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What to change after game 1? / Preview for home opener

January 21, 2013, 11:00 PM ET [5 Comments]
Matt Karash
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 1 of the 2013 season for the Carolina Hurricanes made for a mess trying to sort out how to go forward. The game was mostly a train wreck of mistakes with a decent amount of sustained pressure that was thwarted by good goaltending. It is not as if you would so much blame the results on line combinations not working or chemistry not being there even if there was some of that too. It really came down to a handful of horrible plays that led directly to goals, a few bad penalties that kept the Canes from gaining any kind of rhythm and real rough performances by a couple blueliners.

I could fill up 3 days of blogs with random questions about the 1st game.

--Was Cam Ward horrible giving up 4 goals in a period? Or was he just the victim of what was in front of him? There was the Staal turnover for a point blank shot. There was the 3-foot tap in when Sanguinetti left a passing lane to the front of the net. There was the 5-on-3 goal against when Skinner took an unnecessary penalty at the other end of the rink already down a man. Etc.

--Can Joe Corvo regain his Canes form from a few years back. Game 1 looked much more like his 2011-12 play that found him regularly in the press box in Boston.

--Was Sanguinetti just suffering from 1st game jitters, or is he just in over his head at the NHL level? He showed a few glimpses of offense including hitting a goal post, but he and Jay Harrison were never on the same page trying to move the puck up the ice, he was victimized badly for the 1 goal and had intermittent other smaller oopses here and there.

--What about the forwards? I would not characterize Boychuk or Dalpe's games as horrible by any means. But neither one took their swagger and stride from a strong AHL start, rose up and clearly demonstrated that they belonged in the NHL let alone on a scoring line.

--And so on and so on...

What to do if you are Kirk Muller. The mistakes were so massive that I'm not sure you can really do much in terms of evaluating pairings and line combinations from Saturday's loss. But still you have to move on and put a lineup out for tomorrow's home opener.

My 2 cents.
--You have to come right back to Ward despite Ellis' strong play.
--Bowman, arguably our best forward Saturday, has to move up.

I still like the lines I proposed from about a week ago: Tlusty/EStaal/Semin, Bowman/JStaal/Dalpe, Skinner/Jokinen/Dwyer, Westgarth/Brent/Larose. I think Bowman and Tlusty could be interchangeable being responsible defensive players (both took different stints on Sutter's checking line last year and did well), and I also think you could swap Larose and Dwyer.

Reasoning is the same as the first time. Tlusty brings a conscience to the offense line but also enough offensive ability to hang with Staal and Semin. In Bowman (comfortable) and Dalpe (more hoping), you surround JStaal with linemates that are more checking line capable than anything that includes Jeff Skinner. Jokinen is arguably the best playmaker on a team that is light in this skill set (Semin actually showed more playmaking than I expected Sat, so we'll see where that goes). If you have to move him down to the 3rd line, why not move Skinner with him. Jokinen's playmaking does not get wasted by not having a real finisher. And by tucking Skinner down there, you get him away from all of the defensive attention and in a spot where he should get a decent number of shifts against undermanned and undermobile 3rd pairing defenders which could be just what he needs to get into a scoring rhythm.

Defense is trickier. I thought Pitkanen/Faulk were very good. Gleason and Harrison I give a pass. Their linemates both had real rough nights, and they seemed to be more victims than accomplices. If I were coach, I would put McBain in with Gleason, and I would give Sanguinetti another go with Harrison. My choice to play Sanguinetti is driven simply by the fact that we need to figure out if he is really an option even as a 7th/depth defenseman, so giving him another shot maybe after he shakes off the jitters takes a 2nd look.

Tampa played a day game today in Long Island and lost. Tampa has given up 10 goals in 2 games despite decent goaltending. They too are trying to find their way into the season. But they bring firepower offensively. If the Canes are even 2/3 as sloppy as they were on Saturday, they could give up 5 goals. But with the way Tampa is going, there is a chance to play that kind of game and win 6-5. It is hard to predict anything after Saturday's game, but my hunch is that Tuesday opens up into a wild one in which it takes at least 4 to win.

For a quick heads up when I post a blog, follow me on Twitter at CarolinaMatt63.

Go Canes!
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