With the Canes loss at home to the Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton's win versus San Jose, the Canes now sit tied for a dead last in the entire NHL. The Canes are now 1-3 in their current 5-game home stand with the finale Monday night against New Jersey. Gone is the gasp of hope from the Canes short run of winning hockey to start November. We have reached the point where more than 50% of the Canes optimism that I read and hear about is tied to the draft this summer. As a fan who is unable to go to PNC Arena and root for my team to lose, that seems to chart a path to an uncomfortable 4-month run of Canes hockey.
As for the game itself, I think it comes down to a few basics:
1) The best player on the ice by far was Detroit's leader Pavel Datsyuk. He was better than Sekera/Faulk trying to match up against him, and he was better than whatever set of forwards were out there against him to the tune of 3 goals for his line. Jeff Skinner did muster a whopping 10 shots trying to crack Mrazek, but otherwise the leaders for the Wings were better than the leaders for the Canes.
2) The arguably managed enough scoring chances to fare better, but being pushed to the outside and mostly unable to create chaos in/near the crease was there just as it has been the batch of recent games where the Canes were theoretically robbed by a hot goalie.
3) Once Detroit built their lead, they methodically played a safe and sound game while still opportunistically picking out scoring chances.
A few player notes:
1) Jeff Skinner. He was buzzing and firing and arguably deserved better on the score sheet.
2) Cam Ward. As good as he has been even in losses for the most part, Sunday was not great by any means.
3) Sekera/Faulk. You cannot hang Sunday completely on them, but as the top pairing D in a home game, Peters mostly matched them against Datsyuk's line, and they were on the ice for all 3 goals against and none for. As good as Riley Nash has been overall (with a few struggles of late), this game points to the big hole left by Jordan Staal's long-term absence.
4) Jay McClement. Good for Jay McClement notching his 1st goal as a Carolina Hurricane. It was exactly the kind that the Canes need more of deflecting a shot from a defenseman past a goalie who had little chance with the change of direction.
5) Pavel Datsyuk. It is not as much fun when he is doing it to your team, but he is still a pleasure to watch. He just thinks the game 2 steps ahead of about everyone on the ice and has enough physical ability to convert that huge advantage to dominance on the ice.
The Canes get a quick turnaround and a chance to close out the home stand with a win versus New Jersey at PNC Arena on Monday night.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
Go Canes!