Solid Team Effort: Canes 3, Lightning 1
by Bob Wage on Nov 22, 2009 1:46 AM EST
63 comments
The Carolina Hurricanes played one of their best overall games of the season Saturday night as they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1. The team played well in each zone during every period, held the Bolts to a lowly 21 shots on goal, and generated several scoring chances in just their second regulation win of the season.
After out-shooting the visitors and out-chancing them early in the first period, Tampa Bay would take the lead anyway about 15 minutes into it on a powerplay goal by Martin St. Louis. The winger squeezed his shot in at a very tight angle. Manny Legace joked after the game that the puck went in off of his big butt.
St. Louis always seems to have success against the Canes. That was his fourth point against Carolina in three games so far this season.
The Hurricanes were a little deflated after the goal, but would pick things up in the second period. Tuomo Ruutu continued his torrid scoring pace with a powerplay goal of his own just two minutes into the period. Ray Whitney found the Finn with a perfect cross ice pass and Ruutu roofed a one-timer past Mike Smith, who played an excellent game in goal for the Lightning in a losing effort.
Ruutu now has nine points in his last six games.
The Canes were buzzing much of this period and at one time were out-shooting the Lightning, 9-2. Jussi Jokinen scored yet another goal against the team that put him on waivers last year when he tipped a Joe Corvo shot past Smith at about the 13 minute mark.
That goal turned out to be the game-winner, the second game-winner in regulation for Jokinen this year.
Chad LaRose knocked the gorilla off his back when he scored the last goal of the game and his first of the season, on a wrist shot with just four minutes and change left on the clock. He took a pass from Sergei Samsonov into the clear and took his time for a perfectly placed shot. The helper was Samsonov's 300th career NHL assist.
After the game, the team seemed very pleased with the completeness of their effort and hard work and admitted that it was one of their better overall performances of the season. They now have earned points in their last five games and have won three of their last four.
Next up will be a road game in Dallas on Monday night.
Game Notes:
- Manny Legace won his second game in a row with a solid effort in net. He certainly was not over-worked as he only faced 21 shots, but he allowed very few rebounds and was steady when he needed to be.
- Give the defense credit as they managed to get sticks on several of the opposition's shots and helped out Legace when he was pressured the most. The team blocked 17 shots, led by Stephane Yelle and Tim Gleason who had three each.
- The Canes had 36 hits with Gleason again leading the way with five. Niclas Wallin also had five. Gleason had the hit of the night when he lined up Victor Hedman for a perfect hipcheck.
- The home team had scoring chances galore, especially in the first period, and came close but could not connect. Once again, if not for the efforts of Mike Smith, the score could have been much worse for the Lightning.
- Joni Pitkanen had five shots on goal in the first period, the most for any Carolina player in a single period all year. He kept trying to ram a slap shot through to the net, and came close a couple of times to making something happen. Pitkanen also had a team high three takeaways and finished with six shots on goal for the game.
- Paul Maurice was very happy with the defenseman's game. The coach said that he brings a different dynamic to the team when he is on the ice. Not only is he able to bring the puck out of the Hurricanes' zone by himself if needed, he can create a lot of possibilities in the offensive zone. Now, if he could only stay healthy.
- Rod Brind'Amour played on the fourth line and had 11:49 of ice time with only five seconds of powerplay time. He might have played one of his better games.
- For the most part, Maurice rotated four lines as everyone got double digits of playing time. Low man was Chad LaRose with 10:19. Even Patrick Dwyer had 11 minutes of ice time. This is the strategy the team wanted to employ all season, but they rarely actually did it.
- In his four games this season, Manny Legace has not allowed a goal in the second period. That period used to be the worst for the Canes as the team had allowed more goals in that period than any other one.
The Hurricanes now have a total of 15 points but they are still quite a ways behind the contenders. The team still needs a few more wins in order to claw their way back into the mix. They now have a 5-5-2 record at the RBC. The next step is to win their first road game of the season in either Dallas or Anaheim next week.
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I think the PP is looking promising, they are moving the puck to more areas, especially down low and getting a lot better looks. Laroses reaction after his goal was a tell tale sign of the expectations he has of himself after signing the contract, for a player with his limited skill, he may be putting too much pressure on himself.
Bob, I dont think Ruutus goal was ‘roofed’.
Probably not “roofed”, but it was a helluva rocket and very pretty nonetheless. It was a beautiful set-up from the Wizard.
And Ruuty (as usual) offered up one of my favorite quotes of the night. When he was asked about Rosey getting off the schnide he said “I hope it’s going to be like a ketchup bottle, you know, once it’s open, it’s open.”
Sisu
Great quote – great shot. What a Puck Lion that boy has been since recovering from the injury (and the suspension). 9 points in 6 games. Hakkaa Paalle!
LTD – By any chance, did you get Gleason’s hit on Hedman? they just put up thevideo as a hit of the night at NHL.com – front page, put they haven’t made it “share-able” yet.
Hurricanes Hockey: Never for the faint of heart.
by hockeymomof2 on Nov 22, 2009 12:57 PM EST up reply actions
I love when they interview him, you know?
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -Winston Churchill
I know, me too. He NEVER fails to deliver, whether it’s with humor or inspiration. And pretty impressive that it’s in his second language, too.
Sisu
After watching 60 minutes of the Canes playing hockey
not 1 or 2 periods of, “Oh well, let’s try”, I will say this is how I thought they were going to be the entire time.
Loved it.
When all else fails, read the instruction manual.
I was at the game… had quite a few hotdogs, but most importantly… the ’CANES WIN!!!
Woooooohoooooooo!! 2pts. and $1.00 hotdogs are a win-win situation!Go ’Canes!
by 3yrsnoplayoffs? on Nov 22, 2009 8:45 AM EST reply actions
Easily their best game since they pasted FLA on 10-9. They looked a little shaky after the Ning’s PP goal, but they tightened things up quickly and went on to a victory.
Sutter, Whitney, Cullen, Ruu continue their terrific play. LaRose showed quite a bit of jump, and I thought Brindy played a very solid game and seemed pretty fired up.
Tampa had several good chances in the first two periods, but the D was strong and either lifted sticks, blocked shots, or moved bodies away from those chances. Manny didn’t have any moments where he looked lost or out of position.
I really, REALLY like Whitney and Sutter on a line together. Sutter is soaking up the wisdom of the wizard and Ray seems to get a spark playing with the young fella. During training camp there was talk that Boychuk was a Whitney clone…how about Sutter as a 6’3", 20 year old Whitney?
Great game
I had the best seats I’ve ever had – so glad it was for this game! Pitkanen played a fantastic game. He’s so incredibly graceful and looked so composed out there. He’s so patient, just waits for the other guy to slightly misplay the puck… and then they’re done.
I told my friends going into the game that I hoped Ruutu and LaRose would score… thanks, guys! Fantastic overall game. I’m not an AWard fan, but other than that penalty in the first, I thought he had a good game.
Anyone see who’s coming to town Monday after Thanksgiving (Nov 30)? Ovenchicken and the rest of the currently top team in the East. First matchup of the season. Maybe Staal back for that. Maybe Corvo and AWard will recover some mojo. And will we be all-Legace still?
And the next week (Dec 7 to 12) in the Disney on Ice roadtrip?), there travel to : Pittsburgh, NJ, DC, and Ottawa. That’s a hellavu 4 games in 6 days, on the road.
Let’s hope they build up lots of confidence going into that week. Us too.
Hurricanes Hockey: Never for the faint of heart.
Staal
Any update on Staal? 7 out of 8 points ain’t bad.
I missed this game entirely — had to go out with some friends for a birthday party. I folloed along on my phone, and watched the highlights just before going to bed last night.
I had a feeling yesterday that they’d have a good game, and it’s really encouraging that they’ve finally found some consistency. And Rosie! Nice goal.
Wish I could have made it to practice today, but I woke up with a cold, and didn’t want to infect anyone else.
yeah, jerks updated the website to say that practice was at noon, then cancelled it…
Drove all that way for nothing!
:(
by Andrea's evil twin on Nov 22, 2009 3:02 PM EST up reply actions
Anyone else having this site crash every 5 or 10 minutes? started yesterday. I’ve got the latest IE for my browser. No othere sites are doing this (I lost about 4 posts that crashed before I posted them). I’m assuming it’s from some new Advertising module.
Hurricanes Hockey: Never for the faint of heart.
No, but I am using Firefox
No, but I am using Firefox. It is typically a more stable browser than IE.
They don't call IE "Internet Exploder"
or “(to the) Internet Exposer” for nothing.
When all else fails, read the instruction manual.
definitely mine
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -Winston Churchill
Just switched to Chrome. Thanks for the tip. I tend to stick with something for way too long. Fear of the unknown I suppose.
Kinda like Mo in that regard. (thinking: Brindy, CWard, AWard). Shall we say that Sutter = Chrome?
Hurricanes Hockey: Never for the faint of heart.
by hockeymomof2 on Nov 22, 2009 2:48 PM EST up reply actions
Ditto Firefox here, with no issues.
I was having problems with Safari via Iphone from the game, but had a feeling that had more to do with bandwidth issues as I looked around and saw everyone else plugged in to something somewhere all around me…LOL…multi-taskers, one and all.
Are the new comments supposed to show up automatically on the mobile version of the site? When I’m reading from my phone, I haven’t found a good way to keep up with a game thread. I can click the ‘top’ link to go back up to the top to hit reload, but then have to scroll then ALL the way back down to the end. Is there a better way?
Nope – you have to refresh . almost impossible for the 450 comments in a game thread…
Hurricanes Hockey: Never for the faint of heart.
by hockeymomof2 on Nov 22, 2009 2:01 PM EST up reply actions
They did not update for me in mobile version, even though logged in. So, I was having to do the same work-around as you…top of the page, Reload, scroll downward… tough, as the thread grew longer.
So, I switched to Full Site Version (or something like that) and it not only loaded faster (go figure), but also would now update.
Only problem is that I can’t “Control-Shift-A” to clear new comments (does THAT ever reek of Microsoft, by the way), so could not clear out the highlight yellow behind the new comments to keep track of new ones.
Still, updating was occurring automatically…just slowly due to suspected bandwidth issues.
Oh, guess it’s “Shift-A” for comments to be cleared as “new”, not the Control added.
Still two-key commands are not possible on virtual keyboards, to my knowledge.
Are you getting the colored highlight for your new comments on your phone display ?
Hurricanes Hockey: Never for the faint of heart.
by hockeymomof2 on Nov 22, 2009 2:08 PM EST up reply actions
Better overall performance of the year? Hell, it WAS their best performance of the year. The main thing that was impressive was that they didn’t totally collapse after that first goal. They pretty much out performed the lightning in almost all aspects of the game.
Whether that had to do with travel fatigue or not isn’t an issue. What is important is that this team saw that they CAN put together a 60 minute effort with consistent hard work in all three zones. Hopefully we can get a streak going that we can be proud of, rather than one we all hate to see.
Member of Canes Country and the Cat Scratch Reader
+1
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -Winston Churchill
Like your new signature line Jen!
Hurricanes Hockey: Never for the faint of heart.
by hockeymomof2 on Nov 22, 2009 2:00 PM EST up reply actions
aw, thanks!
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -Winston Churchill
Wonder how Churchill would have addressed the Canes locker room after the Kings game? Ruutu probably came close.
off topic – but did you hear in Timmy’s comments (after his 2-goal Toronto game when he was talking to Tripp and John), how he talked about it being 10 days (or was it 2 weeks?) ago when they got the point in the tie vs the Isles and how they felt the season might be turning. I’m thinking: Tim – that was less than a week, and 4 games ago. This must have been the longest most-torturous journey to get to 15 points they’ve ever experienced. That comment really brought that home.
Hey you know what – I’m getting spellcheck in my comments now with Chrome. How cool is that?
Hurricanes Hockey: Never for the faint of heart.
by hockeymomof2 on Nov 22, 2009 3:00 PM EST up reply actions
Please tell paladin about the spell check LOL!!! I’ve used Chrome for a long time, much easier to load pics especially on facebook.
Did you listen to the powerplay interview? He talked about how they always keep a poster with the standings and when they got to last place it got taken down, he said something along the lines of we know where we are, no need to be reminded. OUCH!
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -Winston Churchill
Quote for after the Kings game may have been something like...
If you are going to go through hell, keep going. – Winston Churchill
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -Winston Churchill
The view from 324
Bob’s Game Notes capture most of the statistical elements of the game worth noting (and there were many).
Good effort throughout with the only noticeable sags occurring after the first goal and at the beginning of the third. Good rebound on the first incident and eventually adjusted for the second incident.
Told elskling that anytime you have Chad LaRose, a Finn, and your goalie as the three stars, it means you just saw a great game. :-D
By the way, I am a fan of the Finns…just as many as we want to acquire. Seems to magnify the impact of any one of them when clustered together in groups of three (or more?).
Manny Legace joked after the game that the puck went in off of his big butt
I dont know how I missed that earlier, LMAO!!!
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -Winston Churchill
His post-game interviews are a breath of fresh air. I know there is a lot of support for Leighton (which I share!), but I can see this guy paired with Cam could be magic. He is like a goalie version of LaRose compared to Cam’s I-only-speak-in-sports-cliches Staal. Wardo might just like that guarding his back.
Or maybe a little like Forslund and Tripp (which I then compare to Abbott and Costello for you old-timers) without Tripp’s chronic foot-in-mouth disease.
Hurricanes Hockey: Never for the faint of heart.
by hockeymomof2 on Nov 22, 2009 2:52 PM EST up reply actions
I like Legace’s attitude as a whole. I have a lot of respect for guys who take the blame for mistakes on the ice instead of either passing them off on their teammates or skirting around them entirely. Add in the fact that he has some personality and he’s good in my book.
I agree, his personality fits in perfectly to balance out those who “lack” in that dept.
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -Winston Churchill
when people ask why i'm a fan of his
it’s definitely not for looks, and maybe not even skill so much, but the funny ass shit he says is awesome – tis why i am a fan of his.
"It’s a brand new day
And the sun is high
All the birds are singing
That you’re gonna die" ~ Dr. Horrible
Well hot damn! I take a weekend off and our boys go streaking on me! Let’s keep it up Canes!!
Still not a crook!
No offense or anything, but maybe you should really just get out of here…
;-)
by Andrea's evil twin on Nov 23, 2009 9:05 AM EST up reply actions
I second the opinion
To all so I don’t offend individually:
If you notice that the Canes are winning since you’ve stopped watching, please continue your fair-weather fan ways.
1: As a fair weather fan you don’t belong here.
2: The Canes are winning without your whining.
3: ’Nough said.
;-D
When all else fails, read the instruction manual.
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