Rod Brind'Amour Moves to Wing: Canes at Avs Game Preview
by Bob Wage on Oct 23, 2009 3:56 PM EDT
17 comments
The Carolina Hurricanes are in Denver and will battle tonight with the Colorado Avalanche, the first place team in the Western Conference. As we mentioned previously, the Canes have yet to win a road game this season and are riding a four game losing streak. The Avs just lost in Minnesota in OT on Wednesday night, but have an excellent overall record of 6-1-2. The team is undefeated at home in two games.
Initially, Colorado coach Joe Sacco was going to start Peter Budaj in goal tonight, but Budaj took ill so Craig Anderson will be in net for the home team. This is the same Craig Anderson who was back up goalie in Florida for the past few years, but he is off to a hot start so far this season and has played well. He will be up against Cam Ward for the Canes.
The Avs are led by Wojtek Wolski who has four goals and four assists. Some of you may remember Wolski from the 2004 Draft. He was one of the rookies who was paraded around town along with Alexander Ovechkin, Cam Barker, Andrew Ladd, and others.
Milan Hejduk is always dangerous, (3G 4A), and even Darcy Tucker has been contributing offensively. (4G 2A).
The Colorado offense has been very successful to date as they have scored 30 goals compared to just 18 for the Hurricanes.
Carolina's head coach, Paul Maurice, has been mixing and matching the lines at will trying to find something that clicks. As we reported here on our game recap from Wednesday night, he re-assembled the Jokinen, Samsonov, and Ruutu line which was so successful at the end of last year and in the playoffs.
In order to do this, he had to move Rod Brind`Amour to Matt Cullen's line. That means that Brind'Amour will be playing wing, probably one of the few times in his 20 year career. Kudos to the the News and Observer, who sent Chip Alexander on this road trip. Chip verified this information on his Twitter account.
The lines will look like the following:
- Staal, LaRose, Whitney
- Cullen, Brind`Amour, Walker
- Jokinen, Ruutu, Samsonov
- Yelle, Conboy, Kostopoulos
Tim Gleason is expected to sit out tonight, although he is feeling better and participated in the game day skate. I assume the defensive pairings will be mixed and matched as the coaching staff sees fit. Jay Harrison will fill in for Gleason if plans do not change before game time.
The Canes have never earned a point at Pepsi Center. They have an 0-5-0 record there and last won in Denver at the old McNichols Arena in 1996 as the Hartford Whalers.
This is the front end of a back-to-back for the club as they will travel to Minnesota immediately after this match to meet the Wild tomorrow night. Carolina is 1-1 so far in the front end of these games and 0-2-0 in the back end.
FS Carolinas will do the telecast and 99.9 The Fan will have the radio and online feeds. The game starts at 9 p.m. Eastern.
You can check out more information about the enemy at Mile High Hockey or Jibblescribbits.
_____
Since this game has a late start, we thought we would try something different and have two "Live Game Threads" tonight. The first thread will start up at 6:30 and fans can discuss the River Rats game against the Rochester Americans. That game is supposed to have free streaming and the tip off will be at 7.
The Hurricanes Live Game Thread will start up at 8, one hour before the puck drops in Denver.
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I would rather see Brindy centering on the first line with Staal on wing. Then move Whitney down to Cullen’s line. I seem to remember Brindy and LaRose having chemistry sometime last year. Should be a good goaltending match-up as well. Ward’s been playing well, we just need some offense.
In Staals rookie season they moved Ron Francis to the wing because Staal couldn’t hack playing wing…
Although he does have a little more experience playing now…..
by Mateos_Canes_Lamp on Oct 23, 2009 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions
That’s a very interesting factoid on Staal and Francis. Talk about a flashback to another era. Cool.
Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!
by hockeymomof2 on Oct 23, 2009 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions
For some reason that season (for me) sticks out as fresh as if it were yesterday…. Francis was traded at the deadline and Jesse Boulerice nearly got a hat trick in the very last game (Vs Florida)…
Strange….
by Mateos_Canes_Lamp on Oct 23, 2009 4:29 PM EDT up reply actions
I was pretty sure that last game was with the Isle until I realized that was the last home game that year. Oops on me….
by Douchebag St John on Oct 23, 2009 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions
It was actually the only home game I didn’t go to…. I recorded it on my (get this) VCR (Before everyone had a DVR).
That entire season sticks out to me for some reason….
by Mateos_Canes_Lamp on Oct 23, 2009 8:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Go Canes!
And have fun tonight… I’m gonna have to miss this one – getting out of the house for the first time in what seems like a very long time (even though it hasn’t been?)
by Andrea's evil twin on Oct 23, 2009 4:21 PM EDT reply actions
wing
I don’t know if that will help or not. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Let’s face it something has got to help.
robert
i will be at the game tonight, me and the wife drove out here last night since Denver is only 7 hours from me. Look for me in the stands as i doubt there will be very many Canes fans here tonight. GO CAROLINA!
Avs coach Joe Sacco up close and personal
Here’s a 5-minute press Q&A with Av’s “Rookie” head coach Joe Sacco from earlier today. He’s 40 yrs old, so younger than Mo.
He mentions he worked with the Canes’ Tom Rowe in Lowell, when Carolina split that affiliate with Philly (about 2:45).
He also talks about adjusting to Colorado (altitude) after being back East so long. Expect to see shorter shifts.
Listening at around 4 min, I swear that’s Tripp asking about what it’s like to be back home after a long roadtrip and how to keep the team focused.
Last note: Colorado is tied for first in the NHL for their PP at over 28%. After the game vs the NYI, the Canes are 12th at 82% on the PK (though we’ve been awesome the last several games). Conclusion: as always, but esp’ly with this squad, we don’t need any stupid penalties tonight.
Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!
Moving Rod to the wing baffles me. Somehow taking your best faceoff man out of the faceoff dot seems to be counterproductive.
yeah…. after thinking…. that was really the issue I was having. I’d really rather have Brind’Amour taking the faceoff….
I’m sure that “whatever works” is probably the best solution at this point….. (remember when they tried David Tanabe on Left Wing…)
by Mateos_Canes_Lamp on Oct 23, 2009 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions
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