Through - Canes 7, Panthers 2
by Bob Wage on Oct 10, 2009 2:06 AM EDT
19 comments
The Carolina Hurricanes scored early and often and took advantage of a sluggish Florida Panthers squad that just returned from Europe last week, beating them 7-2.. The Canes scored three goals in the opening period, added another in the second, and then popped in three more in the third as seven different players lit the lamp in the rout.
Newcomer Tom Kostopoulos got things started during a penalty kill and scored his first goal as a Hurricane after he stripped Bryan McCabe of the puck and broke in on Tomas Vokoun. The goal was Carolina's first short-handed tally of the season.
Just three minutes later, Sergei Samsonov fed Tuomo Ruutu a perfect backhanded pass near center ice which Ruutu took into the clear. The Finn beat Vokoun with a wrister to make the score 2-0.
The Panthers would then give up another unassisted goal as Jussi Jokinen picked up a loose puck at the side of the Florida net and stuffed it in to give the home team a 3-0 lead. The Canes out-shot the Panthers 16-5 in that opening period.
The second period belonged more to Florida, but Cam Ward was equal to the task. The goalie stopped try after try and his teammates were also able to kill off a 5-on-3 opportunity. Then at the 13 minute mark, Ray Whitney took a pass from Niclas Wallin and made it look easy as he faked out Vokoun and slipped it between his legs to make it 4-0.
The Panthers would finally ding the scoreboard before the period was over, but the damage was done. Florida had more shots on goal in that period, 17-9.
Peter DeBoer replaced Vokoun with goalie prospect Alexander Salak after Cullen scored in the third. (regular backstop Scott Clemmensen was not available due to family business). The Hurricanes took advantage of the rookie and scored two more goals.
Matt Cullen rifled a bullet past Vokoun just a minute and change into the period. Rod Brind`Amour would score his first goal of the year a bit later, and Jay Harrison scored his first NHL goal from about the same area Cullen scored his.
Michael Frolik closed out the scoring with about two minutes left in the game to make the score 7-2.
Game Notes:
- Depth and balance has been a mantra of Carolina's all preseason. They showed it last night in spades as they had seven different goal scorers and 12 different players with points.
- The Canes played a very good game, but there is still room for improvement. They failed to score during a minute of 5-on-3 and went 0-4 while with the man advantage. The powerplay still needs some work.
- Carolina was called for seven penalties, putting them at 32 minors so far this year which is the most in the entire league. While the toughness and aggressiveness is good, they need better discipline. A more skilled team would score in bunches with that many chances. They went from being the least penalized team in the league last season to the most so far this season. What's up with that?
- Scott Walker was called for diving. Is that now mandatory every time the team plays against Florida? It seems like the Hurricanes only get called for diving when they play against the Panthers. And Scott Walker of all people? Wonder how many times in his long career he's been called for diving?
- The Canes out-muscled the Panthers at times and utilized their size advantage. The home team had 32 hits to just 10 for the visitors and they pushed the smaller team off the puck on several occasions. When is the last time the Carolina Hurricanes out-muscled a team?
- Andrew Alberts had five hits while Tim Conboy and Tim Gleason had four each. I would give Conboy the hit of the night as he wiped out someone along the boards, although Jay Harrison took a Panther out nicely right after a faceoff.
- Once again Aaron Ward led the team with four blocked shots. Gleason and Alberts had three each. In case you were curious, Dennis Seidenberg had one for his new team.
- Harrison's goal was the first in his NHL career and it was a beauty, beating the Florida goalie high glove side.
- Jussi Jokinen had a goal and two assists to lead the team last night and now leads the team in scoring so far this young season with two goals and two assists.
- Matt Cullen had another very good game and was named the game's first star. He was buzzing on the penalty kill, making life miserable for the Florida powerplay. His goal was a just reward for his hustle.
- Joe Corvo had a team high 22 minutes of ice time. Before last night, he led the entire NHL averaging over 28 minutes per game.
- For the first time this year the Hurricanes came up on the short end of the faceoff battle, winning only 45%. Cullen, (33%) Staal, (44%) and even Brind'Amour, (39%) had rough nights while Stephane Yelle finished with 67%, (8 of 12).
- Speaking of Yelle, with four minutes left in the game and with the score 7-1, he was still diving on the ice trying to block shots during a penalty kill. This is the type of player you need if you want to make it deep in a playoff run.
- The club was all business in the locker room after the game. You could never tell by looking at them what the final score was. This is an experienced, even keel group which will not get too high or too low after wins or losses.
- Disappointing crowd of only 13,597, much lower than Tuesday night.
_____
- The "Junior Canes" had a good night in Albany as well Friday, beating Portland, 5-2. Zach Boychuk had a goal and two assists, Brandon Sutter had a goal and an assist, and Drayson Bowman scored his second goal of the year. The Rats are now 1-1 and will play again Saturday night as Mike Murphy is expected to make his debut.
0 recs |
19 comments
|
Email
Print
Comments
Good effort
Best defensive, and offensive effort of this season! As the scoring would indicate, it
was a team effort, especially in the 1st period where they dominated. We’ve got DEPTH!!
There was great D all night. The pick Kostopoulos (tough name to spell) made on McCabe was just a sweet play. And how about Ward’s up-ended save near the end of the 2nd? It was just a great game against a divisional opponend.
Kostopoulos
Saw an interesting Kostopoulos quote about the pick in an Indyweek blog:
"It was good pre-video from our coaches," Kostopoulos said of his goal. "They told us to pressure a certain way. I got the turnover and it bounced in."
So, kudos to the coaches…and to Mr. Kostopoulos for staying awake in class!
starting to come together
These “blow outs” are always tricky. We might be negative goals in tonight’s game because of it.
But if our offense continues to put forth this type of effort. I’m getting excited again for the Hurricanes.
I think your third point is key. Our PK isn’t too shabby, but the PP is dismal. We have to stay out of the box or it will derail the teams momentum, maybe even the season if it becomes systemic.
Combine that with a relative poor FO game, this could of been a loser if it came down to the little things. Luckily we had more than enough goals and Cam came to take names (bummer for Booth!!!).
I hope this is something they build on, though I agree with Neaux, could be a biter tonight.
GO CANES!!
A
What is worse than the refs the power play WAS THE CROWD!!!! There was a smaller audience for last nights game than there was for Tuesdays game…. and that is pathetic not too good.
by Mateos_Canes_Lamp on Oct 10, 2009 9:55 AM EDT reply actions
Ranked forth lowest attended game this season.......
Only three games so far this season had fewer fans then last nights game. Two out of three have been Florida games.
FLA. at CAR. att 13,597.
FLA. at CHI. att. 12,056.
CHI. at FLA. att. 11,526.
VAN. at COL. att 13,416.
Those games were in Helsinki.
by Iggy Reilly on Oct 10, 2009 10:35 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Well if that’s the case our game just had the lowest attendance in the NHL of the season. Thanks for even worse news.
by canescup on Oct 10, 2009 11:15 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Fret not, Vancouver at Colorado was in Denver.
I don’t think it is that stunning that a Tuesday night game is more well attended considering the ticket discounts available this past Tuesday compared to last night.
Still think college night is a bad promo anyone? It puts butts in seats!
by Iggy Reilly on Oct 10, 2009 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions
and some of them were even old enough to drink.
Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!
by hockeymomof2 on Oct 10, 2009 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions
I just wanted to say
that Jussi Jokinen OWNED that game. Because he rocks :)
That is all.
Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/SLStarsFan
by Brad_Richards_Rocks on Oct 10, 2009 2:46 PM EDT reply actions
Just in case some think we duped Sidenberg on the ice, we only duped him on 1 goal.
I thought it was interesting that out of 7 goals scored last night that Sidenberg played 24:38 minutes and was only a -1. That’s pretty outstanding to be on the ice that long as a defenseman and only one goal of the 7 scored got by you.
Speaking of 7 goals scored by Canes players, did Staal play last night? Who knew he was even there? Oh yea, I forgot, he made it possible so all the players could score the goals and took the sacrifice. Wow, maybe he should play baseball too…Still waiting for the Messiah to begin dominating the game…Just sayin…
C
This
Watching from home this morning, I was not impressed with our first period. We gave up several good shots in the early going, and only Cam Ward and some offensive miscues on the part of Florida kept it from being 2-0 them in the first five minutes. Even after we scored three goals in the period I was still worried about the outcome of the game.
As for our offense, it seemed mostly to come from odd man rushes or the forecheck. Staal was talked about by forslund and tracy for the work he was doing, but I didn’t see too much of it. It is possible that with Ruutu and Samsonov on the line with him that the other team was going for a smother, but still. I would like to see more chances created through hard work in the offensive zone. Even after we chased the starting goalie off the ice we only had two shots on the replacement that did not hit him in the chest. Not surprisingly, both of those went in (poor guy looked super nervous).
After the first ten minutes, and apart from the five minutes either side of the second intermission the team showed good hustle and heart. I hope that they remember that that is what got them into, not to mention deep into, the playoffs last year. I really hope they can keep it up.
Stephane Yelle
Just wanted to add something about this Game Note from above:
Speaking of Yelle, with four minutes left in the game and with the score 7-1, he was still diving on the ice trying to block shots during a penalty kill. This is the type of player you need if you want to make it deep in a playoff run
I see/hear/read so much hockey that I wish I knew for sure which talking head hockey expert said this (think it was Mike Milbury), but his assessment of the Canes focused on JR’s addition of players like Yelle.
He specifically spent some time on Yelle, saying in essence that it was the little things that someone like Yelle would do for you in the dying minutes of the game that would win games and series for you. That he was exactly the kind of person you wanted on the ice in the last minute of the game.
So, good observation on your part, Bob.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Latest Puck Daddy - NHL from Yahoo! Sports
- In which former NHL coach Ken Hitchcock foils a shoplifter
- Montreal's Price talks new 2-year contract, expectations post-Halak
- Donald Fehr aware of Kovalchuk drama, mum on everything else
- Puck Headlines: Savard's agent rants on Bettman; Halak in Montreal
- Boudreau, Crawford placed on the coaching hot seat
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
