HAPPY NEW YEAR FELLOW CANES FANS AND NHL FAMILY!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I watched the 1st 2 periods of the Canes New Year’s Eve game at home before heading off to a neighborhood party to ring in 2014. I left the house figuring the game was pretty much over and not even working my strategy to get the game on TV at the party over whatever football was on. Then I sat down and had a couple drinks. Man those must have been powerful drinks with incredible dream-inducing qualities. I woke up in 2014 after this crazy dream that had Jeff Skinner going Crosby to the tune of creating 3 goals and the Canes pulling out a wild highly improbable win in overtime.
It was even better when I woke up today and learned that it actually happened.
There was almost nothing except maybe resiliency in the game that you would build into a model for playing more winning hockey in January and moving up the standings. But who cares? The team desperately needed any kind of win and something that could rebuild a positive vibe. And the fan base that had watched 5 consecutive losses over the Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year’s holiday weeks really needed to and deserved to leave PNC Arena with something positive. Canes fans with patience and fortitude were rewarded with a New Year’s Eve classic that saw the Canes rebound from 2 bad periods of hockey with 4 goals in rapid-fire fashion in about 7 minutes in the 3rd period and a win in overtime. Is this 1 of the best Canes regular season wins in history? It might take a run to the playoffs to cement it, but even minus that I think it would be fair to consider it. The nominee list would include playoff clinchers. You have to consider wild games like the Canes high-scoring win against Detroit years back. You have special games like Ward’s 1st start that saw him stone Lemieux, Crosby and Palffy in a shootout to win a surreal game. And then you have ceremony nights like the 1st game in Raleigh and banner raising nights for the Cup, Francis, Brind'Amour and Wesley. But based on the special New Year’s Eve game, the duress coming into it and the wild 4 goals in the 3rd period means of victory, I have to think this game would at least rate in the top 10. And with that, I am putting it on my summer list to compile a top 10 list of Canes regular season games.
A few notes:
--Jeff Skinner. We will not know until later whether this game is just a blip on the radar of an up and down season or if it proves to be a turning point, but regardless of where the season goes from here, Jeff Skinner’s ability to take a bad team playing a bad game and put them on his back and singlehandedly lift it up and carry it to victory was downright impressive. He has put up similar and even bigger point totals, but depending on where the season goes and if the team can build on it, there is at least a chance that this game turns out to be the biggest thus far in his NHL career.
--Cam Ward. It obviously was not pretty stats-wise with 4 goals against, but Cam Ward played a better game. The goals he allowed were mostly ‘no chance’ goals that resulted from the horrible defense early in the game, and he made some good saves to hold to 3-0. I have been real hard (but in my opinion fair) on Ward of late, so it is important to give him credit for playing well Tuesday night. Especially when the defense in front of him hung him out to dry early and often, this could have been a game where he threw in the towel early, gave up a couple more and watched the 3rd period from the locker room feeling like he did not get a fair shake. Instead, he stuck with it, made the best of a bad situation and ultimately was rewarded for it with a win.
--Eric Staal. I appreciate his intensity level and the fact that he cares. I am conflicted on what to make of his outburst in the 3rd period after the bad penalty call. On the positive side, I like the intensity. On the negative side, it rings too much of the frustration penalties that he took in bunches early in the season when things were not going his way. In order of priority, I think ideal (#1) would be to see frustration and adversity channeled to make big plays to lead on the ice. If you cannot get that, I guess you maybe settle for (#2) temper tantrumlike outbursts that are not ideal but do at least show intensity and a pulse and are way better than (#3) going meek and whimpering into the night. As much as #1 is preferred, I guess with the Canes swimming in adversity up to their chins, I guess #2 is better than nothing.
--Sekera/Faulk. As good as they have been throughout 2013-14, they had a real rough night Tuesday taking on more than their fair share of the defensive breakdowns in the 1st 2/3 of the game.
--Sending a message. One of the most interesting points in the game was the Canes 5-on-3 that saw Gerbe given the task of parking in front of the goalie. The fact that 5 foot 5 inch Nathan Gerbe is the best option for that role for about the full 1 minute 45 seconds of 5v3 ice time said a lot about the state of the Canes power play. Nothing against Nathan Gerbe who got this task because he plays like a warrior, but if he is really the best option for a role where size and strength are keys to the job, what does that say about the other options? I think at least half of this scenario was Muller sending a message.
--Alexander Semin. Good for him notching the overtime game-winner. He has been playing pretty well (on the JStaal line) amidst the team’s struggles, so it was nice to see him get rewarded.
--Jeff Skinner again. When the team was down and out and needed a hero, he literally put the entire team on his back and carried it to victory.
--Horrible officiating. In total, the aggressive whistle-blowing actually played a part in the Canes win when the full practice session volume of power play ice time finally yielded a couple goals. But the volume of marginal calls in a whistle-heavy game combined then with a few blatantly obvious missed calls (Ruutu getting boarded was the worst 1) sapped any flow from the game and had the refs dictating tempo, style of play and momentum swings almost as much as the players.
--In the end winning is all that matters. When you are on a 0-3-2 run and about to skid down the hill and over the edge of a cliff “how” matters much less that “what.” The Canes desperately needed a win of any kind. They got it. It does not completely erase the damage done over the past week and a half. It does not guarantee a change in direction going forward, but it has the potential to.
I said in my blog 2 days ago that January would decide the Canes 2013-14 season. We are officially there now. The Canes enter January and the 2nd half of the season a reachable 5 points out of 3rd place in the Metro Division and the playoff spot that it represents. Can the team fix the negative trend in terms of quality of play and increasing volume of mistakes and have a sustained stretch of playoff-worthy hockey? Or was the New Year’s Eve win just a small bone tossed to Canes fans by merciful hockey gods in the midst of another season that ends badly? The next clue comes Thursday when the Canes play in Washington.
Happy New Year fellow Canes fans! Here is to hoping we get more of the exhilaration of Tuesday night but also knowing that we will stick with it regardless.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
Go Canes!
Matt on Google+
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»