Murderers’ Row: Canes Host Rested Penguins A Day After Loss To Capitals
by Cory Lavalette on Mar 11, 2010 11:29 AM EST
59 comments
The Carolina Hurricanes perfromed well in their matchup with Eastern Conference frontrunner Washington last night, falling in overtime in a Southeast Division battle. Tonight they return home — and things don't get easier. Waiting for them are the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, who are well rested and haven't played since Sunday’s 2-1 win over Boston.
The Penguins made a few moves leading up to the NHL's trade deadline, acquiring winger Alexei Ponikarovsky and defenseman Jordan Leopold for the stretch run. One player they didn't get was Carolina’s Ray Whitney, who considered by many to be an ideal fit for the Penguins, instead settling on Ponikarovsky.
This is the third of four meetings this season between the two teams, with Carolina netting three of a possible four points so far. The 3-2 win Dec.7 was the Hurricanes’ first road win of the season, snapping a 13-game losing streak away from the RBC Center that greatly contributed to where the Hurricanes sit in the standings in mid-March.
Whitney has been a Pens killer so far this season, notching two-point games in each of the previous matchups. He had two third-period goals in the eventual 3-2 shootout loss Oct. 14, then had a goal — the game-winner — and an assist in the aforementioned streak-breaking road win. For Pittsburgh, grinder Michael Rupp has scored in both games, two of his 12 tallies on the season.
Expect Carolina coach Paul Maurice to start with the same lines as last night. Rookie Justin Peters will be in net, trying to bounce back from his first NHL loss, a 4-1 defeat against Florida Saturday night, after winning his first three outings. Here are the likely lines:
- Staal-Whitney-Jokinen
- Sutter-Ruutu-LaRose
- Dwyer-Boychuk- Kostopoulos
- Brind’Amour-Osala-Samsonov
- Gleason-Pothier
- Pitkanen-Carson
- Picard-Harrison
Don't be surprised if Oskar Osala, who played less than seven minutes in the Hurricanes’ debut last night, gets a longer look tonight. He did not make it to D.C. in time for yesterday’s morning skate, so having a game under his belt and time to meet with the coaches should make him more prepared.
The Penguins will likely have Marc-Andre Fleury in net. Matt Cooke, who faced suspension for Sunday’s brutal head shot on the Bruins’ Marc Savard, was spared any discipline and will be in the lineup for the Penguins.
For a Pittsburgh perspective, Pensburgh has their game preview up.
Game time is at 7 p.m. and it will be broadcasted in HD by FSN and on the radio by 99.9 The Fan.
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Cory, I apologize for this being…redundant, I guess, because I just posted it in the last section, but if Harrison plays the same way he did last night…do you think this gets us closer to possibly seeing McBain?
Can someone please get Manny a new shirt? He DESERVES one.
Mo coached Harrison with the Toronto Marlies and briefly with the Leafs as well. Harrison could score a hat trick into his own net and he’d still be on the team.
To expand: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0039912006.html
9 goals, 29 points, +10, 100PIM in 59 games under Mo. You can picture it going through Mo’s head now: “great defensively, physical, and a gifted goal scorer!”
I’m surprised he isn’t on the first powerplay unit yet.
He’d fit right up there with Cole now. Seeing him on the powerplay at point the other night kinda threw me off a bit.
Can someone please get Manny a new shirt? He DESERVES one.
Harrison and Cole man the points. Samsonov sets up shop in front of the goalie and jumps in an attempt to block his vision. Dwyer quarterbacks from the halfboards. And of course you need Brind’amour to win the face-off. Great powerplay unit. Someone needs to hire me.
The Mighty Ducks would have a better chance at scoring in that case.
Can someone please get Manny a new shirt? He DESERVES one.
No, that unit would be awesome. Harrison would use his deft play making skills to set up Cole for a one-timer that would get blocked or miss the net by twenty feet. You could also set up a backdoor play where Cole creeps in from the point to receive a pass from Dwyer, then shoots it right at the goalies chest.
LOL
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks Cole’s shot is terrible.
The worst shot belongs to Staal
I turn away every time he’s on a breakaway as I can’t watch.
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
The Art of the Deke
Honestly, there needs to be a “Learn to Deke” brownbag seminar given to several members of our team.
Do they not understand the simple physics of changing the angle of attack by moving the puck laterally before shooting?
Sheesh!
I just wanna make sure I got this right, a bunch of people who post on a hockey board now think they know more about how to score on an NHL goalie than a guy with a Stanley Cup Ring, a Gold Medal, multiple All star game appearances ( MVP in one of them), and 4 consecutive seasons at or over 30 goals?
There is that aspect to things and the irony of such comments. I would probably express the idea more as fans can see an area of various players’ skill sets that are not as strong as others. For example, is there any question that Cole tended to overuse his one patented move where he put the puck on the boards and tried then to go around the defender on the left. It was used so often it became ineffective. It is also a fair observation to note that Staal does not have the shake and bake moves of Jokinen — although I suggest both are world class hockey talents.
I happen to agree that some of the Hurricanes players really could work on improving the shiftiness of their moves. I can’t speak to hockey, but as far as basketball, other teammates would work with each other on specific moves. I have to believe that same thing goes on in hockey because it would be entirely illogical to leave it to happenstance.
I thought Cole improved his moves during this season when he was healthy. I assumed he had recognized that aspect of his game could use some attention. I suspect strongly that Staal will work on his break away and shoot out skills during the off-season. Still, one cannot escape the fact that speaking only for myself as between Staal and at least me, it is a joke to conclude anything other than the fact that Staal knows at least a million times more about hockey than me — even giving me all benefit of the doubt.
I don’t particularly think anyone here is trying to audition for a coaching job. Most times, the idea of comments are people’s opinions. Like I said in a previous post a while back…I actually am a big Cole fan, but he is definitely not the same player he used to be.
Nobody here I think is trying to say they know how to score more than Staal does. However, even a casual observer can tell that he seems to be a little off in the last few games.
Can someone please get Manny a new shirt? He DESERVES one.
Arm Chair Hockey Players
It’s pretty easy commenting from the stands or while watching a tv. From my experience most hockey fans either can’t play or can barely play, so it’s kind of funny that someone who’s never really played the game can give advice about playing hockey to a world class hockey player.
FWIW, I know that post came off as harsh. Player bashing is a popular thing among today’s fans. I am guilty of it myself. I just wish we could ease up on it a little. It just seems like some folks on here pick a goat on our team and flog that goat endlessly.
Staal’s shootout percentage: 16.67%
Jokinen’s shootout percentage: 54.17 %
Source is here.
Staal can be found on the “lowest percentage” list.
Jokinen on the “highest percentage” list.
To blindly state he doesn’t need any work or improvement in this area is…well, just uninformed opinion. He does.
"Art of deke"
They all work on shootouts, some are just better than others – Jokinen. If you run the same stat league wide you’ll see most are >50%. Ovie is 14.3%, he should probably practice shootouts more.
Heard someone claim on Versus the other night that the average penalty shot success rate was about one-third of the time, but there you can get players of varying skill levels.
Haven’t heard an “average” success rate for the shootout shot.
And, yes, Ovechkin struggles with this shot, also. Maybe because it’s happening too “slowly” for him. :-D
shoot out percentage does not equal what kind of a shot you have. There is more to a shot than just how well you shoot on a breakaway. I think I can point to the fact that Staal won the skills comp one year for accuracy shooting to say that his shot is better than you would indicate.
As far as the deke argument goes, I would say being able to execute a good deke is more to do with stickhandling than shooting.
Worst shot on the team belongs to one of the top goal scorers in the league over the past few years
I’d say we are in pretty good shape then.
I hardly think he’s the worst shot on the team.
Can someone please get Manny a new shirt? He DESERVES one.
Cory is off this afternoon, so I’ll toss out my 2 cents.
It’s hard to tell exactly when McBain will be up, but I don’t think Harrison’s play, good or bad, will dictate when Jamie is brought to Raleigh. Perhaps if someone gets injured, they will have no choice but to recall him, but I think the organization is trying their best to be patient and allow him to develop as much as possible in the AHL. His improvement in just the past couple of months has been significant.
GM of CanesCountry.com
he will come up
when we are mathematically out , then sent back down for the calder playoffs
It is unbelievable to me that a serial offender like Matt Cooke was not suspended for that hit.
Lest anyone forget, he also took Cole out of the playoffs last year with a clear knee-to-knee hit that was quite dirty as well. The list with Cooke goes on and on and on. I thought he was exactly the kind of goon that the NHL was trying to crack down on. Guess he is just wearing the right jersey.
He also gave Walker a concussion last year with a hit to the head with Walker not even having the puck. Was suspended two games for that.
Also, good work by the NHL so that the new blindside hit rule won’t be in effect until next season (unless I am mistaken). Which means that Cooke could deliver the same hit on a Hurricane player tonight and face no penalty or punishment. Sigh.
It’s not so much that Cooke is wearing the right jersey, he just has the right teammate. If Crosby were on the Predators they’d be one of the most highly touted franchises in the league.
Of course, we all know the NHL would’ve never let that happen……………………..dot dot dot
I imagine if he hit Crosby the exact same way he hit Savard, there would be different consequences.
GM of CanesCountry.com
Can't Make Sid Cry
If Matt Cooke were suspended, Sid would cry. NHL can’t have that. Campbell apparently just forgot that Cooke had indeed been suspended for a similar hit against Anisimov. So it was a two game suspension when Cooke blindsided Anisimov without the puck; but it is just fine that Cooke obviously thought a two game suspension was a joke and continued the same illegal and intentional pattern of cheap shots that were and are intended to injure another player. What a hypocrite Campbell is.
- Spector’s Hockey SpectorsHockey
Cooke blindsides Anisimov. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXixraReToU It’s the same hit as what he laid out on Savard.
Thanks for even more examples.
As Go_Shelf pointed out just below, Cooke also is hesitant to defend his own actions on the ice.
It seems this is exactly the kind of player the NHL is gunning for. Goons who serve no purpose than to intimidate and injure. Colin Campbell’s spinng wheel of justice strikes again.
Get your facts straight
I’m never one to defend Sidney Crosby but what you said is baseless and actually opposite of what he actually said about the hit. Sounds to me like he thinks Cooke should be suspended.
Crosby could stop the dangerous play by Cooke in a heart beat. He has the gravitas with the team and the organization to end it. I am convinced Staal, Gleason, Ruutu, Whitney, Brind’Amour, etc. would not tolerate having a player like Cooke who was nothing but a dirty chump. Nothing I have read by Crosby comes even close to leadership in acknowledging dirty hits whose goal is to injure an opposing player are without honor and are not going to be tolerated.
You’re basically pointing the finger at Crosby because of what you perceive to be his character. I personally don’t think his character is any more questionable than Staal’s or other leaders of the Canes. I don’t think anybody, not even Campbell can put a stop to dirty play in the NHL. Gretzky had the most influence on the game in it’s history and I’m sure he would have put a stop to cheap shots if he could have. Hockey has always been a violent sport and unless they take out the body contact completely, it will always be violent. Goons have been a part of hockey for a long time and unless GM’s don’t give them jobs, then hockey will always have goons. Only the GMs and the NHL brass can remove cheap shots from the game, not Crosby or any one player.
Hit
The NHL was in a tough spot with this one, the hit was questionable at best and they don’t have a rule on the books that really defines the hit as punishable. You don’t have to sell me on the fact that it was vicious, he had had intent to injure, and this is something he’s done pretty much his whole career. Cooke’s a punk and deserves to be sh*t kicked. Probably the worst thing about him is when it comes time to pay the toll, he won’t drop his gloves. They need to kill the instigator penalty.
A lot of Vancouver Canuck fans hated Cooke, while Cooke was still on their team. Track down some of their stories on Cooke, pretty amusing.
They say ex-Cane Darren Langdon when still with Vancouver, beat-up Cooke at a Canuck practice, nobody stepped in to break it up.
Eric Staal...Team Canada first line
by drifterscape on Mar 11, 2010 3:48 PM EST up reply actions
I don’t understand why it takes a fight to get on the rink justice. For example, again using the sport of football, if an opposing player lacked respect and kept making dirty hits, we’d take his name. At some point during a game, he’d get set up and destroyed by a double-team — usually one high, one low. There are so many decent opportunities to lay an opposing player to waste with clean but vicious hits. It seems odd that other teams haven’t marked Cooke as a player for whom the rules of engagement are that anything goes. It is not a one way street in which Cooke gets to deliver all the hits which are clearly designed to injure. Cooke has removed honor from his vocabulary. He ought to sustain the same degree of ruthless mayhem he himself caused. As it is now, there are no on the ice consequences for his dangerous play.
football is different than hockey. the plays are different. the # of people on the playing surface is different. there are different rules. just cant compare the 2.
“i dont understand why it takes a fight to get on the rink justice.” - Might just be me on this, but it is much more fun for me to watch 2 players go mono-e-mono to settle an issue like that, than leave it up to the commish to suspend the player.
Take Ruutu’s hit earlier this year on Tucker. It was a bad hit. Tuomo knew it, and next time the 2 were on the ice, they “settled the score”. Tuomo was suspended, but suspensions dont “even things up” in the minds of the players (or the eyes of this fan).
I was making a different point. I would much rather see Cooke get hammered with the same legal shoulder to head shot, and the same legal knee to knee contact, that Cooke has dealt to other people. According to Campbell right now those plays were perfectly legal. If so, those plays are without the bounds of proper play. Cooke should receive the same on ice lack of respect for other players’ safety that he shows. Until Cooke incurs significant on ice consequences with hits, he clearly has no intention of altering his behavior. The NHL has no spine to deal with Cooke, so the players ought to.
A few important details:
In the Anisimov hit Cooke left his skates, something he clearly did not do in the Savard hit, leaving your skates is one of the things that can cause an “Intent to injury penalty”.
According to current league rules his hit was legal, hate it all you want (I do not like that personaly aswel) but you can not suspend a player for a legal hit.
His “repeat offender” status is of no importance until it’s determined a suspendable action has occurred, in other words it only affects the eventual length of the suspension not if there should b e one.
Savard shot the puck .3 sec before the hit, given the speed of human reaction he had the puck for all intents and purpose, Savard also changed his shoulder alignment making the shot, which could very well be the sole reason Cooke hit his head and not his shoulder, once again creating a very good argument against “Intent to injure” since you can’t read a players mind and such intent can only be determind from the outside if there is no reasonable doubt. (See Bertuzzi, Cormier for example.)
To those wearing tinfoil hats: As you yourself pointed out cooke has been suspended before when he was wearing a Pens jearsey, if he is not suspended now for the hit becasue of the “Bettman Conspiracy” , why was he suspended before?
To those pointing the finger at Sid: your unreasonable hate for a single player is getting very, very old, he showed this year once again that he is a great leader who excels at every facet of this game and continious to improve his already fantastic skills yearly. Stop wasting your time and enjoy one of the worlds most talented players today.
Anyhow, just my 2 cents.
There is a knack to flying: it's learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
by Sid the captain on Mar 11, 2010 7:03 PM EST up reply actions
I may be one of the minority of Hurricanes fans who likes Crosby and think he is a player of astonishing ability. My Sid will cry comment was intended to be directed toward Bettman and Campbell who seem to want Crosby to play in a magical bubble where no harm may befall him. With respect to leadership on the head shots and dirty shots by Cooke, I challenge anybody to try to defend the classless and cowardly history of Cooke. Cooke’s misconduct and thuggery is well-documented at You Tube.
Crosby really needs to step up his leadership with regard to Cooke’s play. By contrast Bill Guerin deserves praise for his response to Matt Cooke in general and head hits in particular. Here are some quotes from just one of the articles:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2010/03/11/guerin_cooke/?utm_source=Hockey+lineup+RSS-Images&utm_medium=feed&utm_content=Guerin%3A+NHL+should+ban+head+shots+like+Cooke's?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily&utm_region=east
Guerin: NHL should ban hits like Cooke’s
Guerin expected Cooke to be suspended.
“If a guy gets hurt like that with a shot to the head, there’s got to be something,” Guerin said. "Actions happen.
“Guys don’t mean to hurt each other, but they do. You got to pay a price for that.”
Guerin said players must know they can play the game with protection against hits to the head, especially those that a player can’t see coming.
“We’re all under the same umbrella, whether the guy’s on my team and I’m sitting right next to him or he’s playing in California,” Guerin said. "It doesn’t matter. We’re all playing in the same league.
“We all want the same safety. We all want to be looked after the same way. I understand he (Cooke) is on my team but, hey, he’s in a tough spot.”
I just watched the hit...
WOW…that was brutal…no matter how you look at it.
"If me and King Kong went into an alley, only one of us would come out. And it wouldn't be the monkey."
"I don't really trust a sane person."
"I never met a man I didn't want to fight." The one and only Lyle Alzado
Speaking of "Cook"
Who’s going to the Backyard Bistro today before the game?
If you do, look for me, 5’7" brown shorts, Number 12 Red Staal sweater before he was even an alternate captain.
The wife will be with me.
If the guys and gals who brought you the financial meltdown deserve big bonuses, where do I sign up?
Rocking the new Gleason alt home jersey tonight…ordered it in December and finally here.
Myyyyyy defenseman has a first name,
It’s T-I-M-M-M,
my defenseman has a second name,
It’s G-L-E-A-SON,
Ooo we love to play him every day,
And if you ask me why I’ll sayyyyyyy,
Cause Matty Cooke won’t have a chance
When Timmy kicks him in the pants.
!
replay of overtime
they showed a replay from behind our own goal… look at it again!
somebody please tell me which player is lazily coming back to help out the defence on a 3 on 2!!!
the player on the left of the screen!!
he wears a 12 on his jersey.
aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!
our captain has to get back to help out !!
Against the Pens, Staal was on the ice and helped set up the winning goal in overtime by realizing Whitney was making a pass to somebody else (Pothier) and then hustling to screen the goalie. I agree that Staal needs to be that guy who never glides to the back check or off the ice on a shift. As the franchise player and captain, he sets the tone. It’s a process of maturing and it will come; but when a team’s franchise player is the hardest working player on and off the ice, it sets a standard for the rest of the team.
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