We are suddenly on game 52 of the 82-game NHL schedule. The winner of the Canes/Blue Jackets game will wake up tomorrow in the 3rd and final Metro Division playoff spot (tied if Columbus gets OTL point). So yes, I think it is fair to say that this is the biggest game of the year so far. And it is also nice to have a "big game" for the Canes that is not of the "we desperately need to stop the bleeding before the season tanks" variety. Instead it features 2 teams playing well. The Canes were a perfect 3-0 last week, and Columbus comes in having won 8 of 9 and still qualifying as 1 of the hottest teams in the entire league despite a strange loss in Buffalo on Saturday night.
But despite the game's importance, it is much more of a statement game than a must-win. Nothing will be decided tonight. The winner will continue positive momentum which is great, and the loser will face a small setback. But both the winner and the loser will still be very much in the thick of the playoff race come Tuesday morning. For the Canes I actually look at the game as more of a measuring stick type of week. Last week, the Canes found games (partly due to level of defensive competition) that were very much the skating and goal-scoring contests that the team thrives in. All 3 games had the "race to 5 goals" kind of feel to them with some room to skate, maneuver and gain decent scoring chances. Early in the season things were different, but starting about the beginning of December, the Canes runs have largely been dictated by whether they could find their way into a bit more of an open style. Nearly 100% off the struggles recently could be traced to playing against teams that could turn the game into more of a physical battle type of game that were heavy on puck battles on the walls, little room to get through the neutral zone with possession and speed and oftentimes the need to throw the puck deep to start another puck battle.
After the bad Calgary loss I wrote:
Even with this loss, the Canes are very much in the playoff chase right now, but the Canes ability to make the playoffs will not be decided by how many games it wins it wins when things go their way. It will be decided by how many games they can win when things don't. I think Muller gets that. The question is whether he can get the team in total to take the next step and be willing to do what it takes to win the games that do not come easy.
I think that time is now. Whereas last week featured some games that were defensively loose and to the Canes liking, the schedule this week features 3 good teams and maybe more importantly 3 teams that have the ability to play a grinding, defensive kind of style in which it is hard to find the skating and offensive kind of flow that is the Canes strength.
With that, my keys to the game:
1) Ability and willingness to do the dirty work:
---Firing 30 or 40 or even 45 random shots at Bobrovsky from outside the perimeter of the Columbus defense is likely to yield little. Can the Canes fight to earn the extra couple seconds inside the offensive zone and use it to send bodies to the net to get an ugly goal or 2?
--Board battles. The Canes are not built to excel in physical battles, but can they muster the heart and desire to win close to 50% of them to avoid the stretches in which they get hemmed in their own end because they just cannot win and keep the puck?
--Can the Canes match intensity and physical play especially early?
2) Best against best. In big games, the team whose best players are better usually wins. Can Tlusty/EStaal/Semin continue their surge? Can Khudobin who has not been as sharp lately match Bobrovsky save for save? Can Jeff Skinner find and bury an offensive chance in a game that will likely not offer a ton of them? Can the Skinner/JStaal/Lindholm line that is still settling in be better than their opponent most of the night?
Locals to Raleigh, what else are you going to do on a Monday night? If you do not already have a ticket, find one.
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