Red & Black Hockey

another ugly loss for Carolina

by David Lee on 11/04/09 at 09:56 PM ET
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On Wednesday night, the Hurricanes traveled to Sunrise and extended their winless streak to ten (0-7-3) games with a 3-0 loss to the Panthers.

Despite dominating play in the opening stanza and getting off 21 shots against Tomas Vokoun, they didn’t score. In the second, the Canes got into some penalty trouble, but did a good job to keep Florida scoreless. Things fell apart in the third. First a lucky bounce goal by Steven Reinprecht, then a power play goal from Cory Stillman, then an empty net shorthanded goal sealed the deal.

Confidence is now at an all-time low. Frustration has to be at an all-time high. I know it is for the fans. I expect a lot of empty seats on Friday against the Maple Leafs. If there’s another loss on Friday, I’m afraid frustrations might boil over in the locker room. Hopefully, we won’t find out.

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Is this rock bottom?

by David Lee on 11/02/09 at 07:29 PM ET
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The Hurricanes, at 2-8-3, are off to the worst start in franchise history. They have now gone nine (0-6-3) games without a win, and in some of these games, they haven’t been very competitive. They’ve been plagued by lapses in focus, lack of presence in front of (either) net, defensive breakdowns, lack of discipline, and mostly, an inability to score. Some nights, the Canes have run into crazily hot goaltenders. Some nights they’ve squandered too many scoring chances. Some nights, they have bad luck. The bottom line is that the puck isn’t going in the other team’s net. All of this has led to a frustrated team and an angry fanbase.

A friend asked me today if I think the Canes have hit rock bottom. I immediately answered that things could be a lot worse, and that they haven’t bottomed out (yet).

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Tags: Carolina+Hurricanes, Jim+Rutherford, losing+streak,

Halloween with the Canes

by David Lee on 10/31/09 at 12:12 PM ET
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On Saturday afternoon, the Hurricanes and Flyers will meet for the second time this season. Since it’s Halloween, you can find out what the Canes wives will be handing out to trick-or-treaters. Erik Cole’s house should be fun. Interesting that Tuomo Ruutu doesn’t hand out Snickers bars. Remember this? And maybe it’s just me, but every time I see Andrew Alberts, I think he’s Cam Ward.

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Nightmarish October continues for Canes

by David Lee on 10/29/09 at 08:11 AM ET
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On Wednesday, the Hurricanes played host to the St. Louis Blues and stretched their winless streak to seven games by losing 5-2. Since shelling the Panthers 7-2 on October 9, the boys have gone 0-4-3. While there has been some improvement, there are some recurring themes in this losing streak.

The special teams have been getting much better. The power play was two for six and the penalty kill was a perfect one for one. The Canes have now scored at least one power play goal in four straight games. For the fifth time in the last eight games, the PK was perfect. Those are small things, but it’s a start in the right direction.

Unfortunately, some bad trends are continuing. For at least the fourth time this season, the Canes fell asleep at the wheel and allowed two goals in a span of less than 30 seconds. That can do a lot to the landscape of a game. In this game, Eric Staal missed a couple of grade A++ chances, which is another trend that needs to reverse if the Canes expect to win any games.

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Tags: Carolina+Hurricanes, David+Perron, St.+Louis+Blues,

Yelle waived, Sutter likely to be moved to wing

by David Lee on 10/26/09 at 03:26 PM ET
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On Monday, the Hurricanes announced that they have waived veteran forward Stephane Yelle. If he isn’t claimed, he’ll clear waivers at noon Tuesday. Being placed on waivers doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Frantisek Kaberle was placed on waivers at least 37 times last season. He was never claimed, he was never re-assigned to Albany, and he was only bought out this last summer.

Unlike Kaberle, though, Yelle is cheap. His salary this season is $550k, and if a team claims him off re-entry waivers, they’d only be on the hook for half of that. This might be attractive to a team like the New Jersey Devils, who just learned that Jay Pandolfo will be out of the lineup for up to six weeks.

Depending on what happens with Yelle’s waiver situation, it could make a permanent spot for Brandon Sutter in the lineup. The 20-year old has been called up to fill a spot while Tuomo Ruutu is serving a three-game suspension. If Sutter stays, he’ll most likely be shifted to a wing position.

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Tags: Brandon+Sutter, Carolina+Hurricanes, Stephane+Yelle,

Canes keep losing, Rats keep winning

by David Lee on 10/25/09 at 01:08 PM ET
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The Hurricanes four game road trip came to a close on Saturday, and they didn’t have much to show for it. They lost a rollercoaster 5-4 game in Denver on Friday, then lost 3-2 in overtime at Minnesota on Saturday. On the four game trip, the Canes only managed two standings points and have yet to win on the road. For the third time this season, they will now have three days off before their next game. Wednesday night, they’ll be back in the RBC Center against the Blues. While they’ve been lousy on the road, the Canes have grabbed five out of eight standings points at home.

While the Canes are struggling, the Albany River Rats are doing well. They have a record of 5-3-0 and sit atop the Eastern division. More importantly, they beat the Adirondack Phantoms 3-2 on Saturday to grab a two games to none lead in the 12-game season series with the hated rival.

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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, Brandon+Sutter, Carolina+Hurricanes, Ray+Whitney, Tuomo+Ruutu,

Road trip starts badly for Canes

by David Lee on 10/21/09 at 11:27 PM ET
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The Hurricanes continued their annual late October extended road trip in desperate need of a win. The Islanders were a winless team, but have been playing good hockey. Unfortunately for the Canes, this was the night the Isles finally got into the win column. After falling behind 3-1, Carolina mounted a third period rally to tie the game, which was ultimately settled in the shootout. The home team converted all three of their shootout attempts, while the Hurricanes succeeded just once.

It was a night to celebrate Ray Whitney, who was playing in his 1000th NHL game and his 300th as a Cane. Unlike last Wednesday, when he lit the lamp twice, he failed to light the lamp this time. Eric Staal got off the schneid, but it wasn’t enough to lead the Canes to victory.

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Tags: Carolina+Hurricanes, Eric+Staal, Joni+Pitkanen, Jussi+Jokinen, New+York+Islanders,

Rats looking good

by David Lee on 10/18/09 at 10:51 AM ET
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While the Hurricanes are struggling to find offense and to find themselves, things are looking good down on the farm. On Saturday, the Albany River Rats went up to Glens Falls and defeated the Adirondack Phantoms 2-1 in the first of twelve games between the two teams. Justin Peters stopped 31 of 32 shots and Jerome Samson scored the game-winner 2:21 into overtime. Through five games, the undrafted right wing has tallied nine (4/5) points.

Surprisingly, this game featured only one fight, and it occurred early in the first. So far, I’m wrong with my prediction that this series would see more fighting majors (2) than goals (3).

The Rats find themselves atop the East division of the AHL, and I’ve read some comments by Albany natives comparing this team to the 1995-96 team who won the AHL’s equivalent of the President’s Trophy with a record of 54-19-7.

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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, Jerome+Samson,

Ward stands on his head, but the Canes lose anyway

by David Lee on 10/17/09 at 09:35 PM ET
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On Saturday, the Hurricanes returned to “The Rock” for the first time since they stunned the Devils with two goals in the last 90 seconds of game 7 to steal the first round of the 2009 playoffs. The Devils in general, and Martin Brodeur specifically, had not been playing well at home, and it was a chance for the Hurricanes to get their two-week road trip off to a good start.

Both goaltenders played very well and Martin Brodeur got the shutout, beating the Canes 2-0 and coming within one shutout of Terry Sawchuk’s 103. He’ll get the spotlight, but Cam Ward also had a very good game that was for naught. Unfortunately for Ward, the Hurricanes record doesn’t indicate how well he’s been playing. If and when the Canes start scoring goals, Ward will get some more ticks in the W column. Everyone knows that the Canes’ losses aren’t because of Ward. Last season, the Hurricanes were shut out only once in the regular season. So far this season, they’ve already been shut out twice in just seven games.

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Tags: Cam+Ward, Carolina+Hurricanes, Martin+Brodeur, New+Jersey+Devils,

Bevy of Canes miss Thursday practice; news from the farm

by David Lee on 10/15/09 at 08:44 PM ET
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A day after making the best save of this young season, Canes goaltender Cam Ward sat out Thursday’s practice. He was joined by Eric Staal, who has not been playing at 100%. Also missing from practice were Matt Cullen and Ray Whitney, who had two goals against the Pens in the 3-2 loss on Wednesday.

There’s no indication of why they say out, but I don’t think it was to attend opening day of the North Carolina State Fair. There’s no indication that any of them will be out of the lineup on Saturday when the Hurricanes begin their two week road trip in New Jersey.

While those four sat out of practice, the Canes were happy to see defenseman Joni Pitkänen back on the ice. At least for practice. Still no word on when he’ll be back in the lineup.

Meanwhile, down on the farm…

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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, Carolina+Hurricanes,

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About Red & Black Hockey

David Lee is a restaurant manager with an unused degree in political science. He can be found at Carolina Hurricanes games, Scrabble tournaments and indie-rock shows. Sometimes, all in the same day.

David has contributed to CBC.ca for their Stanley Cup playoff coverage in 2006 and to the New York Times Slapshot blog for theirs in 2008. Red and Black Hockey was founded in July of 2005.