Home Woes Continue - Bruins 5, Canes 1
by Bob Wage on Feb 18, 2009 2:44 AM EST
in Hurricanes Game Related
12 comments
The Hurricanes celebrated the retirement of Glen Wesley's jersey, as well as a third straight RBC sell out, with their third straight loss at home last night. After playing a pretty tight game throughout most of the affair, they faltered and gave up three goals in the final four minutes en route to a 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins.
The night started out well as the tribute for Wesley was emotional. After "number 2" was lifted to the rafters and the defenseman skated one more time around the rink while waving goodbye to fans, his family closed out the affair as they sang the "National Anthem" together.
The hockey game also started out well. About half way through the first period, Ray Whitney made a nice move and fed the puck perfectly to Matt Cullen, who one-timed it past Tim Thomas. Unfortunately for Carolina, the lead was short-lived as Blake Wheeler stuffed in a powerplay goal just six minutes later to tie the contest up.
The second period was pretty even except for a goal by Shane Hnidy. The defenseman threw a weak knuckler at net which somehow evaded Cam Ward and the Bruins had the lead they wanted, and the only lead they needed.
Once again the third period was pretty even and the Hurricanes might have had the jump at times, but they could not find the back of the net. Finally with less than seven minutes left, the Canes had a powerplay opportunity when Mark Stuart was called for a crosscheck. The advantage was quickly negated though when Tuomo Ruutu earned a holding penalty right off of the ensuing faceoff.
But during the four-on-four sequence, Chuck Kobasew was called for hooking, and the Canes had a 44 second, 4-on-3 advantage. During the all important powerplay, Ray Whitney, Rod Brind'Amour, Eric Staal, and Dennis Seidenberg were on the ice, and try as they might, they could not get a single shot on goal. When Stuart and Ruutu returned to the ice, the Canes still could not get a shot through. But Boston did.
After a mishap handling the puck at the blueline, David Krejci stole the puck and cruised in for a shorthanded attempt. He faked out Ward and backhanded the puck past him, sealing the game for the visitors and putting a dagger into the hearts of the Hurricanes faithful.
Exactly a minute later, the Bruins scored yet again on another powerplay, making the score 4-1. Then for some unknown reason, Paul Maurice pulled his goalie and Patrice Bergeron skated the length of the rink untouched and flicked the puck into the empty net with less than a minute to go to complete the embarrassment. It was the third game in a row at home that the Hurricanes allowed five goals.
Game Notes:
One might ask why Rod Brind'Amour was on the ice for the all important 4-on-3 advantage? Is he now one of the top three powerplay forwards on the team? The captain has not scored a goal in about two months and recently missed time due to some unknown ailment. In the meantime, red-hot Matt Cullen sat the bench for the entire sequence.
When your best players are not on the ice during crucial situations, it should be no surprise when you fail to succeed. Cullen had jump, he had already scored a nice goal, and he should have been on the ice with the game on the line.
It was a bad night to be a Carolina defensemen. Joe Corvo was crushed by a hard hit and needed help to get up. He returned to the ice after gathering his senses in the dressingroom. Joni Pitkanen was injured, but also attempted to return. Niclas Wallin was hit in the face, was bleeding profusely, and also had to leave.
After the game, Paul Maurice said that both Pitkanen and Corvo were all right, but Wallin's situation was unknown.
Tuomo Ruutu led the team with 5 blocked shots, which is a bit unusual for a forward. Pitkanen, Babchuk, and Seidenberg each had 3. Did the scorer make a mistake?
Eric Staal led the Canes with 5 shots on goal. Corvo and Seidenberg had 4 each.
The Hurricanes fialed to register a single shot on goal during 6 powerplay opportunities. They allowed two powerplay goals against them as well as a "shortie". Needless to say, special team play was not very special.
Ray Whitney mentioned after the game that it was "humiliating" losing like this on home ice. "It's not nice hearing the boos, but it is warranted". Hopefully, the Canes won't be hearing more boos come Friday night when they return to the RBC once again.
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I just don’t get it. When are they going to learn that the perfect shot is not always going to materialize. To score in this league you have to get traffic in front of the net and fight for it. A goalie like Thomas is almost always going to see it, and if he see it, it is in his freakin glove. It seemed like Boston always had someone parked in front of Ward, and no one, including ward, seemed to care about clearing him out. This team is soft and has no fight. My suggestion is that we start rebuilding now. We are obviously going to miss this year, and if we don’t change the core fiber of this club soon, we are going to be sitting here in the 9 or 10 spot next February as well.
Ward gave up two soft goals. Can’t help but wonder if he meeds a break.
Thomas, on the other hand was outstanding.
Our D are getting killed because we have almost no one to make the other team pay
a physical price except Ruutu and Walker (he’s hurt) and Gleason (he’s hurt too).
Bring up Conboy and someone else who is willing to bang and forecheck.
Eaves is doing nothing except taking up space; same for Bayda.
I hate to say it but we are done …..
Can the Canes play every game on the road? Outscored 15-2 the last three games at home. FIFTEEN TO TWO!!!!!!!
Pack it in Canes, when you can’t get it up for the first sell outs in months, its time to pack it in for the season. The fans sure as hell will when they show up for performances such as these.
Somewhat Disagree
I somewhat disagree on your assessments of Ward. Now I am not saying that he had his best performance ever but I do think he played good enough to give his team a chance to win. Thats all you can ask out of a goalie who is playing against the #1 team in the NHL right?
Also, the second goal was a deflection off of Brind’Amour skate so I dont know how you can say that it was a soft goal or anything else.
The shorthanded goal though I think Ward would like to have back. Seidenberg did a good job pushing him to the outside(even though he couldnt catch him) and he just got beat short side which a goalie never wants to let happen.
The team overall I thought looked decent until the last 10 minutes. Someone here at work even said, we are small and slow for the most part compared to most teams. I think I might have to agree.
From my view point our team didn’t look horrible until the last 1/4 of the 3rd period (say that ten times fast)…. Once the B’s scored the shorthanded goal the demeanor of the entire team changed…. at that point it was evident that the guys were throwing in the towel on the night…..
by Mateos_Canes_Lamp on Feb 18, 2009 10:24 AM EST reply actions
I'm gonna flat out disagree
From up up 334 I saw the ‘Canes own the first period, period. Cam let in the second goal and the wind left the ’Canes world. I think he then played a great game until the end. The team lightened up and we had a D get pounded. LaRose was on drugs or something, he was phuking with Chara all night, Chara craps bigger things than him, but that kid’s got sand. Not sure what Eaves you guys were watching, but I though he had a good game. Cullen had a hard time sttaying on his feet but was the best man on our team, again. Staal while not uber bad, ain’t earning his nickels. He needs to average a point a game or better. About the halfway mark the B’s knew if they played rough we’d lay down. We did, they won. As for leaving early, if you were dumb enough to say, your masochism is is getting the better of you. ‘Course me and 16,000 others blazed. We don’t support losers, someone better figure trhis out. We shoulda won this one, they just ran out of steam. We had a few really good chances, but our guys had sponges for sticks. I think the locker room still has issues and Staal and Brindy are involved. Your captain and best guys have to show up and play at the top level. I watched first hand and know who I have respect for on this team. 2 weeks until the trade dead line. We have a an interesting spot. We need goal scoerers, our secondary guys have carried us all year. This has to change. If we would of answered the soft second goal I bet we would have won the game. The last few minutes crap is about the worst display I have suffered through. I hope the team looked in the mirror and puked.
A
I agree with most of your assessments on the players. I still dont think the second goal was a “soft” one but whatever. These guys are professionals, a goal shouldnt let the wind out of their sails! Plus they should be used to going down a goal or two by now.
I think we need size on our team! When you have mini me Chara, chad larose trying to be the tough guy on the team you have a problem. Size and guts is something we need to trade for. Get rid of a few good players for a solid player with size and speed!
Yesterdays game was the first game I have ever left early from (and that includes the Florida game last week and some other very disappointing games this season). I agree that most of yesterdays game wasn’t overly painful, but the last 10 minutes were and I just can’t handle it anymore. Whitney summed it up best by saying that losing like that is humiliating – I have a hard time watching people humiliate themselves.
I just don’t know how much more of this season I can watch.
by Andrea's evil twin on Feb 18, 2009 3:44 PM EST up reply actions
you know I think if we just sucked outright, it would be so much easier to handle, but we beat a team like San Jose in their own barn but then get blown out in three straight sold out games at home? It is starting to get to the point that I just can’t cope. Ever since they brought MO back it has felt like you never know what crazy thing is going to happen. Are we going to beat one the leagues elite? or are we going to get shutout by a basement dweller? Are we going to go on a run and win a bunch in a row, or are we going to lose for 5 games straight. Do e we score 10 in the first period only to give up 11 unanswered in the next 2?
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