People who just catch the score might figure that the Canes put forward a decent effort in a 4-3 loss on the road. They didn't.
Some combination of another good game by Peters and some luck covered up a pretty lopsided game. The 47-27 shot advantage for Detroit is probably a decent measure of how the game went. The Canes have been able to grind out points and even wins a few games recently where the other team was arguably better. The difference in this game was that the team played 1 of its worst of the season with regard to attention to detail creating a good portion of Detroit's best scoring chances.
--The 1st goal happened when Faulk passed the puck into a trap and into Tlusty's skates leading to a Zetterberg steal then an immediate transition to offense before the Canes could recover and a goal against less than 20 seconds into the game.
--After a Chris Terry turnover in the defensive zone under minimal pressure, the 2nd goal saw Riley Nash get deked out of position on the boards and then absolutely no reaction by Tim Gleason on either the initial rush to the net or the rebound that followed. Gleason looked like he was anchored in cement while it all happened.
--The 3rd goal came after the 1st penalty-killing unit killed off a huge chunk of the 2 minutes of a 5-on-3 when Jordan Staal went fishing for the puck rather than doing the Glen Wesley and tying up the opponent's body/stick. When Zetterberg found the puck 1st, it took about 1/4 of a second for it to find the back of the Canes net and evoke a disappointed reaction for JStaal.
--Nearing desperation time, I think you have to cut a little slack, but the 4th goal did happen on a 1-on-none breakaway when the Canes got deep trying to tie the game.
Despite being outplayed for much of the game and struggling again to create much offensively a couple good plays had the Canes within striking distance of stealing points late, but it was not to be. You could feel the inevitable end coming when the Canes failed for the 2nd time this week to convert on an extended 5-on-3 power play to end the 2nd period and then on a conventional 5-on-4 early in the 3rd period.
I think where we are is this:
1) The book is out for how good teams can feast on the Canes struggles moving the puck north-south from their own end. It is fairly simple to take a bit of risk pressuring with 4 inside the center line and oftentimes 3 inside the blue line, seal the 1st pass on the wall and put 2 secondary forecheckers up far enough to take away immediate passing lanes and collect and steal pucks.
2) The result is that the Canes are playing far too much defense, much of it under duress. The foundation of the Canes success in 2013-14 has been its much-improved team defense and defensive zone coverage. But it can only do so much. Right now, the Canes are having to play 3X the volume of defense at 4X the pressure because much of it is occurring during difficult transitions that require a bunch of players to sort things out real quickly.
The Canes will see it again against Boston who already worked them over once this week with this formula. Until the Canes can get the puck moving north-south more quickly from their own end, it will continue to look like they are trying to play 3v4 with the puck in the defensive zone and then 2v3 in the neutral zone - because they are.
A few quick player notes:
--Bowman/Malhotra/Dvorak. The reunited 4th line had another strong game. They were a big part of the Bellemore goal to get the team back in the game and were not on the ice for a goal against. Malhotra also did well in his extra duties winning 6 of his 10 draws and logging 2:37 of successful penalty kill duty including a phenomenal 1st shift on the 5-on-3 kill with 3 blocked shots. As much as the Canes are struggling to piece together line combinations that can produce, I think they have something that works for a 4th line that is playing closer to 3rd line minutes because of how good they have been.
--Tim Gleason. He had a rough night. He was slow to react or do anything when Nash was beaten off the boards after Terry turned the puck over in the middle of the ice. Gleason was seemingly stuck in cement while Abdelkader marched all the way from the boards to the front of the net next to Gleason and then still a spectator when Helm buried the rebound. Then he took the 2nd penalty to create a 2-minute 5-on-3 for the Wings that was ultimately the Canes undoing.
--Jeff Skinner. I liked his game for being the 1st 1 back after a long layoff. He was assertive with the puck especially on the power play and was skating and doing things with a purpose which is exactly how he makes offense happen. Thursday's game offered hope for him to pick up where he left off as an offensive catalyst before his injury.
--Justin Peters. While the Canes deserved to have 4 hung on theme Thursday night, Peters did not. He was good again and held the fort until the hockey gods finally stepped in and made things right in assuring that the Canes did not get points in a game in which they did not deserve them.
--Andrej Sekera. Amidst the wreckage, he had 1 heck of an offensive game. The 1st goal was a thing of beauty, and it is too bad the Canes gave up the 4th to prevent his 2nd goal from being what was needed to get to overtime and steal at least 1 point in the standings.
--Kirk Muller and his staff. It will be interesting to see if he can make a few minor adjustments quickly. The Canes are just real slow getting the puck going north-south out of their own end right now, and with the defensemen mostly looking to get it off their stick pretty quickly the result is a limited number of predictable options for the 1st pass. The result is a very predictable set of options to defend on the forecheck. Opponents are preying on the passes up the wall and shutting down the short outlet pass to the middle. The result is the Canes are quickly getting stuck to a side where they are playing 2v3 or 3v4 and struggling to get past that 1st layer of the forecheck. I am not so much an Xs and Os guy which makes it even scarier that it jumps out so much. Minus an injection of a skating/puck-moving defenseman or 2, it seems like the adjustment might be to get the other D to play more middle and less his side which would make possible quick D-to-D passes with reduced risk of a turnover and also get the Canes playing 3v3 or 4v3 on the pressured side. It also provides a way to get the puck in a different lane than the 1 the forecheck is clamping down on. Regardless, trying to do the same thing better when it is completely not working seems destined for continued struggles moving the puck up the ice and a continued high volume of defending in our own zone under duress.
I intentionally did not watch the post game show or read anything else before writing this recap. I will be curious to see if there is a half full version of this game or if others saw it as a step in the wrong direction as I did.
Next up is a Saturday matinee against Boston trying to stop the losing streak at 3 games. The NHL schedule monkey continues to offer up a steady stream of who's who of teams likely to play in the 2014 playoffs.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
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