Per my game preview, Friday night's game at PNC Arena in Raleigh was an opportunity to push toward the front of the bunched up pack in the Metro Division. It also presented the chance to push New Jersey farther down in handing them their 4th consecutive loss. And it would have moved the Canes above .500 and into 3rd place in the Metro Division which of course is a playoff position. Through 2 periods, this looked like the most likely outcome with the Canes entering the 3rd period with a 2-1 lead and playing decent (not spectacular but decent) hockey. Then the Devils rose up and stormed past the Canes leaving the Canes fans headed to the exits feeling like they had just spent those 2 1/2 hours in line on Black Friday without getting a doorbuster 50-inch TV for next to nothing. When it was all said and done, the Canes had somehow turned a 2-1 lead into a 5-2 loss in 20 minutes. I think I could have lived with this loss more so if the Canes struggled a bit throughout the game with the changes to the blue line caused by Sekera's injury, but this loss reeked more of a late collapse than personnel/lineup issues.
Entering the 3rd period, my summary would have read like this: --Fairly tight game and reasonably even. --The difference was that amidst a tough night to generate grade A scoring chances, the Canes won by holding about a 4-0 (or 5-1 or similar) edge in terms of making great plays. Skinner made no mistake finishing a chance (1). Faulk made an incredible pass (2) to spring JStaal who also made no mistake finishing (3). And Brett Bellemore made an incredible play to defend an empty net (4). 20 minutes later, the Canes had been outplayed and layered on a enough bad plays to negate my first point of "fairly tight and reasonably even." And the chance to win a hockey game on the back of a few great plays was taken away by a few too many bad plays and just not enough juice in the 3rd period.
Opportunity lost.
Though the results are wildly different, if you look past the goals and search deeper, there were actually some common patterns in the 2 Devils' games. In both games, the Canes were the better team through 2 periods but not by a huge margin in either game. Wednesday's game featured a shorthanded goal and 2 goals from way out by virtue of screens to boost the scoring via unconventional offense. The Canes were similarly better 2/3 of the way through the game Friday but did not catch the same number of breaks, so they built only a 1-goal lead. Then both games featured the Devils playing much better and dominating in the 3rd period. Wednesday, New Jersey's 2 goals were impressive but not enough. Friday 2 goals were enough to gain a late win, and the Devils tacked on 2 more to add insult to injury. The message from the hockey gods is clearly that you need to play a full 60 minutes in the NHL.
A few random notes:
--Justin Faulk. Minus his usual defense partner in Andrej Sekera who has been incredibly good of late, Faulk rose up and played a pretty good hockey game in defeat. The rink-wide pass to spring Jordan Staal for his goal was the most highlight reel-worth play but only a small piece of what he did. He made a handful of key plays to thwart New Jersey chances and was just sound all night.
--Cam Ward. He had a rough night. If you want to defend him, except for arguably the important 2nd NJ goal, none of the goals he allowed were horrible, but he did not face a 5 goals against volume or quality of shots Friday night.
Going through the goals: --#1: Sure. It was deflected, but it was deflected from well out which gives the goalie a chance to make a save. When I watch the replay, it looked like he was fishing a bit for a glove save instead of moving across hoping to get hit by it. Again, not a horrible goal on the deflection, so you let it go.
--#2: This goal was a backbreaker. With the Canes leading 2-1 and New Jersey just beginning its 3rd period surge Ward has a goal wriggle through him to make it 2-2. This is exactly the time when the team needed him to step up and ideally try to make 2 goals good enough or at least good enough for overtime. Instead, he gives up a goal he would want back.
--#3: Being fair, he had no chance on this 1. The puck deflected off Bellemore right to a Devil's stick and was quickly deposited in the net. It was as if the hockey gods were evening things out from the very similar Skinner goal earlier from almost the exact same place on the ice.
--#4: Again, this shot changed direction. Based on that if the shot goes over his shoulder into the top half of the net, you just shake your head, but it didn't. It again went through him. Goalie basics say that for a deflection, the object is to put yourself in place to cover as much net as possible and not get beat through a hole that you create. That is exactly what happened here.
--#5: He makes a good save on a Jagr half-breakaway with Murphy defending, but unfortunately it spits out right back at Jagr and quickly becomes a goal. At this point, it is just piling on.
He also go bailed out in the 2nd period when Brett Bellemore made a save on an open net when Ward was down and out on the other side. I said before the season started that Ward needed to be an above average goalie for the Canes to be in the playoff hunt this season. He mostly has been of late but was average if I am generous Friday when the Canes needed more.
--Jeff Skinner. We saw a bit of the 2012-13 version of Jeff Skinner Friday night. He made no mistake when presented the opportunity to finish in close. But he was also beat/soft defensively on the 1st New Jersey goal and was caught out of position a few times. During his hot streak through 10 games to start the season, he was pretty committed defensively, but the real test comes when the scoring slows a bit. At that point, does he revert to some bad habits trying to generate offense? Or does he stay the course defensively? It is only 1 game, but tonight looked more like the former.
--Missed opportunities. With a 2-1 lead, the Canes had 2 power play opportunities to open up a 2-goal lead which might have been enough to steal a little bit of hope from the Devils, put the clamps on defensively and ride it to a win. Instead, it was a New Jersey power play goal to make it 3-2 and start running away with it.
--Eric Staal. Coming in with a 7-game point streak, he was real quiet. He went 5 of 15 in the faceoff circle, did not notch a point but more significantly was just not a regular threat like he has been of late. I am not sure he created (for a linemate) or had a good scoring chance all night except for the 1 in close to start the 3rd period on the power play.
--The reworked defense. Through 2 periods, I would have given the group high marks. It is not that they were perfect, but they were generally sound, free of big mistakes and gave Ward a chance. Then in the 3rd period when New Jersey dialed it up, they really did not have enough of an answer and looked overmatched.
--The wrong night. The team managed only a weak 15,034 for attendance. These weekend holiday week games have traditionally been sellouts. They also tend to draw more of a mixed crowd with people taking relatives from out of town, people making a traditional holiday weekend trip, etc. So it is a great game to pull some of the more casual fans in a bit closer for the rest of the season. The 3rd period debacle obviously did nothing to make sure fans who buy their tickets based on their last experience at the arena come back soon.
Shorter version: The result and how it happened were a big disappointment.
But in the mode of continuing to tread water hoping that there is longer burst of winning coming at some point, the Canes get a schedule favor to try to go 2-1 for a plus week when they play on Sunday afternoon. Vancouver plays Saturday afternoon in New York (vs. Rangers) and then travels and plays another early afternoon game on Sunday in Raleigh. The Canes get the day off Saturday and probably a practice to prepare for the game. The Canes need to learn from Friday (and play 60 minutes), jump on a hopefully road-weary team early and use the favorable schedule to put Friday's loss behind them and climb back to .500.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
Go Canes! Matt on Google+