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Canes Look to Close Road Trip with Win Against Slumping Sharks |
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The Canes head into the Shark Tank tonight for their final game in a three-game road trip. They have picked up points in their first two games, beating the Kings 3-1 and falling to the Ducks in a shootout. The story-line as of late has been timely goals from players who have been relatively quiet most of the season.
The chance to earn five of a potential six points this road-trip should get the players very excited to play tonight and have them flying. The significance of earning two points tonight can’t be stressed enough—sitting at 28 points, the Canes are tied with five other NHL teams for 20th in the NHL standings. Looking at the standings, one will note just how tight they are this season—there are 13 teams that sit between 28 and 32 points right now in the NHL.
The season has not been easy for the Canes, after tonight they will have played 18 of their first 28 games on the road. They also have the hardest schedule in the NHL according to Hockey Reference, so to still be fighting and clawing in the standings is a good sign for this young team.
Following this road-trip, the Canes have an extremely favorable stretch that will see them at the PNC arena in 15 of their next 23 games. In fact, they will only be on the road for five games in all of January. For a team that is riding a six-game winning streak at home, the next month could see the Canes surge in the standings.
The Canes played one of their most complete games against the Kings on Thursday night and finally did not lose the third period. Going into the evening, the Canes had been outscored 11-3 in the past eight games in the third period—so winning close games or holding the lead have obviously been challenging. They did a much better job against the Kings with controlling the neutral zone and minimizing defensive zone turnovers—both of which they did poorly against the Ducks when they blew two 2-goal leads in the third.
The concern for me has been the defensive play of Faulk and Hainsey—they both have not played the greatest defensively. They have been a liability in transitional play and have let opponent split them a few too many times for my likes (cough, cough…Rick Nash). Looking at the past five games, Faulk is a minus six and Hainsey is a minus eight. Some of this is that they tend to get paired against the opponents top offensive threat, however, some of it also has been poor defensive decisions.
Faulk looked much better against the Kings—he had some nice physical plays on the puck, as well as a few very nice plays closing the gap and preventing the opponent from cutting to a scoring location. He also has been doing a much better job of creating offensive chances for himself, as well as for his teammates. Given that much of his game is defined through his offensive contributions, I imagine that as he continues to break out of his slow start, his increasing confidence will hopefully result in significantly better defensive and offensive play.
At the beginning of the season, the Canes were relatively only getting scoring from the first line (Skinner, Rask, Stempniak then). However, the past five games have seen the “third” and “fourth” line guys being the ones who are pulling the weight—guys like Nestrasil, Stalberg, Ryan, McClement and McGinn have really stepped it up.
In the last five games, Ryan leads the team with five points (2g, 3a) and was pivotal in the winning effort against the Kings. McGinn is second in points the last five games with three (1g, 2a) and was another big component in the win on Thursday. It really is great to see more than the “first” line pose an offensive threat and has been difference in winning efforts against Tampa and LA. If the Canes want to win tonight, the question has to be, “who is going to step up tonight?”
Beyond needing another strong effort from guys who have smaller offensive roles is the need for more established offensive players to step up. Now that the Canes are getting more rounded offensive contributions nightly, if guys like Skinner, Rask and Stempniak heat up, the opponent’s goalie could be getting shredded. It isn’t to say that these players aren’t playing well, more that they are struggling to find the net—they have been distributing the puck very well actually, they just need to be able to score some too.
While much of the focus has been on the offensive side, looking at the past match-up in November, one would believe the key is defense tonight. The Canes previously beat the Sharks 1-0 at the PNC Arena in what was a goalie duel and defensive stale-mate. What was most impressive was how well the Canes controlled the pace and limited the Sharks in transition. Guys like Hertl and Couture were relatively “non-existent” and the Canes only allowed 22 shots.
The defensive lines will have to be mentally prepared for a physical game—the depth of the Sharks means that none of them can have a “bad” night. The play of the top-four will really dictate how successful the Canes are tonight—if Slavin-Pesce or Faul-Hainsey are struggling, I imagine that the Sharks could find some offensive rhythm. Looking at the Sharks statistically, the guys you would expect to be their top producers are at the top—Thornton, Couture, Burns, Marleau and Pavelski.
Beyond the obvious offensive threats the Sharks possess, the two guys who I worry about are Joel Ward and Tommy Wingels—they are the type of gritty but offensively skilled players that challenge the under-sized and finesse Canes. If the Canes can’t control these two, then I would imagine it could be a long defensive night.
Tonight should be another good defensive test for the Canes. I imagine it will be very physical and the Canes ability to match it will probably be a big component on the final result. Puck drop is 10:30 and is on FFS—Go Canes!
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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