Writing post-game reports after games like tonight during streaks like right now is drudgery. I have half written a blog that I will title something like "5 darkest fears and 5 reasons for hope" that I am too Canes-exhausted to finish but will tidy up and post probably tomorrow night.
Saturday night, the Carolina Hurricanes ran their losing streak to 5 games. Along the way, the team got much farther from being on the right side of win/loss and seems to be nearing the death spiral of 2012-13.
Canes Coach Kirk Muller went all in by putting his top 3 forwards on the top line and got nothing in return. The line did generate sporadic scoring chances here and there. But when a team light on offense goes top heavy putting $21 million of salary on the same line, moral victories, progress, difficulties against a good goalie or whatever else help none. Just like in Friday's loss, too many of the Canes best chances came when the game was mostly over.
A few notes:
--Falling. Early in the losing streak the Canes were holding near the #3 spot in the Metro Division. With Saturday's loss, the team finds itself in 5th place (out of the playoffs) and with the potential to fall to #7 if the 2 teams below it win the 1 game they have in hand.
--Justin Peters. He has not been the problem up until tonight. Though the Canes were going to have a tough time winning with 1 goal, he was definitely part of the problem tonight with too many goals going through him while Lundqvist did what Lundqvist usually does.
--Watch and learn. Watching the Rangers who have also been struggling for scoring on the ice with the Canes was striking. The Rangers did benefit from a few goals wriggling through Peters, but the most noticeable difference between the 2 teams was the volume of traffic in front of the net. When the Rangers won the puck and especially if it went to the point, bodies rushed to the crease. Meanwhile, the Canes continued to try to work passing plays to set up chances to try to beat Lundqvist who was pretty much going to stop anything he saw anyway. Sure enough, Carolina's 1 goal was a Sekera shot from a way out in which Jordan Staal stayed as a screen instead of sliding out to a place to look for a pass as has been his and the team's tendency far too often. Mark my words: When the Canes do fight their way out of the current scoring funk it will be via hard work, winning battles and ugly effort goals 1st and then prettier stuff 2nd only after pressure is relieved and the players can loosen the death grips on their sticks a bit.
--Brett Bellemore. Trying real hard to look for a positive, Bellemore jumps out. He quietly climbed back into the lineup and logged 19:06 of ice time without incident, without being on the ice for a goal against and while collecting 5 hits (1 real big 1 in the 1st period) and 2 blocked shots along the way.
Next up is another 2 days off which should make for a grumpy practice or 2 and then what looks like a winnable matchup against Philadelphia though they rebounded from yesterday's debacle with a 1-0 win against New Jersey tonight. I was surprised that Muller did not have a quick look at Murphy to gather more information on his options in net for Tuesday. To be clear, I thought Justin Peters was not the problem in the 4 losses leading into this one and did a decent job giving his team a chance. But as I said above, tonight was not a good effort and more simply when you do the same thing 5 times and it does not work, at some point you have to be willing to settle for different even if there are no guarantees it will be better. Getting him into the 3rd period could have provided a useful read on whether Murphy was real rusty after the layoff sitting on the Canes bench or if just maybe he could ride a burst of adrenaline to a couple good starts (which is all the Canes probably need) as often happens with rookie netminders before they settle into whatever their regular level of play is. #FreeMikeMurphy will rear its head again early next week though I guess DiPietro could be another option after getting another start for Charlotte tonight.
Fingers are crossed that the next couple days yield news that Skinner and Dvorak are ready to play Tuesday and that Khudobin is at least skating and has some kind of expected time table for his return. Otherwise, it seems like the Canes are at the point where the term "shake things up" starts to get bandied around regularly.
--It seems early to fire Muller given the volume of injuries and the rough goalie situation beyond his control, but the whispers have to be at least starting up soon.
--Muller went the roster route of putting the big 3 together and saying "Here. Go do it." They scored nothing, but I guess there were enough positives that you could leave them together.
--It is hard to think trade when you have the problem of so many problems right now combined with an inability because of injuries to see what the real lineup can do once reassembled.
But at the same time very close in the rearview mirror is the poster child for how quickly an entire season can get away from a team if it is unable to at least mix in some wins during the hard times to tread water instead of sinking. It is almost as if you can feel the wounds of last season being reopened right now and the fragile psyche that saw 1 goal against very quickly make close hockey games seem like insurmountable deficits.
Right now, the missing person report is still out for the players who were supposed to lead the Canes, especially offensively. Until they return, the team is left to trying to slug out a 2-1 win in front of an AHL goalie which is real tough.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
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