Lightning at Canes Game Preview
by Bob Wage on Feb 20, 2009 2:34 PM EST
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PrintThe Tampa Bay Lightning are in town to face the Carolina Hurricanes tonight for the second game of a back-to-back situation for each team. The Canes beat up the Islanders 6-2 in their game last night, while the Lightning lost to the Devils in a shootout, 3-2. It was the third straight loss for Tampa Bay and they have lost 8 of their last 10 contests. The Canes have lost three in a row at home by a combined score of 15-2, but have won four in a row on the road for the first time since the championship, 2005-06 season.
This will be the fifth meeting between the teams this year and the Hurricanes have prevailed each time, although every game was a close one.
Coach Paul Maurice said earlier today that he will stick with the same lineup of last night. Brandon Sutter is getting a little break and will be healthy scratched again. Joni Pitkanen will also sit this one out, but as a non-healthy scratch as will Scott Walker and Justin Williams.
The lines will be mixed but probably should look something like the following:
- Staal, Samsonov, Ruutu
- Cullen, Whitney, LaRose
- Brind'Amour, Eaves, Ryan
- Jokinen, Bayda, Conboy
- Corvo, Gleason
- Babchuk, Seidenberg
- Kaberle, Wallin
Once again, Cam Ward will be between the pipes.
Tampa Bay is suffering from a rash of injuries in their own right. Paul Ranger. Andrej Meszaros, and goalie Mike Smith are out, among others. Will Karri Ramo be in goal for them? Will Mark Recchi make his presence known like he always does against Carolina?
NHL Commisioner, Gary Bettman, will be in the house. The game starts at 7PM and will be broadcast locally again by FS Carolinas.
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come on!!
I gotta say I REALLY like our sec ond line. If the first line can pick it up a play like they are capable, we may win a few at home yet.
A
Also … Gary Roberts sat out the last game for “maintenance” but is expected to go tonight.
CanesCountry.com: An Eye On Carolina Hockey
Lol. What kind of “maintenance?”
Anyone have any reasoning behind Sutter being a healthy scratch? I’m not opposed to Conboy being in the lineup at all….just curious.
i do think that it is just rest. Boston is having the same problem with youngsters wearing out. Sutter is quite small and probably needs a break. I dont think that on a game to game basis conboy is a drop of from sutter. where the difference lies is in developement. Sutter is a piece of work so to speak so the more ice time the better.
We are getting beat up, i was at the boston game ( i know they are big) but we were beaten up at every opportunity. I like the change.
by CarolinaCanes on Feb 20, 2009 3:19 PM EST up reply actions
Carolinacanes is correct. This is what maurice said, taken from this article.
Sutter was a healthy scratch for the first time in his young career last night as Tim Conboy took his place in the lineup. Sutter hadn’t played over 10 minutes in a game since January 27 against the New York Rangers, and played a season-low 2:36 against Buffalo last week.
"In your first pro season practicing every day with men and playing against men, I think there’s a lot there," said Maurice. We’re looking at this potentially as something almost like what we did with Roddy, even though his was based on injury. We’re giving him a few days out of games to mentally relax and feel good again to put him in a better position to play
GM of CanesCountry.com
Yup
I’m thinking it’s the gas in Staals tank. He better get points with Sami and the Ru monster or we may be looking at a new number one line. I’m interested in how the fourth line will roll. I think Jussi should get bounced around, he knows these guys.
A
Did you guys miss last night’s game or something?
The 1st line came to play. Ruutu had that nifty little play off the back of the goal, and Staal had 2 G and 7 shots on goal. I know it hasn’t been on a consistent basis, but Staal has definitely been playing well lately. He put 2 goals up last night even though he was matched up against the Isles top D pair all night.
That's my point
“the gas in his tank” is that the second will produce night in and night out, so Staal can’t have any more slumps, he’s got one of best checkers and Sami is great on the puck. No more excuses, now is time for that kind of play every night. It’s no longer a wish, they showed they could do it to a shitty team, now they need to pony up and do that every night. That type of play and we would of won the Boston game.
I mean, I agree that Staal needs to bring it every night, I just disagree with the notion that the 1st line has been the problem with this team. The complete and utter lack of secondary scoring from lower lines has been the biggest problem on offense, IMO. This second line looks absolutely fantastic, and lately the Canes have been getting more guys going, like Cullen.
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