Wednesday night in New Jersey, the Canes rode a wave of unconventional scoring to a 4-1 lead and ultimately a 4-3 win. The Canes notched not 1 but 2 goals from defensemen Faulk and Hainsey from well out on seemingly harmless shots from well out that benefitted from well-timed screens in front of Brodeur. And Pat Dwyer scored yet another shorthanded goal because apparently that is what the Canes do to generate offense these days. The 4th goal was a real pretty hockey play in which Eric Staal won a puck behind the net after a good shift keeping the puck in and then found Ruutu jumping into the right spot to receive and finish.
The hockey game in total was actually more even than the 4-1 lead through 2 periods would have indicated. For as many games as the Canes could not seem to buy a break this year, Wednesday night the puck just seemed to want to find the back of the net for them. By the end the Canes needed every 1 of the 4 goals, an astounding save by Cam Ward and another dig the fingernails into the couch finish to hold off a late surge.
The Rangers and Penguins won, but the Canes gained 2 points on everyone else in the Metro Division since everyone else played and lost. The Canes sit only 1 point behind both the Rangers and Capitals for 2nd place in the division.
But everything gained Wednesday only holds if the Canes can follow it up with a win against the same New Jersey Devils at home on Friday.
A few player notes:
--Andrej Sekera is on fire. He is playing incredibly confident hockey. He had 2 really good plays in his own end in the 3rd period, the most notable being a heady play to come across and bang the puck away from Jagr right as he was beating Faulk and ready to unleash a very high quality shot off the rush. When was the last time a Canes defenseman went on an offensive run like his right now? He has 3 goals and 2 assists and is plus 6 (yes I realize that stat has been deemed uncool, but at its core it is about winning hockey games) over the past 4 games.
--Cam Ward. If you missed the game, you need to go hunt down his save from about the midway point of the 3rd period. It will not be hard to find on any “play of the day”, “save of the week”, etc. type shows and internet stuff.
--Justin Faulk. Good for him notching his 1st of the season.
--Bowman/Malhotra/Dvorak. Since none of them actually scored a goal, it was in quieter fashion, but the line was on the ice for (and notched a single assist on each) both of the defenseman goals. The more Muller sees this combination, the more it is becoming inseparable. We can keep calling them the 4th line just for fun, but the line is playing 3rd line minutes and for defensive situations it is oftentimes the top choice (not 3rd even) for defensive face-off start shifts. Malhotra did even better than usual going 10 for 12 in the face-off circle. Radek Dvorak was solid in all 3 zones and registered an assist. And despite not getting on the score sheet Drayson Bowman had a good game. He looks like a completely different player on this line compared to anything we have seen from him. You have to give him some credit for personal development, but a huge amount is his line mates and the line’s chemistry. Muller still has some things to sort out especially with the 3rd line, but I would leave this group intact. If injuries shorten the bench, it is as simple as moving the entire line up (more officially) to the 3rd slot and shortening the bench a bit.
--Tuomo Ruutu. Good for him too. He suddenly has 3 goals in the Canes last 5 games which is obviously a nice pace. The goal highlighted what makes Ruut, when he is playing well, an important skill set to have in the top 6. The very basic branding for his game is his physical play, banging and the fact that he has enough speed to do this across the entire ice surface (unlike your run of the mill checking line grinder who can hit people but lacks to mobility to both hit and hound the puck at the same time). The other thing that makes Ruutu different from your run of the mill banger is that he does have offensive instincts and enough skill to play with top line players and not be the big physical guy who just cannot make or convert scoring chances. His goal was a highlight for heady hockey. Eric Staal won the puck behind the net. It was a good play, but there is nothing special about it. But he knew before he won the puck where he was going with it. And if you watch the play again, Ruutu broke for the open scoring place BEFORE Eric Staal won the puck. The slower version of the thought process has Ruutu breaking only after Staal wins the puck at which point he does not get far enough in and the defender who actually was not in bad position reacts at the same time to take away either the passing lane or the shooting lane. Is it possible that the 2 hip surgeries and injury in preseason were just temporary physical setbacks and not a permanent decrease in mobility and production? A couple weeks ago I was worried. While I am not ready to declare this decided, I am feeling much more optimistic these days.
--Jiri Tlusty. He is still struggling to find his game and has had a real rough time of it over the past couple weeks, but he made a good contribution being the screen that turned the fairly harmless Faulk shot into a goal when after moving the puck from the boards he bee-lined straight toward the net to get in Brodeur’s sight line.
--Skinner/Nash/Lindholm. This was 1 negative in this game. This line was invisible. Despite not scoring, I thought Skinner looked good in his 1st few games, but with Nash back at center and Lindholm at right wing, this line did very little tonight. When the bench was shortened a bit Nash and to some degree Lindholm were the players who saw less ice time. Part of this was a function of Muller leaning heavily on Malhotra’s defensive line late with a lead, but I think part of it was that they never got much going. The C3 slot continues to be the spot that has the most potential for an upgrade if any of the trade rumors come to fruition.
--“Side switch” or whatever Tripp was calling it before and during the game. Last week after watching a string of games in which the Canes got hemmed in by good teams in exactly the same way night after night, I ranted endlessly in a couple blogs about the Canes need to make adjustments. I saw none of it against Boston on Saturday and grumbled even more. So today in Tripp’s keys to the game, the 3rd was “side switch” or whatever he called it which was basically feeling pressure with the puck on 1 side of the ice and quickly trying to reverse it to the other side to get away from the focus point of the forechecking pressure which when it happens quick enough creates a pretty clean lane to advance the puck north-south. It seemed to work reasonably well at times, and while the Canes did get hemmed in a bit in the 3rd, overall the puck movement looked better especially early. Adjustment made.
When you net it out, it was a great road win to break a road losing streak dating all the way back to October 19, but it only matters if the Canes beat the same Devils team at home Friday and do not give it right back. The game got a bit chippy in the 3rd period, and New Jersey found a higher level of push. I would expect them to reach closer to that level out of the gate Friday. Hopefully the Canes match it and continue to push off from the bottom half of the Metro Division reaching for the Rangers and Caps above them.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
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