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Game #21: No rest for the weary as Canes fall to the Bruins |
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I had a rare late week night out of the house with the Canes game followed by catching the end of the Panthers game. At least 1 North Carolina sports team beat its New England-based opponent. Hence my delay posting a game recap for the Canes loss.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in the midst of 1 of those stretches of schedule where they need to scratch and claw for points. The schedule continues to tough, and while there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel, the injury situation continues to be a drag. The NHL schedule monkey was especially unkind to the Canes with the past few days. The 3 games in 4 days is always challenging, but not out of the norm in the NHL. But the fact that the 3 teams were all of the same big, physical, taxing to play against mold was the kicker.
And it showed Monday night against Boston. The Canes very much looked like they were just out of gas and in need of a few days off. The Canes did muster some bursts of energy and had a stretch in the 2nd period where I thought they were the better team. But overall, they spent a bunch of time either chasing the puck, holed up in their own end trying to survive or failing to generate any speed up the ice. Tuomo Ruutu's big goal to close out the 1st period put up the guise that maybe Monday was going to be another game where the Canes would find a way despite the scoring struggles just as they did in the 5 previous home games. But I am not sure that hope was real, it is not certain that another goal was coming even if the teams played another 2-3 periods.
The key during these stretches is not to dwell in these individual games and not to let these losing streaks grow too big. The last 5-game losing streak gave back nearly 3 weeks of solid play to start the season. If this 1 stretches another couple games, it will give back the entire 4-0-1 home stand. And the schedule continues to offer little help with Red Wings on the road followed by another game against the Bruins.
But to the positive side, I think there is a good chance we will see a different Canes team in those games. 2 days off should have a big impact, and hopefully the next game will also see the return of Jeff Skinner.
A few quick player and other notes:
--Tuomo Ruutu. It was great to see him finally notch his 1st goal. Though it did not work out in the end, it was also a big 1 pulling the Canes to within 1 in the closing seconds of the game.
--Cam Ward. After some of the athletic saves Peters has made on 1st shots over the past week or so, I cannot help but wonder if he could have done the same on either of the 1st period goals. But I do not think you can fault him on a front of the net tap in or a deflection. He looked to be fighting the puck and not seeing it well early but got better as the game wore on. Overall, I would rate it a good but not great 1st game back, and if nothing else, he is 1 game closer to being back in form.
--Reversion to preseason struggles moving puck. Perhaps the past couple games are just a blip caused more by the opponents than the Canes play, but the Canes inability to move the puck up the ice has been dangerously close to the preseason lows the past couple games. Quick - when was the last time that the Canes created an easy goal? And with no power play right even grinding to get 2 is a challenge.
--5 on 3 failure. Against good teams when things are not coming easy, you have to capitalize on the limited number of good chances you get. The Canes failure to capitalize on 1:03 of 5-on-3 time was the early nail in their coffin.
Next up is a much-needed 2 days off followed by a Thursday night tilt in Detroit that begins another burst of 3 games in 4 days. Hopefully the next stretch will also see the return of Jeff Skinner and if the team gets real lucky Alexander Semin too.
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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