That is what is on the line Monday night in Ottawa. The Canes practiced at home Sunday before traveling and will not skate in Ottawa, so the lineup will be revealed when John and Tripp take to the air for the broadcast. The forward lines are likely to stay the same - EStaal/Loktionov/Tlusty, Gerbe/JStaal/Semin, Skinner/Nash/Lindholm, Dvorak/Malhotra/Dwyer. The big question is in net. With a back-to-back Monday and Tuesday, best guess is that each goalie will get a start. Pure speculation on my part (someone holler if they have read any indication from the team) is that Cam Ward will take the more favorable start tonight on the hopeful path of refinding (and keeping) his game and that Khudobin will go Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
Ward has been Jekyl and Hyde of late showing signs of refinding his game and then following it up with a thud back to Earth. His win in Winnipeg on March 22 was arguably his best outing in the 2014-15 season. It featured a generally solid effort throughout with a heavy helping of lights out saves to boot. But then he followed it up by giving up 3 goals on 9 shots in just 6:12 of hockey before being pulled. The team in front of him started poorly. By no means can, you completely hang the 1st period debacle against the Isles on Ward. But a #1 goalie in the NHL has to have some kind of answer and stop something early to give his team a chance. Ward did not.
I think that game is the "situational portion" of Ward's struggles in a nut shell. There is a more direct confidence, level of play, etc. part too, but that is for another day. I think part of Ward's struggles are also due to a perfect storm of situations.
The 2014-15 Carolina Hurricanes have generally been slow out of the gate. The team has had many a lackluster 1st period and then recovered to get better as the game went on. The most productive stretch of hockey was driven by surges in the 2nd half of the game. The Canes also struggle with teams that can play a simple workman-like kind of game forechecking hard, winning pucks in the offensive zone and/or hemming the Canes in and then eventually throwing pucks and bodies to the net.
In 2014-15, those 2 team situations/problems are a horrible match for Ward's personal weaknesses. He, like the team, seems to often be shaky early, but if he can survive that, he gets stronger as the game goes on. The problem is that too often he/the team builds a deficit when he cannot answer the barrage in the 1st period while team wakes up. And if I had to name specific things with which Ward is struggling most in 2014-15, it would be 2 things. First and most simply, glove high has clearly become the book on him. At a basic level, there is no startling revelation here. All goalies step down a notch when they cannot see the puck and/or have to deal with distractions in front of them. But the 2014-15 version of Ward is the extreme version this. He often cannot seem to get out of his own way mentally trying to figure out if he should be dealing with the body in front of him, finding a sight line around it or just staying focused on the puck. Watching Ward deal with a team aggressively sending bodies to the front of the net and then watching Khudobin deal with the same the rest of that game and then on Saturday against a Blue Jackets team that also does this pretty well was like night and day. I think part of it is skill set, but I also think that part of it is simply comfort level and confidence. At the point when Ward finds it confidence-wise, my guess is that the struggles with traffic will suddenly and magically be much less.
So without a sure bet that he will even be in net tonight (if he isn't, I will cut/paste for tomorrow :-)), I lead off my what I am watching with that:
1) Cam Ward. I am looking for a rebound and a bit of fire after being pulled real early in his last start. Just maybe a bit of anger can overpower and self-doubt and help him reach the higher that we did see against Winnipeg on a consistent basis. If he gets the start, I will specifically be looking for a stronger start especially if the team in front of him starts slow. He cannot win the 1st period by himself, but he needs to at least hold the fort.
2) Andrei Loktionov. Per my game recap from Saturday, 1 of the recent positives for me has been Loktionov. He did not stand out but looked okay in his 1st 5-6 games settling in after the trade. He spent most of those games playing lighter minutes on lower lines. Now centering a line of Tlusty and EStaal, he gets a chance to show what he can do with offensive fire power on the ice with him. I have been surprisingly impressed with his hockey sense and 2-way play especially reading situations and helping defensemen move the puck out of their own end. I guess I originally had him labeled as more of an undersized offense-only skill player. His path to contributing at the NHL level still runs through his playmaking, but I am growing more optimistic that he brings enough on the defensive side of the puck to possibly play in the top 6 without being a liability when not scoring.
So shorter version: I continue to watch for playmaking ability that yields scoring chances for his line mates and defensive acumen.
3) The blank. Chris Terry received a real short look a couple weeks back driven by injuries. And I guess until Saturday's game, the team was still chasing the slim playoff hopes with its NHL roster. But at the point where the team switches completely to a 2014-15 focus (I think we might now be there?) I look to see what Zach Boychuk can do. I am well aware of his many attempts without success to break into the NHL level and by no means am I declaring him a sure thing. But he made huge strides from 2012-13 (minus a training camp with Muller in charge) to 2013-14. He scored some, made progress defensively, noticeably in compete level for the puck and showed a positive attitude despite not being where he wanted to be in the Canes organization. He has since followed it up with a very good AHL campaign. Why not plug him in for 7-8 games to see what he can do?
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