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Canes Game #49: Vs. Capitals --- 1 step up and 2 steps back...

January 19, 2007, 10:08 AM ET [ Comments]
Matt Karash
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
We've given each other some hard lessons lately
But we ain't learnin'
We're the same sad story that's a fact
One step up and two steps back
Springsteen

Yesterday featured a familiar story of a Canes team that just could not find it out of the gate but did post a great 3rd period before it was done. But unlike a couple other games, most notably the astounding 6-4 Florida win a week ago, this one ended with 0 points in the standings. Coach Laviolette's mood during post-game press conferences has been interesting of late. The Florida WIN was easily 1 of the 3-4 most seething for the coach during a season with a decent number of opportunities for seething. And this is very different from a stretch in November/December where Coach Laviolette was talking about having fun on the job and sounding more encouraging than scathing. I think the difference is this -- There were a couple of stretches early in the year where the team just seemed incapable of mustering up good, energetic hockey. It was also early in the season after a short offseason and with injury issues abounding. But 1 thing has changed. This team has clearly shown in the past few weeks that there is good hockey in there somewhere. They have mustered full periods good enough to rival anything we saw in 05-06. And I think that is what has Coach steaming. For the first time all season, the very top end of Hurricanes hockey is there, somewhere, within reach, but the team has been unable to summon it to start a game and stay for 60 minutes.

A few notes on the game:

1) Defense decent. The defense was decent again, and Grahame played a respectable game. The Semin breakaway was a save that could have kept us in the game, but a sniper 1-on-none planting a shot neatly in the upper corner of the net is no easy task. The team as a whole was outskated and gave up too many shots in the 1st, but I think the 17 was a little misleading in that the quality was not that high on many 'throw the puck at the net whenever you can' variety. Commodore was especially good logging a lot of ice time. The Cole goal was yet another heady offensive play from a guy whose offensive game has taken a huge step up. He had the puck at a bad angle with no net to shoot at and a couple bodies in the way and did a great job of finding a way to shoot the puck around people more so than at the net. And he got the puck into a dangerous area where Cole turned it into a goal. Seidenberg also logged a ton of minutes and played well as did most of the defense. If you subtract the 2 empty-netters and the fluke goal, they gave up 2 which is not bad. And the 3rd period Semin breakaway was partly a result of gambling for goals to get back in the game. Grahame was also pretty good.

2) Give me 4 more feet of net and I give you 12 goals. How many tips, deflections, off a defenseman's skate, etc. did the Canes send skittering within a couple feet of the net? I am guessing it must have been 8-9. The Canes probably did not deserve to win tonight, but if a couple of those go in maybe they steal 2 points.

3) Kolzig. He was very good. He did not see a ton of shots, but the quality was very high. While he did give up some rebounds, he seemed to have an uncanny ability to eat up shots whenever there were 1-2 Canes parked and waiting.

4) Growing to like the Capitals. It feels very wrong given that they are a division team, but I am growing to like the Caps. It all starts with Ovechkin. He seems very un-Kovalchuk-like to me in that he seems to do a lot more of the little stuff in addition to being a gifted scorer. And the team's effort carries down from him, Kolzig and Clark to the rest of the team. I cannot recall a single Caps game in the past couple years where they did not show up and play hard including the couple times where we did manage to open a lead. Cmon...Clark, Pettinger, Gordon, etc. There is no NHL-caliber offense hidden in there for a 2nd line behind Ovechkin. But to a man they just work hard and win hockey games probably more than they should. Good for them!

We get 2 more shots at these guys next week. Though it should not have been new news, yesterday is a clear reminder that if you do not put on the boots and do the work, the Caps will gladly lunchpail their way past you for 2 points.

Go Canes!
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