Sens Chase Ward and Top Canes, 4-2
by Bob Wage on Feb 24, 2009 11:09 PM EST
in Hurricanes Game Related
14 comments
The Ottawa Senators scored three goals on just nine shots in the decisive first period, and the home team held on the rest of the way to defeat Carolina, 4-2. The Canes out-shot the Sens in each and every period and ended up with a total of 43 shots on goal compared to 22 for Ottawa.
The Hurricanes brought out Michael Leighton to start the second period giving Cam Ward the rest of the night off, but during the very first powerplay chance for the Sens, Jason Spezza buried another shot making the score 4-1, and for all intents and purposes put the game out of reach.
In fairness to Ward he made a couple of decent saves to start off the game, plus the Canes had several defensive breakdowns, but Mike Comrie faked him out and made him look bad just 11 clicks before the end of the period and that would be enough for the frustrated goalie.
Dany Heatley started off the scoring on a nice pass from Daniel Alfredsson. But Patrick Eaves was able to answer that tally just 17 seconds later when he beat Alex Auld on the short side. Then just 29 seconds after that, somehow Chris Kelly found himself all alone and he put the Senators back in front, 2-1. Next came Comrie's goal and Spezza's back-breaker.
With the score 4-1 and with the Canes scrambling on the powerplay late in the second period, Anton Babchuk blasted in a shot from the top of the circle to give Caniacs some hope, but that would be the last time Auld would allow a goal.
The Hurricanes would fire 16 more shots on target in the final period, but there would be no more scoring. The team will have to put the disappointment of the loss behind them quickly because they face a Buffalo squad on Thursday night for an even more important game.
Game Notes:
The Canes blew a perfect opportunity because both Buffalo and Florida lost and they could have hopped over their two rivals in the standings. Now this loss places even more importance on the game Thursday night against the Sabres, who will be missing their best two players, Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek.
Anton Babchuk had a pretty decent game. He played almost 23 minutes, scored a powerplay goal, broke up a couple of odd man rushes, and finished with a plus/minus of "even" for the night.
Coach Paul Maurice tinkered with the lines, exchanging Ray Whitney with Sergei Samsonov. Will he keep tinkering, or switch the lines back the way they were? Keep in mind, the Canes scored 15 goals in the previous three games after having a rough time scoring most of the season.
Carolina won a paltry 37% of their faceoffs with Staal winning 33%, Cullen 42%, and Brind'Amour 43%.
Eric Staal once again led the team with 9 shots on goal. He remains second in the NHL at that stat, second only to "Alexander the Great."
Tuomo Ruutu, Tim Gleason, and Nic Wallin led the team with 3 hits each. Mike Fisher had 8 for Ottawa.
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at least BUF & FLA lost in regulation, too ….
CanesCountry.com: An Eye On Carolina Hockey
by Cory Lavalette on Feb 24, 2009 11:52 PM EST reply actions
you know.. every time the ‘Canes gain some ground..they find a new way to look bad. Eric Staal should take a game or two off and go into some breakaway training.. he should’ve made the game 1-0(early in the first, breakaway chance) but instead he just takes a weak shot on goal with nothing to show for it! I’m with ya on that comment too janeybell.. Cam was like a mile out of the crease on that Comrie goal, I’ve said it before.. it’s like some games, the guys are on a mental vacation.. keep up the bad play and their wishes may come true!
by 3yrsnoplayoffs? on Feb 25, 2009 9:33 AM EST reply actions
Yup
kumyfukty fgttr#@!$#8yvujYT$#&(*yi7gtuFU45$#wghcy47*U^&57676R$&Ter5ey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Dammit!!!
A
Janeybell, look at Cams stats over the years and consider his age before you give up on him…….I wrestled with the love/hate relationship too, but like I said consider his stats…..
05/06 — 3.58 and .882
06/07 — 2.93 and .897
07/08 — 2.78 and .904
08/09 — 2.59 and .908
maybe next year will be 2.40 and 9.12, and then the year after who know what?
Compare with “King Henrik” in NY
05/06 — 2.24 and .922
06/07 — 2.34 and .917
07/08 — 2.23 and .912
08/09 — 2.57 and .913
maybe next year will be 2.80 and .905?
What Im getting at is you at least cant say Cams getting worse, and at least hes improving each year. 2 shutouts in 06/07, 4 shutouts in 07/08, 4 already this year with 21 games left. All this with a team not known for their defense. Can you imagine the numbers he’d put up in NJ, or MINN, or ANA? The defense left him out to dry last night. Wouldnt you hate to ship him off and see him post 2.40 and 9.15 with 8 shutouts for someone else next year?
The issue, to me, is that Carolina is not NJ….unless JR and PK are going to pony up the cash to put together a blueline like theirs’, we can’t afford to wait around a couple more years for Cam to gradually get better. I’m not giving up on him completely, but I have long since given up on him as deserving the number one spot as soon as he got it.
I def agree with the on the fact that he needed to wait, but I think this year he earned his right to the Num 1 spot, I was unsure coming in, but he’s earned in in my opinion. But yea he could of used a couple more years to develop.
I agree – I think he’s definitely a no. 1 goalie and is still developing (obviously there is room to improve). Every goalie has an off-night, it’s just that it makes a bigger difference in the win/lose column when the team in front of him a) doesn’t keep quality chances away from him, and b) doesn’t score enough to compensate for the mistakes he makes on his off-night.
by Andrea's evil twin on Feb 25, 2009 5:03 PM EST up reply actions
Personally I think ya’ll need to calm down. Cam has a shutout one game and everyone thinks he’s the best, next game he lets in four goals (most of the time not he’s doing).
Even Mo said you can’t leave a goalie by himself, what do you think is going to happen.
Cam is way passed proving he’s the number one goalie and will be here for sometime.
So for all the Cam haters, if you hate him that much maybe you should pull for another team. Sometimes a team just gets beat, you can’t win them all. Look at the Sharks, do you really think they thought the Canes were going to beat them? NO. In the NHL any team can come out and beat any other team on any given night. GO CANES!
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