Canes Head to Buffalo with Chance to get First Consecutive Wins in December (Canes)

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Canes Head to Buffalo with Chance to get First Consecutive Wins in December

By Ben Case

Dec 22, 2016 • 5:28 am

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Tonight, the Canes are taking on the Buffalo Sabres in an unexpected “home-and-home series.… There would have been a game in-between, however, the Canes game against the Red Wings on Monday was cancelled due to a failure with the cooling system. Given this, the Canes have had plenty of time to get rested and hopefully won’t be stale after a five-day layoff.

The Canes will be getting very familiar with Buffalo in a short period of time—as they will see each other a total of three times this season, however, all three match-ups occur in a 12-game span for the Canes. The past game against the Sabres saw a tight game end 1-1 after overtime that the Canes eventually won in a shootout.

Statistically, the Canes continue to struggle in games that are tied/close in the third period. The Sabres outshot the Canes 10-3 in the final frame. It should come as a relief that the Canes were able to keep the game tied and eventually pull out the win in the shootout. Since late November, the Canes have had some serious issues being out-scored in the third and losing games that were either tied or close.

One thing that surprised me looking at the highlights and box score was the amount of shot blocks that the Canes had—they had a total of 21 blocks. 18 of the blocks came from the Canes defensive unit which is encouraging to see. Traditionally, the Canes defensive unit has lacked that kind of “grit… and the Canes struggled with point shots early in the season because of this.

Not surprisingly, the Canes dominated the face-off circle which is mainly attributable to the fact that Lindholm and Staal are back in the line-up for the past three games. Both of them are some of the Canes top face-off performers, as Lindholm is winning just over 53% of his draws and Staal is winning just over 61%. Both of them were over 70% against Buffalo and I would imagine they will be impactful in the dots again tonight.

Buffalo is almost completely healthy which is good news for them—they have struggled this season with injuries to key players, such as: Kane, Eichel, O’Rielly, Ennis and Bogosian to name a few. Now that the Sabres have been able to play some games with some top players back, I would look for their top-six to continue to become more productive—players like Okposo, Moulson and Reinhart won’t be relied on to carry the weight as much.

One player that I imagine will challenge the Canes PK unit, as well as the 5v5 defensive play is Ristolainen. While last season he showcased his offensive capabilities for a defensemen with 41 points (9g, 32a) at 21, he looks to have developed to another level. This season he is on pace to significantly beat his production last season, as he leads the Sabres in points with 23 (3g, 20a) in 31 games. He has 12 power-play assists and has become a constant threat offensively.

The Sabres have had similar problems to the Canes in the fact that scoring goals has been an issue. Both teams have done a decent job of keeping the puck out of the net, with some spans this season being “great.… However, the one area that the Canes have the edge in significantly is the PK—the Canes are first in the NHL killing 91.3% of opportunities, while the Sabres are last in the NHL and kill only 73.7%.

There is a bright side for the Sabres despite their lackluster PK unit. Luckily for the Sabres, they are one of the most disciplined teams in the NHL and have been short-handed only 95 times this season which puts them at 5th in the NHL for least PK’s against—not surprisingly, the Canes are the most disciplined team and have been shorthanded the least amount of times of any NHL team with 80.

There are four main keys the Canes need to do well to ensure victory on the road tonight:

• Win the faceoffs/possession battle • Get PP chances and convert • Slow down the Sabres transition game for guys like Reinhart, Kane, Okposo and Eichel • Continue to block shots and win the battles in front.

The Canes are sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference and are nine points behind the Washington Capitals for the final wildcard spot. If the Canes don’t have a strong next 10 games, the question on whether they become “buyers… or “sellers… should be answered pretty quickly. Let’s hope the extra time off doesn’t bring out a flat Canes team.

Puck drop is at 7:00 (EST) and is on FSCR. Go Canes!

Canes Extra:

Discussion on the Canes shootout strategy:

Canes are doing a Holiday Shirt Giveaway:

Eddie Lack has been re-activated and Michael Leighton returns to the AHL:

Canes and the Community:

Canes and the Toy Drive Continues:

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