The Carolina Hurricanes blew a 5-1 lead in the third period and lost to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, 6-5 in a shootout. It was the biggest comeback for the Flyers in 20 years.
Thanks to the blog's "technical difficulties", we are late to the party commenting about this game. But I'll throw out a couple of observations anyway.
Remarks from the peanut gallery-
As easy as it would be to blame Michael Leighton and the rookie defense for this loss, the coaching staff has to take their fair share of the blame. The ice time for several players seemed way out of whack.
- Rod Brind'Amour - (27:48) Why? He was -1 for the game and is -21 for the season. Is he the best forward on the Canes and do you really want him on the ice that long?
- Eric Staal - (20:49) He was red-hot, had scored two goals, and had some jump to his step. He should have been on the ice more.
- Joni Pitkanen - (33:23) After the game, Maurice mentioned that some of the defensemen were tired. I wonder why?
- Tim Conboy - (8:07) Conboy played a solid game against Washington and hadn't made any glaring mistakes against the Flyers. Where were he and Borer in the third? Borer had even fewer minutes.
- Chad LaRose - (4:04) Not sure why Maurice has the hate for LaRose, but Eaves got 18 minutes and has yet to score a goal all year. Perhaps a little equity would be nice?
- Scott Walker - (7:28) Walker is an experienced vet, has several 20 goal years under his belt, is an ex-captain, and loves to hit, yet he finds himself playing fourth line minutes and is behind Patrick Eaves and Ryan Bayda on the depth chart. My guess is that he is not a happy camper right now.
- Brandon Sutter - (6:50) We have talked about this before, it's tough to develop a rookie when he gets little chance to play. Not counting the fact that Sutter has been one of the better players on the team when he has had the chance during certain games.
- Brett Carson (26:06) As good as Carson looked against Washington, he looked lost at times Thursday night. 26 minutes is a lot to ask a player playing in his second ever game in the NHL. Again, why not a bit more of Conboy or Borer, both who have more experience?
The shootout did not look very good. The only positive thing about it was that the pain was over after just two shooters.
Next up will be the Rangers in New York. I will have a game preview up around early Saturday afternoon.