Justin Peters Back in Net Tonight: Hurricanes at Panthers, Game Day Preview
by Bob Wage on Mar 6, 2010 2:26 PM EST
27 comments
The red hot Carolina Hurricanes, (26-30-7) are ready to do battle with the Florida Panthers, (25-28-10) in a Southeast Division showdown tonight in Sunrise, Florida. The Canes are winners of their last seven games in a row and have a 12-3-0 record since January 21, the first game for the club since Eric Staal was named as team Captain.
Staal has 19 points during the successful 15 game stretch. The Hurricanes have out-scored their opponents 51-29 during that same time frame and special teams have excelled as the powerplay is 15-59 (25.4%) and the penalty kill is 51-55, (92.7%).
While the Canes currently find themselves only seven points out of a potential playoff spot, they remain in 14th position in the Eastern Conference and have several teams to climb over in order to get to where they want to be.
Tonight's game is very important because with a win, they can jump over at least one of those teams.
Justin Peters will put his undefeated record on the line tonight as the rookie will get the start against the Panthers. Manny Legace will start tomorrow in Atlanta.
Tomas Vokoun will be in net for Florida.
Carolina will go with the same lineup they used against Ottawa on Thursday night.
- Staal, Whitney, Jokinen
- Sutter, Ruutu, LaRose
- Dwyer, Cole, Samsonov
- Brind'Amour, Kostopoulos, Boychuk
- Gleason, Pothier
- Pitkanen, Picard
- Carson, Harrison
Brandon Sutter has the longest current point streak going for the team and has points in four straight games.
The Panthers and Hurricanes have met five times already this season, with the home team prevailing in each contest. The visitors will be looking to break up that progression tonight.
Florida had lost seven games in a row before beating the Flyers, 7-4 on Wednesday night. They did not win a single game in the month of February.
Ex-Cane, Dennis Seidenberg was traded to Boston on trade deadline day, but Cory Stillman, a previous Cup winner with Carolina, is still in the mix.
For more Panthers information, check out our bud Donny over at The Litter Box.
The game will be televised by FS Carolinas starting at 7 (7:30). We will have the open game thread up and running at 6:30.
____
SB Nation's former hockey blog editor, Brandon Worley, recently accepted a new position blogging for NBC Sports over at Pro Hockey Talk. Congratulations to Brandon, as well as to our new boss, Travis Hughes, who will be taking over Worley's duties.
First we lost James Mirtle and now Brandon Worley. How long before Hughes is offered a new gig?
Pro Hockey Talk recently ran an article about the Hurricanes current streak and asked yours truly for some input.
_____
The state of the blog....is good.
We recently achieved a couple of milestones here at Canes Country that are worth mentioning. First of all, we celebrated our one year anniversary with SB Nation in February. The blog had over one million page views in our first year here, and we continue to grow every week.
Also, we set new CC records for traffic and comments for one day on trade deadline day this past Wednesday. There were over 2,000 comments and 14,000 page views during that busy day. A big thank you to all who participated and for helping to make Canes Country one of the busiest hockey blogs out there.
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That’s kinda scary. And you forgot the gold medal hanging from his fist. (just kidding – excellent work!)
Olympian Tim Gleason in Vancouver: "I don’t care what anybody says, to watch an exciting hockey game, there’s nothing like it."
Two goalies of equal standing?
Not sure if this is a new thought – (these 2000 comment days are a little hard to keep up with when you have other things going on in your life.) But…… anyone else notice that Mo has apparently decided to get behind the idea of 2-goalie tandem and not ride one till he collapses in a heap of jelly? Ward’s unfortunate lay-off might be a great opportunity to showcase how well this concept works.
Also – here are some more lengthy comments from Mo post-practice, nearly 6 minutes, answering questions from Florida media on why the team has turned around (and other topics).
Olympian Tim Gleason in Vancouver: "I don’t care what anybody says, to watch an exciting hockey game, there’s nothing like it."
I have noticed a much more equal distribution of starts with Legace and Peters as opposed to with Cam and anyone. I don’t think Cam and his backup should alternate starts (there needs to be a number one guy and Cam is it), but I definitely like the idea of the backup playing more frequently. I think it’s better for everyone in the long run.
"This guy is as meat and potatoes as there is of a man."
Gleason for Emperor!
NJ’s back up might get five to eight games a year (assuming no injuries).
by CarolinaCanes on Mar 6, 2010 4:03 PM EST up reply actions
I was more concerned about what was happening in Raleigh than what was happening in NJ. The two situations are very different and to base our goaltending philosophy off what NJ does may not be the best choice.
I don’t know if their situation is necessarily a good thing. Brodeur is getting older and, based on some of his “big” games lately, I’m not sure riding him all season long is the best idea for the team long term. Plus, what happens when Brodeur retires? You have a whole group of prospects that haven’t seen any significant time in the NHL.
"This guy is as meat and potatoes as there is of a man."
Gleason for Emperor!
True all the way around, I was just putting it out there. You gotta ride your horse,IMO. If he feels goods, play him.
by CarolinaCanes on Mar 6, 2010 5:35 PM EST up reply actions
It’s a balancing act IMO. To take this metaphor a little bit further: you can’t ride your horse until he doesn’t feel good (talking about injuries here) because then you’re forced to switch to a less prepared horse. Better to split time between the two of them (maybe 70-30 or 80-20) so that both always feel good.
"This guy is as meat and potatoes as there is of a man."
Gleason for Emperor!
Glad to see such a great group having success! Good job Bob, Cory and HM. Keep up the good work and we’ll keep commenting!
Brandon Sutter has the longest current point streak going for the team and has points in four straight games.
Clearly this was my favorite part of the article. :)
"This guy is as meat and potatoes as there is of a man."
Gleason for Emperor!
While Staal has kept up his 1+ PPG average, I haven’t really seen him have one of those monster games in a while. He usually does well in Florida and Atlanta, so maybe I could see one of these 2 or 3 goal nights or 3 or 4 point nights from him. I am still hoping that he can somehow figure out a way of getting to 30 goals this season. I would really like to see that streak continue.
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Just think what he could do if played well all year….
Or do we not mention the miserable start to the year?
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
I don’t have a problem mentioning the start of the year. Whether he was injuried or was just playing badly, he deserves criticism for that stretch. While I am a “Staal Lover,” I don’t pretend that he does no wrong. I just think it’s ridiculous that many here (you included) continue to criticize/bash him when he is playing well. I don’t know if you just expect more from him or you just don’t like him.
Triple Gold Juice - It's Potent and Guaranteed to Help You Score!
I expect more. This will prolly be another year in his declining production. He should be easy 80 points, at his contract one could say 100 points . You can make excuses about injury, crap line mates (why exactly did we bring Cole back?) or whatever. Bottom line, Staal needs to produce more. So while you defdend him to the last, I will hold him to task.
Balance my friend! FYI, I don’t hate him, I just think he’s got a lot of talent and less drive than I’d like to see. Maybe next year things will turn for him. Though barring some sensational off season moves, next year will be more entertaining, but not much more successful.
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
I know you want more production, I do too! I would love to see him put up 3 points a night, but be realistic. Even in this “sh*t” year; he is still among the other stars of the game. Is he Crosby, no. Is he Ovechkin, no. But he is right there with the Parise’s, Getzlaf’s, Heatley’s, Iginla’s, Hossa’s, and Zetterberg’s of the NHL. You don’t think that Staal’s presence helps Sutter’s game? If it wasn’t for Staal and his linemates, Sutter and Ruutu would be going against the other team’s top defensive pair.
But, it’s obvious that you have your opinion and I have mine. While I think I try to be fair in my analysis of every player, you may feel that I am bias. I just feel sorry for you sometimes, because it always feels that you have this negativism that you must get out. But you are right, I’m going to continue to defend him (and as you should have noticed, I will also criticize him) and you will continue to trash him. We will both continue our epic struggle defending our viewpoints!
Triple Gold Juice - It's Potent and Guaranteed to Help You Score!
+36
Sees the world through ruuu-colored glasses...
Sisu
by LTD on Mar 6, 2010 5:42 PM EST up reply actions
Can we please see McBain called up this year or Rodney recalled? I know Mo has a hard-on for Harrison, but please don’t tell me we are going to resign him! You would think that McBain should get at least a call up for a few games to see where his level of play stands compared to the NHL. And has this organization simply dismissed Rodney? Last season, he was suppose to have a roster spot this year, now we never see him or here anything about him. I thought he played pretty well while in the big show. Did he sleep with someone’s wife or something, because it makes no sense having Harrison up here over Rodney.
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I’m assuming we’re going to see a rotation, and JR in his post-trade-deadline interview said we’d see McBain before the season ended.
With so many moving parts on the defense right now (two new bodies), I can see where a move toward familiarity on the D call-up might be made for the first rotation call-up.
Also, I have no idea if or how waiver rules affect movements at this point in the season. May be all bets off after the deadline, or could be that some of these potential call-ups are exposed, if sent back down afterward. Anyone know?
Im not sure how it works eaither, but I would like to see a good look at McBain.
by CarolinaCanes on Mar 6, 2010 5:38 PM EST up reply actions
McBain and Rodney are both on two-way contracts, so we don’t have to worry about waivers. It’s the same with Tlusty, Boychuk, and Carson – they can be sent down to the A pretty much any time. At least this is what I understand of the rules and their contracts.
Triple Gold Juice - It's Potent and Guaranteed to Help You Score!
Wow. A million views. That’s quite an accomplishment! I know it’s a labor of love, but I also know this takes a lot of collective time and energy. The effort is well demonstrated and much appreciated!
Sees the world through ruuu-colored glasses...
Sisu
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