The offense is still a work in process, but I think in terms of compete level through the full 60 minutes, this was the Canes best game of the season. It is not so much that the Canes dominated the game, but rather just that they were real difficult to play against. Every time the Isles tried to shoot, pass or do anything else there was a Canes stick there or a body leaning on them or a couple defenders in front of the net and ready to fight for the puck. Brett Bellemore and Jay Harrison were the good kind of nasty and physical that got under people’s skin a bit but was not dirty. Justin Faulk was solid defensively. Ruutu and Gerbe went to the front of the net and as demonstrated by Gerbe and his tussle in the 2nd period were willing to pay a price to stay there.
This was a big win in many regards:
1) Most importantly, it pulls the Canes within a point of 3rd place in the Metro Division which right now would be the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
2) It helps the team hold together in terms of playing a tight game capable of winning even minus much offense at this point in the season. During the Rangers game, you could feel things just beginning to come apart at the seams. With 2 gritty wins, the thing is officially taped back together.
3) The goalie situation. With 2 solid games from Peters both with wins, his confidence level should be high and equally importantly his team should feel confident with him behind them.
4) Per my pregame comments, it makes the Flyers win more than a lucky blip against a bad team.
The bonus of keeping a division rival who is struggling right now a bit frustrated is also a nice one.
A few player notes:
--Justin Peters. Good for him! He was very good again Thursday and earned his 2nd consecutive 1st star. The brand of hockey that the Canes are playing in 2013-14 compared to 2012-13 is a significant contributor. While Peters was good, the number of Canes breakdowns defensively was nearly non-existent giving Peters a chance to just play good sound hockey and get good results. Throw in just a couple top shelf saves and you get a shutout. I am still a fan of getting long-time AHLers their chance, but unfortunately that defers to winning Canes hockey which means #MurphyMustWait.
--The 4th line. The Canes 4th line has notched game-winners in consecutive games. The volume is not huge, but the clutch factor for the secondary scoring that they are providing right now is huge.
--Justin Faulk. He has had a number of good games this year, but this was 1 of his best.
--Jay Harrison and Brett Bellemore. Both were physical and a bit nasty all night. Harrison stepped up and hammered Tavares 1-on-1 off the rush. Bellemore banged people on the boards and made Islander players pay in front of the net. Bellemore very much reminded me of the good version of Tim Gleason playing a bit mean and snarly but within the game not outside of it.
--4 lines. It would be difficult to verify, but if you sorted through Canes box scores since 1997-98, I doubt you would find many games where the ice time was as balanced amongst the forwards. Eric Staal led the forwards with a very low 18:30 of ice time. Bowman was the low at a big 10:01 of ice time. In between there were a bunch of players who played regular shifts.
The home stand’s schedule works out interestingly in that the challenge builds over the 5 games. Game 1 was against a Flyers game that just is not very good. Game 2 was versus an Islanders team that is middle of the road and struggling a bit right now but figures to be in the mix to make the playoffs come late March. Next up is a Minnesota team that is playing well and entrenched in a playoff spot in the Western Conference. The home stand then concludes with the 2 division leaders out West.
But the key is for the Canes to just keep moving forward 1 game at a time right now and keep collecting points until a few of the injured return. On that front, there was minor good news and also bad news today. Both Ward and Khudobin are back on the ice. The timetable is still fuzzy and probably out a little ways, but not just 1 but both goalies are getting closer. The bad news is that Skinner now seems to be more like week to week rather than day to day.
On the 1st of September heading into training camp who would have guessed that a combination of Justin Peters X2, Malhotra and Hainsey would have been the 1st 2 stars in consecutive November wins and that Malhotra and Dvorak would have scored the 2 game-winners? At the time, Peters was destined for Charlotte and unlikely to see any action in the NHL and Dvorak, Hainsey and Malhotra were all free agents not even part of the Canes organization. It is this unpredictability that makes NHL hockey so much fun and also creates the possibility for any team to shock the hockey world every season. The Canes are overdue in that regard with shocks in the spring of 2002, 2006 and 2009.
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