I cannot believe that John Tortorella managed a complete transformation of the Vancouver Canucks into the New York Rangers that quickly. And Monday night he even managed to get a Lundqvist performance out of backup Eddie Lack. Lack was not overly tested and his defense was pretty stout in front of him, but he was incredibly good whenever asked pulling out a 2-0 shutout (really a 1-0 game + an empty-netter).
Catching Vancouver playing the 2nd half of a back-to-back and its 3rd game in 4 nights, it seemed reasonable to hope that the Canes would muster more energy and ride it to a win. Through 2 periods, I thought both teams looked pretty sluggish. The Canes did find another gear in the 3rd period, but did not manage to turn it into the goal they needed to get to overtime. You have to give the Canucks credit for playing a simple, error free game and sitting back defensively a bit. I kept waiting for the Canes to make an extended push, but it never really materialized. The Canes were the better team in the 3rd period and got some chances, but it just was not meant to be.
A few notes before running off to bed:
--Justin Peters. He rebounded well after a shaky outing in his previous start despite earning a win in it. He was not overly tested, but he made a string of big saves in the same series in the 1st period and a few key saves to hold to 1-0 through the rest of the game until an empty-net goal ended it.
--Riley Nash. He did not score, but he continued his solid play. In limited minutes he was noticeable and assertive which is exactly what is wanted from him.
--Eddie Lack and the Canucks. You have to give him credit. By no means was this 1 of the Canes better offensive games of the season, but it seemed reasonable that they could have scored 1. He gave them 0. You also have to give Vancouver credit for playing the kind of game they needed to play to win playing the 2nd half of a back-to-back and their 3rd game in 4 nights.
--Special teams momentum. The Canes only had 2 real chances on the power play (with the couple other being super abbreviated/near coincidental penalty chances), but more so than going 0 for 2, the man advantage seemed to be endpoints not starting points for building momentum. The Canes also saw 4 minor penalties by defensemen (Harrison, Murphy, Gleason, Sekera) derail some chances to build momentum in the 1st 2 periods.
As far as losses go, this is 1 loss I can live with. The effort was not the team’s best, but it was not horrible. The Canucks gave them nothing in terms of high-end chances because of mistakes, breakdowns, etc. And even still the Canes seemed to deserve 1 goal which would have been enough for a point in the standings and a chance to play for another in overtime.
The Canes hop right back on the horse tomorrow playing in Edmonton. A win gets the Canes to .500 for the 1st 2 games of the 4-game road trip. Big game. Another late night.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
Go Canes!
Matt on Google+ 
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»