Saturday night in snowy and cold Long Island, the Carolina Hurricanes extended their winning streak to 3 games. While a little bit less exciting, this game was easily the strongest win of the 3. With a sounder version of defense reminiscent of October and strong goaltending in net, the formula looked much more repeatable than the little bit loose, offense-leaning wins prior. The method looked a little bit like what good teams did to the Canes last season and for a short stretch this season. The Canes generally played a solid and sound game defensively (much better than the past week or so) but did not get a ton offensively. Then when the Isles defense got a little bit loose, the Canes pounced on the opportunity, capitalized and rode it to a win. Khudobin was even better in net. His 38 saves on 41 shots in Thursday’s win was nothing to sneeze at. He brought the same quickness and strong first-save goaltending Saturday and added a much better brand of rebound control. And aside from the 1 ‘oops’ turnover by Bowman that led directly the Isles 1st goal, the Canes played a much better game defensively.
I have the thermometer-looking non-fancy paper chart for the Canes points for January at 4 points (with only 4 available thus far) aiming at a target of at least 24 (which is the equivalent of a strong 12-6 record for the month).
A few notes:
--Patrick Dwyer. That was 1 of his best offensive games as a Cane. He is not a big-time scorer. His usual sporadic offensive contribution is the occasional big, momentum-swinging shorthanded goal. Saturday he had 2 real nice playmaker’s pass type of assists setting up both Manny Malhotra and Jordan Staal for grade A+ chances right between the faceoff circles to help the Canes open up a lead that they kept.
--And he can do that too I guess. Coming into this week Manny Malhotra had established himself as the solid 4th-line center to anchor a great checking line that could play against anyone and kick in occasional clutch scoring. With Riley Nash’s injury, Malhotra was elevated to 3rd-line center. Right on cue he has dialed up the offense to the tune of 3 goals and an assist in the 3-game winning streak.
--Anton Khudobin. As I noted previously, he was pretty good in Thursday’s win despite struggling a bit with rebound control. He was even better Saturday. The 2 goals against were a nice goal in alone by elite scorer John Tavares after a turnover and a deflection on which he did not have a chance. I would expect Peters to get the start Sunday to keep him in the mix and also because Khudobin has already played 4 games in the past 7 games, but after Sunday, Muller will go back to riding Khudobin.
I do not know if the Russian hockey group in attendance is still making a decision on goalie that considers Khudobin, but if they were he might have won a job with his effort. It is also interesting to think about his play in relation to his role. He would most likely be #3 on the depth chart which means scheduled to watch Olympic hockey and possibly come in cold. Over the past few days, he was shown a strong ability to return from a layoff and play well immediately. That seems to fit the job description of #3 pretty well.
--Depth scoring. When you look at the Canes 3 goals, you have a goal each for the 3rd and 4th line to pick up for a slower night by the top lines and power play. Skinner did have a significant role (and got an assist in the process) with his crisp shot off the rush whose rebound found Sutter’s stick for a goal.
--Zach Boychuk. I really like his game. Instead of moping around about lack of opportunities or missed opportunities when he was cut again in training camp, he went back to Charlotte with a good attitude and kept working. It was noticeable in training camp that he got the message that he needed to round out his game. He has. He went from being invisible unless he was looking to shoot a couple years ago to a player who pressures the puck, wins pucks on the boards and just skates and works real hard when he gets his 40-50 seconds on the ice.
--Liles/Murphy. I thought that pairing was better today. I was going to look for this when in the building at PNC Arena, but Fox Sports broadcast actually caught Liles talking with Murphy on the bench. Liles is a bit down on his luck right now looking to rebound, but when you look longer term, he easily qualifies as a smaller, skating/puck-moving defenseman who successfully established his game in the NHL with 628 games played and some very good seasons in Colorado. In addition to just being a more mobile defenseman who can help the power play, he is also a decent mentor for Murphy to gradually improve his game for the NHL level and continue to grow. As for the more immediate goal of just winning today, Liles is already positive. Put very simply, he can still skate and just gets to more pucks/plays/players than Gleason was. Even with a small mistake here and there, it has been a positive swap through 2 games.
--Jordan Staal. He did not go crazy on the score sheet with his 1 goal, but he had a solid game dominating in the faceoff circle and playing well in all 3 zones.
--Eric Staal. The only negative in this game was that Eric Staal left and did not return with a lower body injury. Tripp Tracy mentioned on the TV broadcast that he had a "tweak" coming into the game. He also reappeared on the ice before the 3rd period to test out whatever was bothering only to not return. The fact that he was making a decision between periods on whether to return or not would seem to suggest that this is a day-to-day/minor injury type of situation.
The Canes have had a couple stretches where they could string together about a week of solid hockey. That is about where the team is now again. The key to making the playoffs is putting together more like a month of good hockey with no extended down swings. The Canes get a chance to keep chugging forward in less than 24 hours against Nashville at home. The game is what I call a “fair… back-to-back in which both teams play the night before and travel to keep the physical advantage pretty even.
With the playoff football all day hockey/football sports fans in North Carolina have a nice double or tripleheader scheduled for a good day to be indoors watching sports.
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