I think so. The Canes finished a strong January 10-4 on what I think was their best game of the month. The 6-1 win versus Toronto was more dominant and heavier on scoring, but it came real easy against a team that did not play well. Two things make it easy for me to give the nod to the win versus the Blues over the good but a bit superficial Leafs win. First, the Blues are elite talent-wise, but more significantly they bring the physical brand of physical battles everywhere hockey that has not generally been to the team’s liking. Second, the team managed to find a high level on the dial early and keep it there for 60 minutes. Friday’s win harkened back to early October when the Canes played air tight defense and found enough offense to collect points. The team had 2 breakdowns in the 1st in which it lost track of a Blues player in front of the net (1 for a goal against) and the Harrison ‘oops’ at the midway point of the 3rd period, but in terms of mistakes that was about it.
The ability of the Canes to surge and extend it multiple times throughout the game showed what this team can be at its absolute highest level. After both Canes goals, the team went into beast mode for multiple shifts and seemingly deserved another goal and a chance to mount a lead. They did not get the follow up goal in either case, but it was not for lack of effort or deserving it. Impressive.
With the win the Canes finished a challenging week matchup-wise with a solid 2-1 record and climbed back into a playoff spot at 3rd in the Metro Division.
A few notes:
--Jeff Skinner. He had a great night with the goal obviously and multiple other good chances on a night that was not an open/free kind of game that offers more room for his skilled game.
--Jordan Staal. He just keeps getting stronger as the season goes on. The shift late in the 3rd period offered the 20-second clip that defined where he is right now. He worked harder on than anyone on the ice including the defensemen he was battling to win/cycle/keep pucks for a solid 30-40-second shift. After that he spent the next 15 seconds going right by the same defenseman to get and carry the puck behind the net apparently no worse for wear when everyone else looked worn out.
--Andrej Sekera. The Canes played well nearly to a man Friday night, but I still thought it was a travesty that Sekera did not win the 1st star. Gerbe’s finish was stellar obviously, but Sekera’s play to get around the defense to change angles and force the PK box to respect his ability to carry the puck, shoot or pass nearby to Semin is what created the seam that led directly to Gerbe’s wheelhouse. He continues to look like that dominant kid in the 5-year-old soccer game who is just faster than everyone else and has a nose for the ball. He continues to have shifts where he is just in every single play. Other players are surging too, but he is the team’s best player at this moment in time.
--Anton Khudobin – good enough to win. First, to be clear, it is not that he has been bad recently. That is not the case. But he has not been as lights out lately despite mostly winning hockey games. But Friday in a tight game with no margin for error, he made zero mistakes and reel in as many posts as needed (2) to make a 2-1 lead hold up (until the empty netter to make it 3-1).
--Brett Bellemore. After a couple-week layoff, this could have been a challenging game to try to reenter the lineup. Except when he was getting under the skin and drawing more than his share of attention from the Blues heavies, he was virtually unnoticeable in a good way in terms of playing a sound, quiet game defensively.
--Team effort. As much as it is fun to make a list of game notes that are all positive across individual players, it is the wrong game for it. The ability of the Canes to muster solid shift after solid shift 19 players deep was impressive.
The key this time of year is not to take a good 2 points and give it back. Per my recent blogs, the Canes need to finish strong before the Olympic break to see if they can eek out a tiny bit of breathing room before the gauntlet of a schedule awaiting down the stretch.
The Canes now get 3 days off to recharge and build power to hopefully bring the same 60-minute effort again Tuesday night versus Winnipeg. Tickets are not hard to find for the weekday tilt against a non-rival type team. If you do not have a ticket yet, get 1. PNC Arena has been building to a solid playoff appetizer level in terms of intensity and volume with games that matter in the 2nd half of the season, and the team deserves the support.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
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