Reunited --- Hurricanes at Capitals, Game Day Preview
by Bob Wage on Mar 10, 2010 2:13 PM EST
45 comments
The surging Carolina Hurricanes, (27-31-7) will have a good opportunity to see exactly how far they have come this season as they take on the Eastern Conference leading Washington Capitals, (44-13-9) tonight at the Verizon Center.
The Canes have been one of the hottest teams in the league during the last month or so and have won eight of their last nine games, as well as 13 of their last 17. The Caps have been one of the best teams in the NHL all season long and are almost unbeatable at home, although Carolina did win the last time the club visited the Nation's Capital.
The game also marks the first time the teams have met since last week's trade deadline deals were completed which had each respective franchise swap a couple of players each.
Scott Walker and Joe Corvo will face their old buds while Brian Pothier and Oskar Osala will go against the franchise which, more or less, gave them up for a short term improvement. Depending upon the circumstances regarding each player's departure, the athletes could use a matchup like this one as extra motivation.
For instance, feeling somewhat slighted by one particular ex-franchise, Corvo always used to love to face the Ottawa Senators and lit them up for a hat trick his first game against them. Although according to reports, the defenseman has yet to play up to his potential with his new team.
Walker, on the otherhand, scored two goals in his fIrst game with the Caps and seems to have fit right in.
Pothier has been a steady presence so far and seems to like the "simple" system in Carolina. On more than one occasion he has commented about how the forwards "back-pressure" here. Perhaps he is not used to that phenomenon?
The Hurricanes needed to recall newly acquired forward, Oskar Osala from Albany today. Erik Cole has flu-like symptoms and will not play in tonight's contest.
Osala should fit in very nicely with the team's other Finnish players, Joni Pitkanen, Jussi Jokinen, and Tuomo Ruutu. This will be the third NHL appearance for the youngster, although it will be his first this season. He has yet to tally an NHL point.
Look for the lines to be as follows:
- Staal, Whitney, Jokinen
- Sutter, Ruutu, LaRose
- Dwyer, Boychuk, Kostopoulos
- Brind'Amour, Osala, Samsonov
- Gleason, Pothier
- Pitkanen, Carson
- Picard, Harrison
Manny Legace will face Jose Theodore between the pipes.
Legace has won his last five starts and is coming off a 4-0 shutout of the Atlanta Thrashers.
Brandon Sutter is riding a six game point streak. (4G 4A). Leading scorer Jussi Jokinen has points in 18 of Carolina's last 22 games. (15G 13A).
The Capitals lost their last game in a shootout to the Dallas Stars on Monday. If you want more Washington information, check out JP's blog over at Japers' Rink.
The teams have met three times so far this season with the Caps winning two of them, 3-2 (in Raleigh), and 4-3 (in OT in Washington). The Canes won the last matchup in Washington by a 6-3 score on 12/23.
The game will be televised locally by FS Carolinas starting at 7 p.m. We will have the open thread ready for action at 6:30.
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I wonder how many times an NHL team has fielded four Finns in the lineup at the same time before.
Tonight will be quite the Finn-omenon.
Sees the world through ruuu-colored glasses...
Sisu
Minnesota has quite a few Finns in their system… ours are better though.
by silent_shadow36 on Mar 10, 2010 2:27 PM EST up reply actions
I say in honor of the Finns, we break out every Finnish pun we have tonight. Let’s get some creative juices flowing!
Can someone please get Manny a new shirt? He DESERVES one.
Lets Finnish this
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
Ducks and Flyers have four on their rosters if you include their two-way contracts.
http://www.nhlfinns.com/contracts.aspx
Sees the world through ruuu-colored glasses...
Sisu
Finntasmic!
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
Finnderful!
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
So since this is his first action this season, if he does well…is this a Finn-derela story?
Can someone please get Manny a new shirt? He DESERVES one.
They can now refer to the Canes bench as the Finn Bin ?
Olympian Tim Gleason in Vancouver: "I don’t care what anybody says, to watch an exciting hockey game, there’s nothing like it."
by hockeymomof2 on Mar 10, 2010 4:03 PM EST up reply actions
Finnmirable, Finntonishing, Finnmendous, Finnsational, Finnbulous, Finnnamite…
by silent_shadow36 on Mar 10, 2010 4:18 PM EST up reply actions
Finnplosive, Finn-a-muck, Finnanator, Finnator…..
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
Efinn ovechkin sucks?
A
Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors
We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately
When you're Finnished here
don’t quit your day job.
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
Hakkaa Paalle!
Olympian Tim Gleason in Vancouver: "I don’t care what anybody says, to watch an exciting hockey game, there’s nothing like it."
Do you think the Canes have a
Finnisher who can Finnish off the Caps?
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
Off of the Finns for a moment.....
I hate to say this but the next two games, the Caps and the Pens will set the tone for the Canes.
They don’t have much, if any, wiggle room on a quest for delaying good tee times.
GO CANES GO!
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
Osala and Opportunity
I am really looking forward to seeing how Osala responds to this chance. I have been very impressed with his play and am enthusiastic about his potential. I would love to see a fourth line next year of Osala/Dwyer/Kostopoulos and would like to see how Osala does on the power play in terms of playing with his back to the goalie.
Does anyone think Corvo feels slighted by the Canes
Now, I can see A Ward feeling slighted (and I can’t blame him) from the Canes and most notably the fans, but what about Corvo?
Is he nursing a grudge vs the Canes? I don’t think so. I can even imagine him coming back next season but WTF do I know?
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
I think Corvo would have to see the value that we got for him, and he went to a contender (probably the front runner as of now despite ?? at goal).
I don’t see how he could feel slighted and I hope he isn’t
by CarolinaCanes on Mar 10, 2010 4:44 PM EST up reply actions
Agreed. Corvo went to the top-seeded team in the East.
Ward went to the team that now sits 13th in the West and is seven points out of a playoff spot.
Notice how everyone one we traded went to a team that is pretty much a sure bet to make the playoffs…except Ward? I don’t think that is a coincidence.
Aaron Ward
I read someplace that Aaron Ward supposedly said he felt slighted by the fans. No kidding. Did he expect a parade in his name? It spoke volumes to me that he was so worried about his emotional state of mind rather than the fact that his pathetic play at the start of the season really hurt his teammates. I thought his reaction of “they were mean to me” was exceptionally egocentric.
does raleigh have a sister city in finland !?!
does anybody know
No, there are four:
Compiègne, France – Hull, United Kingdom – Rostock, Germany – Kolomna, Russia.
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
per Wiki
Raleigh has several sister cities:3637
Compiègne, France.
Hull, United Kingdom.
Rostock, Germany.
Kolomna, Russia.
by CarolinaCanes on Mar 10, 2010 4:45 PM EST up reply actions
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