Game Analysis: Coyotes At Hurricanes

by Cory Lavalette on Dec 22, 2011 11:37 AM EST

Rookie Riley Nash played 13:02 in his NHL debut, a sign that new coach Kirk Muller is allowing his young players to learn on the ice. (Photo by Jamie Kellner)

For the first time this season, the Carolina Hurricanes lost in regulation after leading heading in to the third period, blowing a two-goal lead and falling to Phoenix, 4-3, at the RBC Center. Tuomo Ruutu, Andreas Nodl and Jiri Tlusty scored for the Canes, who outshot the Coyotes by a 37-19 margin.

Carolina now sits at 10-19-6 with 26 points, ranking last in the Eastern Conference and 28th in the NHL.

Three Observations

1. New coach Kirk Muller continues to give Carolina's young call-ups a chance to make their mark. The latest was Riley Nash, who played 13:02 minutes Wednesday (all at even-strength) in his NHL debut. Drayson Bowman, in the fourth game of his recent recall, has played at least 17 minutes in the last three games and tied for the team-high in shot attempts among Carolina's forwards with seven (three were on net). It is a huge difference from the recent Paul Maurice era, when young players were often buried on the fourth line to play minimal minutes.

2. The Canes are just 2-6-2 under Muller, but it's already clear they're playing a better brand of hockey. Witness Ruutu's first-period goal: Jussi Jokinen's slap pass found Alexei Ponikarovsky for a shot in the slot, but he wasn't the only one crowding Phoenix goalie Jason LaBarbera. Ruutu was also right in front, and he easily collected the errant puck to tie the game. The Hurricanes' willingness to create more traffic is evident under Muller, and it has served them well. The Canes are scoring 2.90 goals per game under Muller (a 0.5 increase over the 2.40 they had in the first 25 games), an average that would rank them right around the top 10 in the league in scoring.

3. The meeting between the Coyotes and Hurricanes saw six people with head coaching experience behind the bench. Muller, whose career as a head coach is still in its infancy, is joined by Dave Lewis (head coach is Detroit and Boston) and John MacLean (head coach in New Jersey). Long-time NHL bench boss Dave Tippett is assisted by Jim Playfair (head coach in Calgary) and John Anderson (head coach in now-defunct Atlanta). They are the only two teams in the league to feature three coaches with head coaching experience.

Number To Know

64 — NHL scoring rank for Carolina's top point-producer, Jeff Skinner. The sophomore has 24 points in 30 games and has missed the last five with a concussion. Only Colorado's Ryan O`Reilly (23 points in 35 games) and St. Louis' T.J. Oshie (23 points in 33 games) have fewer points among the league's team leaders. Eric Staal and Jokinen are tied for second on the team in scoring with 20 points in 35 and 32 games, respectively.

Plus

Jay Harrison — The Carolina defender looked no worse for wear in just his second game back since missing 10 with a concussion. He led the team with eight shots on goal and attempted eight more, plus had a team-high three hits. His secondary assist on Tlusty's goal gives him 10 points in 25 games this season. That total matches the career-high 10 points he had last season in 72 games — 47 more than he has played in 2011-12.

Minus

Cam Ward — Ward is not solely to blame for the four goals that got by him Wednesday, but on a night when the players in front of you nearly double the shot total of the opposition, you need your goaltender to stop more than 15 of 19 shots. The biggest error came in the third period, when his attempted poke check of Lauri Korpikoski left Rostislav Klesla an open net to tie the game.

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Comments

Can someone, anyone explain to me why Anthony Stewart is getting very limited ice time? Anyone, Bueller?

Harrumph

by ivyleager on Dec 22, 2011 11:57 AM EST reply actions

If any of us here could answer that question

we might get drafted to do some serious coaching…And Cory..you are right on target …all across the board…Thank You…Merry Christmas to all and to all a good afternoon !!

9/11/01 - Never Forget !!
Long Live #63 The Condor
Go Canes & Checkers !!!

by CaniacSteve on Dec 22, 2011 12:47 PM EST reply actions

I don’t know the answer but there is obviously something that caused him to be shifted from team to team and not resigned by Atlanta after last year and now the way our coaching staffs (Mo’s and Muller’s) have handled him. My guess is they all like his speed, size and potential, but that he just runs helter skelter all over the ice and doesn’t pay attention to his positional responsibilities.

Otherwise Cory, as Caniac Steve says, you are right on target..all across the board.

Merry Christmas to all.

by FoxtrotSierra on Dec 22, 2011 1:07 PM EST reply actions

I didn’t see the game (only listened to parts of it) but if you start from the Three Observations (and skip the brief recap), it reads a lot more positive than I thought someone would be after a collapse like that.

Is it “clear they are playing a better brand of hockey” or that they’ve done it for very brief periods of time.

by efrancis on Dec 22, 2011 1:17 PM EST reply actions

The team was losing like this before the coaching change … but they were doing it with Skinner and Pitkanen. Injuries aren’t an excuse, but things would be a lot different with Skinner in the lineup the last five, no?

CanesCountry.com: An Eye On Carolina Hockey

by Cory Lavalette on Dec 22, 2011 1:19 PM EST up reply actions

Yes, but you can see too much of a culture of “Oh Damn, let another one slip away” type of play where we lose confidence and don’t give a true 100% effort. That’s reflected in hitting stats and the lack of aggressiveness.

by Squeaky83 on Dec 22, 2011 1:24 PM EST up reply actions

I understand that thinking (not sure I buy it completely, I wouldn’t want to award results before they’ve been realized) but when you have a 2 goal lead halfway through and you don’t even make it to OT?

If you can’t win the games where you actually have the clear advantage (2 goal lead, opponent on 2nd night of back to back, home rink, shot differential, PP advantage), then I’d say it’s a tough sell to talk about a better brand of hockey.

by efrancis on Dec 22, 2011 1:26 PM EST up reply actions

Like Carolina Panther fans

If you’ve gone to most of the games this season you can see the game on the ice is greatly improved over the first 25 games. Not quite enough improvement to win more, but enough to lose competitively. Where it was one or two bad periods that cost us the game, it is down to one or two bad plays that cost us the game. Like moral victories the loss is still a loss but one now leaves the rink with a better feel about the future.

by surgalt on Dec 23, 2011 8:30 AM EST up reply actions

Speculations.....

I believe I read in an earlier post that there were a lot of scouts at last nights game. Very curious, especially since Nash was the choice to be called up and featured last night on the top line. I know we’re going to have to give up some youth and I sense trades are coming after the holidays.

by Franklnc on Dec 22, 2011 1:51 PM EST reply actions

Good point.. I did not think of that as far as Nash was concerned…

by dbaerry34 on Dec 22, 2011 1:58 PM EST up reply actions

Really disappointed that there was no Center Ice coverage for either team. Someone has to change that black-out rule or require one of the teams (home) to provide TV coverage somehow.

Chuck’s play-by-play is great, especially the information he passes along during the game. However, when Chuck gets excited he speeds up his words and his voice carries an extra octave or two or a lot higher. Can’t understand a word he says then…….but I do know something has happened that he really liked! Wouldn’t change a thing about him……

As I said in another blog there is some progress even with this defeat. After only 10 games under Muller I think it is wrong to draw any conclusions but there is something that seems to be a trend. The roster does not seem to be able to finish games, especially that play in the last period. This is not always the case but it has happened more often than is comfortable. At first, I thought it might be conditioning as it relates to a up-tempo game the full 60 minutes but I am not so sure now.

Some slow 1st periods but they seem to hold there own. Recently some great 2nd periods. However, 3rd period play is honestly very bad on many occasions, or at least it seems that way.

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.
Sun Tzu circa 4th Century BC

by hurricanefever on Dec 22, 2011 1:56 PM EST reply actions

Conditioning and not very strong mentally.

by dbaerry34 on Dec 22, 2011 1:59 PM EST up reply actions

Chuck K

Sorry if I missed this someplace else, but why was the Center Ice broadcast last night a mixed HD FS feed along with arena cams and audio by Chuck K? Great to hear Chuck once they got the timing synched up. Would have loved to hear him drop a Kab-er-Laahh or Ko-val-yev or two.

by Scott Cason on Dec 22, 2011 2:01 PM EST reply actions

There was a blackout of that jumbotron feed in NC and SC……or at least that was what we read. I have Time Warner Cable and it was dark. Interestingly we could see the feed on the Center Ice Mosaic channel but it rotated off too much and the screen was very small.

Are you outside of NC and SC??? Because those actually got the feed.

by hurricanefever on Dec 22, 2011 2:08 PM EST up reply actions

I’m in Iowa.

by Scott Cason on Dec 22, 2011 2:10 PM EST up reply actions

Ah…..makes sense. You got it, we (inside NC) didn’t. Neither teams had their own TV coverage last night and in those cases there is some agreement that allows the arena cameras and jumbo tron feed to substitute. I am not sure how the radio synch is done but Chuck’s play-by-play is on the local radio 99.9 and piped into the arena concession areas.

by hurricanefever on Dec 22, 2011 2:15 PM EST up reply actions

I'M IN NC AND I GOT THE GAME?

On CI channel 777 in HD on DTV it was the Jumbo feed and showed the arena events between periods with Chuck Kaiton’s play by play.

by hellfish on Dec 22, 2011 4:08 PM EST up reply actions

Ch 777 wasn’t showing it for me.

by Hockeydog on Dec 22, 2011 4:53 PM EST up reply actions

I would call DTV the audio was a little weird ,but it showed an interview with Nash sporting a stitched up lip and a mouse over his left eye ,the stormsquad shooting the t-shirt cannon ,and Stormy with stormsquad girl Chantal with a ice skating clinic…And she is SMOKIN hot btw + the usual crowd shots on the Jumbo ,but the out-of-sync audio by between 30 & 5 seconds was weird as was the national anthem dolled out by some local bell ringers? ,also the longest STH cranked out the Hurricane warning before the start of the game and was the clearest video i’ve seen yet…looked like 1080p

by hellfish on Dec 22, 2011 6:33 PM EST up reply actions