Islanders Earn First Win, Nip Hurricanes 4-3 in Shootout
by Bob Wage on Oct 21, 2009 11:17 PM EDT
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PrintThe Carolina Hurricanes fought from two goals back to tie the score, but lost to the New York Islanders Wednesday night in a shootout, 4-3. The Islanders had yet to win a game this season but jumped on the Canes early as they took a 1-0 lead in the opening period, then held on for dear life to earn the victory.
The Hurricanes are still winless on the road, (0-3-1), and have now lost four games in a row.
Islanders leading scorer, Matt Moulson scored the first goal of the game eight minutes in on of a nice feed by Andy Sutton. Moulson made a beautiful shot on Cam Ward and out-muscled Sergei Samsonov on the play.
Carolina would tie the score in the second period when Matt Cullen rifled a pass to the front of the crease. The puck would bounce in the net off of a defenseman's skate, giving Cullen his second goal of the year. Eric Staal picked up his first assist of the season on the fluke play. It was also a powerplay goal.
The Islanders struck back quickly though just a bit later in the period as they scored two goals inside a minute to take a 3-1 lead. The Hurricanes fired 17 shots on goal in that period, but looked out of synch most of the time.
The visitors continued to struggle early in the third period, but started to create more and more pressure in the New York zone. Finally, with just under six minutes left, Joni Pitkanen guided a puck to Eric Staal, who flipped it to Ray Whitney. Whitney faked out Dwayne Roloson, leaving an open net for Staal who buried the return pass from Whitney. The Canes finally looked like they had life.
About a minute later, once again Pitkanen would create a play, this time finding Jussi Jokinen in the slot area and his friend made no mistake, beating Roloson short side. The game was suddenly tied and the Hurricanes made it look easy.
But a hooking penalty by Whitney would kill the momentum. After the Canes killed the penalty, they were unable to generate anymore sterling chances and the game would end in a draw.
The Islanders had the best chance in OT but Ward stopped an open John Tavares, who was hanging back at center ice cherry-picking on the play.
Jussi Jokinen made a nice goal in the shootout, but Samsonov was stopped by Roloson and Ruutu did not need to take his shot. All three New York shooters scored easily against Ward, leaving the Canes with a 1-2 record in shootouts so far this year.
Next up will be the Colorado Avs in Denver on Friday night.
- Joni Pitkanen was the best player on the ice for Carolina. He broke up numerous plays on defense and created both third period goals. He led both teams with over 30 minutes of ice time. It is amazing how well he is able to play considering he missed all of training camp and has practiced and played very little with his teammates. The defenseman also had four hits, six shots on goal, and three takeaways.
- Kudos to Scott Walker, who tried to get his team fired up when he dropped the gloves with Brendan Witt about mid-way through the opening period.
- Paul Maurice was mixing up the lines all night, but eventually moved Jussi Jokinen to center and had Ruutu and Samsonov on his wings. That line looked pretty good just like it did in last year's playoffs. Cullen and Brind'Amour were matched up with Walker in another line. I'm not sure who was playing wing and who was center, but both Cullen and Brindy had about the same number of faceoffs for the game.
- Tim Gleason left the game early with an upper body concern. John Forslund reported on the radio that he was not wearing a sling and seemed to be walking normally after the game. We will have more about that as we are informed.
- Aaron Ward led both teams with seven hits. Pitkanen was next with four.
- Staal led the Canes with seven shots on goal. Pitkanen and Kostopoulos had six each.
- Brind'Amour finished at -2, worst on the team.
- Once again, faceoff percentage was not good as the team won just 31%. Cullen was 5 of 13 for 38%, Staal was 6 of 22 for 27%, Brind'Amour was 5 of 12 for 42%, and Jokinen was 2 of 10 for 20%.
- The Canes powerplay was 1-4 as they scored on the fluke play by Cullen.
The Hurricanes will still be searching for answers after this game as they have to be wondering why they can not seem to play with consistent intensity and energy. The team can take some satisfaction in knowing they came back and scored two goals late in the third period to tie the game, but they still lost to arguably the worst team in the league.
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Ruutu wasn't stopped by anybody
he didn’t even take a shot! lol
oops .. think you fixed right after me … lol
by Cory Lavalette on Oct 21, 2009 11:27 PM EDT up reply actions
Good thing I lost mine
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
Pitkanen was the best tonight
Bob, you are right Pitkanen was the best player tonight. He can create some plays. I also liked Samsonov-Jokinen-Ruutu line.
The Canes are also getting better on PK, they killed all four tonight.
More on PK
Canes have not allowed PP goal in 3 games. In last 5 games they only allowed one in last 23 chances.
That is pretty good PK, now if only their power play would better. I know that they scored PP goal today, but that was bit of a fluke. I cannot remember whey they last time scored on a typical PP play with possession and pressure against the short-handed team
Scoring goals at Carolina games seems to be a problem, for both teams
by HNIC means hockey night in carolina on Oct 22, 2009 4:17 AM EDT up reply actions
I was actually confident after the OT that the Canes would win the SO, Cam seemed to be more comfortable in the 1 on 1 situations. That was the Cam of old last night, out too far on the first and flailing on the next. With the obvious lack of pure goal scorers (this is nothing new) this team needs to outwork every opponent to be succesful. Its pretty pathetic that every time I see Conboy on the ice, I wonder “whos that Canes player skating hard”. I will say it was actually refreshing to see Cullen look backdoor on the PP goal, maybe someone figured out that if something isnt working, you dont keep doing the same thing.
I thought the scouting report for Yelle was that he was a good defensive forward, this may have been teh case in the old NHL where you could hook and grab jerseys. Hes a penalty waiting to happen everytime he has to defend.
I just looked at the Game Summary – Isles media gave Stephane Yelle the 3rd star for the game, behind Sutton and Tavares.. That’s gotta be a mistake. Did they get his number mixed up with someone else’s?
Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!
by Carolyn Christians on Oct 22, 2009 8:55 AM EDT up reply actions
I read somewhere that Joni was announced third star in the arena which would make sense to me, but I haven’t seen anything official that represents anyone but Yelle.
by Jamie Kellner on Oct 22, 2009 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Passing Tape to Tape
It has been clear that the Canes are a step off and still not synched. Until the comeback minutes, our passing and rushes into the offensive side of the ice just seemed off. Puck possession from faceoffs, the forecheck to just basic offesensive zone play is weak. I started counting touches in the second period and we struggled to gain even 5 touches per rush while NYI were averaging above 10. I guess all of this is self evident of a team that is struggling offensively and looking for chemistry. Not sure how a team like this could get outworked….hmmm..maybe they are trying to hard to do too much. The comeback occurred when we were just flinging the puck at the net. Could be a tough road trip…
+1
I haven’t seen much good passing from them yet this year.
by Andrea's evil twin on Oct 22, 2009 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm pissed.....
The Canes lost.
Worse yet, I lost the autographed picture to a really tall college coed during the 2nd Intermission on that “Percentage Game”. Oh well, like the game, it went to a shoot out as the “best of 7” was a tie but the 8th question she beat me.
Sob, sob, wail.
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
One thing the Isles deserve credit for: I thought they really took Ruutu out of the game with a couple big hits. I haven’t seen to many instances where he disappeared in a game, but I thought that happened some last night.
I agree, Cory. The Isles didn’t look like the worst team in the league. Even Roloson was decent – he faced 38 shots not including the Shoot-out.
It was “Away Game to a Hornets’ Nest – Part IV” for the Canes (BOS, TBL#2, NJD being the #1 – 3).
Pitkanen looked so impressive. But now Cam looked shakey – like maybe he’s not going to win this for us solo (he shouldn’t have to).
Maybe the Avs won’t feel like Friday is must win, and we can catch a break. Uh – nope – they lost in a shoot-out to Minnesota. Dammit.
I feel like the Hockey Gods are punishing us for something – any ideas for some voodoo? What did we do to deserve this run of just-misses? Other than Florida and Boston every game has been tight (including 3 OT) – but only one win to show. What does that tell ya? Is it really just effort?
Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!
by Carolyn Christians on Oct 22, 2009 8:53 AM EDT up reply actions
Is it really just effort?
I think it’s not playing for 55 minutes, expecting Cam to pitch a shutout and then when he doesn’t they turn it on for the last 5 minutes. We all get our hopes up and then well…we end up here trying to figure out how it all went wrong. Some of that’s effort, some of that is taking opponents for granted and some of it is the coaching staff not better preparing the team.
Cory, I was looking at the stat sheets after the first period last night. In the first period the Isles were credited with six hits. Five of them were on Ruuty. I thought he was better (still not up to his usual self) after they moved him off the top line, but the Isles were definitely gunning for him and they were very effective at it.
by Jamie Kellner on Oct 22, 2009 10:42 AM EDT up reply actions
……………….There is nothing left to say
by canescup on Oct 22, 2009 8:52 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Tell me we’ve hit bottom.
Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!
by Carolyn Christians on Oct 22, 2009 8:56 AM EDT up reply actions
Or the Scabs
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
Yeah but Toronto is currently winless. If they beat us Nov. 6 (whether it’s their first win or not), then we’ve hit rock bottom.
Yeah, that would be worse
as I’m not and never will root for the Laffs.
I’ll root for Crosby first.
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
0ne thing.....
Staal actually looked good and he even played physical. That’s it…..let’s all move on to Fri.
by canescup on Oct 22, 2009 9:13 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
so tired of watching them lose. At least we got a point, but we really need to start scoring first and building on a lead. Stop this coming from behind crap.
We all know Wardo doesn’t handle shootouts very well. Don’t let these games go to shootouts and the problem is solved.
I'm almost wondering if Cam sent a subconscious message
namely, “I’m not going to bail your asses out when you play like crap in front of me, if I’m that lucky, then expect me to stand on my head while you try to push pucks past the other goalie in a shootout”.
No, I’m not saying Cam tanked it, but I can understand if his heart just wasn’t there watching the debacle on the ice before him.
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
I had to turn the game off after the second. So of course I missed the comeback, which I sort of knew might happen. These are the Canes. I rarely post, but I need to vent a little. Here goes, bear with me.
What are people’s theories on why they’re playing with so little energy? Are they so experienced (read old) that they just sort of expect things to come together without trying? Not sure experience teaches that… I just don’t get it. Is there some sort of “locker room” problem? Wasn’t this supposed to be the team of chemistry? Good guys and all… Also, what the eff is going on with the faceoffs? I’ve noticed this every game… it’s pathetic. Isn’t Yelle supposed to be some kind of faceoff expert in addition to what Brindy brings? Who’s bringing the percentage down, or is it across the board?
If they lose tomorrow night, will JR shuffle some pieces? All we heard at the beginning of the season was how they didn’t want to have to make a playoff push, that they wanted to start off strong. Well, that isn’t happening. I expect Karmanos is pissed he’s spending this much money, and so far, it’s looking pretty bad. Maybe they’ll turn it around. I wouldn’t worry as much except that they don’t seem to be putting the effort in. If they put the effort in and lost close ones, I’d say it was bounces, bad luck. This ain’t bounces, it looks like lazy play.
Whew. Now they’ll win seven straight, and we’ll all feel like tools for complaining. Hopefully.
Its hard to expect a team to give 100% effort over a whole season, the motivation to do so just isnt there. They cannot consistently win without that effort from all 4 lines or at least 3 of 4 when a line is having an off night. They dont have an ovechkin to win games when the rest of the team isnt scoring. The desperation just isnt there, its a Stanley Cup hangover with no stanley cup.
Going out on a limb, I would say Karmonos decided to spend a little extra coin this season knowing the economy could drastically affect attendance expecting that wins would overcome and draw a crowd. So yeah, when the arena is filled with only 10,000 STHs, hes gonna be pissed.
I disagrre KS. I think they are paid more than enough to put out 100% every game. Granted that effort will be rewarded with great games and dissed with some stinklers. 100% effort every game and all 60 minutes of it. I know CG disagrees with me about Sutter, but I still think this geriatric group was a stupid mistake. Yelle doesn’t give a dam win or lose, this is his last year he retires. Rod isn’t making a great come back, ever. He’s 39 and his HOF career is winding down. So in the locker room it’s gotta be like a big egg fart. The team is getting long in the tooth and they gave up speed for veteran savvy. I think with Sutter and maybe even Boychuck, you get the exuberence of youth, playful attitudes in the locker room with the veterans teaching the young guys. On the ice the kids will go like 110% every night, every minute they are out there. This builds an atmosphere that everybody tries out do or at least try as hard. as the other guy. Instead of nice bag of trail mix where the components enhance eachother we got a box of Melba toast.
I think it’s time to correct whatever is ailing these guys. The team is looking at the Toronto game as maybe the biggest game of the year, if they lose that one it’s over man. If they at least they ain’t the worst, but holy mother of scotts, I was looking for a divisional title, not shooting for 29th place. I think this year and this roster were mis handled from August on. The effort and results have bore this out..
They only played a good 5 minutes last night and dam near won……
I’ve said it before, the Rats would play harder given the chance. Bring ’em all up and sit the team and let them watch what being able to play in the big league is all about.
It’s about having fun and playing your heart out for 60 minutes and giving it everything you have.
Phooey.
What effect on next years payroll you think this will have if it contiues?
A
I don’t think the roster was mishandled – on paper they are great. It’s the effort and attention to what they are doing that stinks. And it’s not purely age either – Walks and AWard ain’t exactly spring chickens (hard to call walker long in the tooth… :)…). I do agree that maybe bringing one of the kids up might make some of the rest give a little more effort… also that there should have been more than 4 pre-season games.
(sigh)
big fat stinking pile of turd!
by Andrea's evil twin on Oct 22, 2009 10:42 AM EDT up reply actions
The preseason excuse was a good one after the first few games, but now that we are 8 games in and seeing the same crap, I think we can write that one off as the problem.
Maybe not. With 8 preseason games we’d know we have this issue (whatever it is) and wouldn’t have pissed away a single point yet….
and whatever the heck they are gonna do about it is where we would of started….hopefully getting better?
A
A
You're still sick
must be the fever.
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
Does Dr. Evil go to Dr. Feelgood
and if so, what did they say? Just kinda wondering as you’ve been sick for a while and that’s, “Jus’ not riite!”
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
Nah, it’s just a cold… with a wicked sore throat (I blame the Pens game – I pretty much yelled at the top of my lungs the entire game, and the sore throat from that never quite got better). It’s the same cold that the rest of my lab has.
Gives me a great excuse to make lots of hot and sour soup!
by Andrea's evil twin on Oct 22, 2009 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions
I love Hot and Sour soup.
Send some my way.
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
Maybe, but we could also have played several more crappy games that meant nothing and realized that there is a real problem earlier in the real season, rather than watching 7(+) miserable games and letting everyone else rack up the points…
by Andrea's evil twin on Oct 22, 2009 11:01 AM EDT up reply actions
Shockingly, I agree with damn near everything you said here, except for the part about Yelle; sadly the 4th line may have been the best last night. I think he does the job he was brought here to do.
If they don’t turn it around within the next few games, it’s time to make a trade or give one or two of the kids a shot.
Agreed. I think JR will give them a few more games, and if they continue to suck, he will make some moves. I imagine he’ll call one or two of the kids up. He’s pretty conservative and seemed to really believe in these guys in the offseason, so I think he’ll let them suck a little longer before he makes a trade.
Score
The men can’t score any goals. Until they start scoring they want win no games. Of course we all know that. Whtiney’s fight didn’t even put a fire under their asse’s if they don’t soon start winning they will be so far behind they want be able to catch up. Not that I could do any better but, then I don’t get paid to play hockey. with some of the salaries some of those guy’s have you would think they would want to do better. I mean Cam can’t win all the games.
robert
Shoot the puck!
Yeah, an annoying thing you hear at a lot of hockey games from the fans, but someone needs to be saying this in the locker room.
You can’t score a goal on a pass. These guys need to just start shooting the puck instead of looking for some fancy pass-pass-pass-pass-shoot goal. You don’t get any extra points for letting every player on the ice touch the puck before you score. These are tending to turn into pass-pass-pass-turnover. Don’t look for the perfect shot. Just look for a shot and take it. Pepper the opposing goalie with shots.
When your scoring is as horrible as the Canes is lately, any goal looks good. We fans aren’t looking for some highlight goal. Just any friggin’ goals!
But that's how they'll win.....
yeah, they shot the puck a lot more last night but they were sadly out of position to catch the rebound.
They’ll need to keep on shooting and then they’ll start relearning how to get back into position.
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
Yes, and look at how the shots are grouped. When they were shooting was when they scored. When they spent all their time passing there’s not many shots, and no goals. It’s been pretty consistent this season so far that they’ve been passing instead of shooting, and taking one too many passes and missing opportunities.
by Pirate Caniac on Oct 22, 2009 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Get ridda Rosie
I mean, look at the guy…nothing. He gets knocked off the puck, shoots right into the goalie, loses battles along the boards.
uh.....
that can be said for 75% of the team at any given time and 50% of the team everytime it seems.
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
Canes vs. Islanders
Couldn’t get here to comment before now, but did not want to duck this event.
So, Game 8 of the season becomes our latest data point, and it’s not a good one.
Yes, good game with an admirable comeback, an overtime standstill, and a shootout loss. But, nonetheless, a loss to one of the weakest teams in our conference. One point for the effort is scant consolation.
Our shot count (38) was fine. Our goals were good ones (one lucky, two skilled).
It’s the goals against that were a bit troubling, and of course the shootout defense.
I still want to see more games before drawing conclusions and taking actions…but clearly more was expected of the team last night, and was not delivered.
Again, the microbattles are our downfall. Even the faceoffs are falling victim to this deficiency. I think we’re winning some draws that end up in enemy hands (hence their faceoff “win”, not ours) due to this lack of collective jump right now.
Keep this up and we’ll all be screaming for some youthful energy…and we’ll get it.
I’[m worried bringing a kid up now isn’t the right thing. When I hire somebody I set them up to succeed. The time for Sutter was when he earned his spot in the dismal experiment of a pre season. That would of set up certain chain of events and chemistry. One that I think would have us in a better spot. Not really even so much of Sutters actual play, but how he plays. Remember little Eric Staal 3+ yrs ago? A rookie will invariably be taken advantage of and make some mistakes. It’s the learning curve. While I think Sutter has the genes and enough time with the bigs to give it a try (and you dam well he’d WANT to be here). I think it’s like what the team does to Ward though. Throw him under the bus. I’ve pondered this most all day. I think Waivers and trades are what’s called for. The kids are here and gonna get a chance.
Cole is worthless to this team, pull a Williams on him.
Yelle I don’t know what to do, he’s so dam cheap, maybe trade bait?
Sammi pulling his weight?
Rosies young and coming off a dam good year.
Even if you traded all these guys what would you get?
So what about packaging one or more of them with Jussi, Joni or Ruutu. Then what would you get?
No matter how you slice it JR built this dike and so far it’s failing. Sticking in a 4th liner like Sutter will only harm the kid.
I think JR is agonizing as he looks over the chart of FA’s he’s got coming up and is scrambling to salvage something before Christmas.
JR and MO have failed the team building excercise. They were given a great roster on paper and forgot the chemistry and motivation factor. The ace in the hole would of been a sharp young prospect, set in service in an adequate preseason to learn the chemistry and build from there. Now it’s too late and a complete different path must be found and I think it has some ugly options and some fugly ones.
I feel sorry for Mo, he’s got a shit sandwhich and no mustard. I also think he’s similar to Herb Brooks in as much as that he knows most hockey is mental. We’re gonna see something pretty dramatic in the next few weeks. Mo’s Miracle and he gets the team to turn around, maybe. Maybe we see the bust up and rebuilding process of the team that will be Stall and Wards, eventually. Or, we may just watch this same shit over and over until spring and then see some crazy trades with more of an open and hungry market.
Believe it or not, my money is riding on Mo. I think the best fix is to make these guys work together. Work and give 100%. Mo knows hockey, the roster has got talent. We shoulda had Jersey, we coulda had the Isles. I’m looking to what I think is a great coaching staff to kick this mule in the ass.
Right now I think the lack of success falls right in JR’s lap. All he did was put together a really pretty roster and he did nothing to water it. He inhibited the preseason/learning period/try out. Ignored the fact that Sutter was usually the best guy on the ice during the few games there were.
Bad moves from a very talented and lucky guy.
I think I’m gonna be a stay the course guy until turkey day. If nothing happens by then, keep enough veterans so somebody can legaly buy booze and bust this pig up and rebuild for the Staal era. Then get that kid to play his ass off or tell him he’s gonna find out where Jimmy Hoffa is.
Looks like it’s gonna be a tough fall and a cold winter…
A
Who are you and what have you done with Paladin? Just last night you were calling for the kids to come up from Albany.
Yup. Been thinking about it all day while I was busting up firwood and building my cabin. I think that ship has sailed and now the problem has gotten out of hand. This is about the most literal team building excercise you can get. Bringing in an outsider that puts a drain on a system would be counter productive..I think, I don’t have the answer. Now you’d get the protectionism of Sutter from the guys, ie. Walker and Gleason. You may get a bump in morale from his youth and making a loud statment by killing whoever he replaces. I think it’s too little too late.
If it were my team, I’d do a marine boot camp style gig. Tear ’em down to nothing of worth (the way they areplaying now) and reform into a cohesive unit. Weed out the chaff along the way.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Sutter being called up would improve things, but only slightly. It also would be unfair to place him in the position of being the focal point of success or failure of this team. Staal needs to feel that and I hope it gets seared into his very soul. So Sutter would be chucked under the bus and a distraction as well.
The Romans practiced a policy called “Decimation”. In a nut shell if your unit was found to be cowardly they were forced to kill eachother until 1 out of ten remained.
I’m hoping Mo will find a slightly less costly way, but you can bet that the 1/10th of remaining soldiers fought like every battle was thier last.
A
If he can't handle it,
I’ll be more than willing to stalk.
The same offer goes for Jeeniwa, Dr. Evil, Briney, HMO2, LTD and Eisker.
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
Easy tiger. I do believe they have the upper hand in any choosing. In CG case I have daughters that age, God help thee that crosses her. The wrath would be unspeakable…
I’m also trying my best to buy Dr. Evil a beer at the Blues game, but she is an elusive one.
Damnable ellusive crew these hockey wimmin…
Hell, I thought you wuz my back up on the honor and chivalry thing..
A
When it comes to "wimmin"
as the battle cry goes,
WHATEVER IT TAKES!
A conservative is someone who wants to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
Just as soon as those guys finish mowing his yard and building the shed
*blink blink*
Who is this person that has hacked Paladin 6’s account?!?
We throw a small bone his way, and he spits it back at us.
No, I’m not advocating that anything at all be done now, or even soon. Just noting that if this particular trend holds up, that we will undoubtedly see some changes made.
Heck, they’ll have to make some payroll adjustments to match the shrinking revenue, if nothing else.
But, not yet! And, maybe not even involving Sutter at all. Most fan boards I’m seeing are screaming for Boychuk, anyway, as that missing scoring winger (even though eventually that will be Bowman’s role, once he has ripened considerably longer).
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