Red & Black Hockey
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Canes lose critical game
by David Lee on 03/01/09 at 11:28 AM ET
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On Saturday night, the Hurricanes squandered a two-goal third period lead and ended up losing 5-3 to the Thrashers. Carolina had already gotten some outside help when Florida and Buffalo both lost, but they missed the golden chance to climb into the playoff bubble by giving up four third period goals.
Now, the Canes are faced with a tough task. Starting Tuesday, they will play seven games in twelve days. Five of the games will be on the road. Five is also the number of playoff teams included in that stretch. It will be imperative that the Canes get no less than nine of the 14 points. One of the main obstacles to that endeavor is that two of those games are against the division leading red-hot Capitals, and both of those games are on the road. They’ve only lost seven home games. Another one of those road games is against the Blackhawks, who are currently fourth in the West and have only lost five regulation games at home. The flip side of that is that they’ve also lost six home games in overtime.
After this important stretch, the canes will have eight of their final eleven at home. Seven of the final eleven are presently in the playoffs. It’s not going to be easy.
The second and third goals were both situations where Cam Ward made a stop, a loose puck sat very close to the goal, and a Thrasher banged it in. There was no defensive cover. The go-ahead goal came on a very late power play, and the fifth was into an empty net.
I’m not sure why this team plays with urgency in some games, as they did against Buffalo, then plays without any against Atlanta. Those second and third goals could have easily been prevented with even the tiniest bit of defensive help. It was very disappointing and very frustrating to watch that game slip away.
The Canes are off until Tuesday, when they’ll visit the Caps.
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Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, Carolina+Hurricanes, playoff+picture,
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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.
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The Hurricanes have 3 distinct problems in my opinion…One is defense in front of the net. Ward has his issues with confidence but 80% of the goals that get by him are a direct result of the defense…look at the Buffalo game in the first 2 periods the Sabres blocked 15 of our shots….The second is on offense NO ONE parks in front of the net, they seem to be afraid of setting up post near the crease….and third and most importantly is inconsistency of the entire teams “heart”. The Buffalo game felted and smelled like a 7th game of the play-offs…the Atlanta game looked good until mid-way the 2nd, then the players transformed into lackluster “junior” players….the talent is there, for God’s sake use it the entire 60 minutes!
and lastly I have issues with JR as general manager….Peter was not the problem, the problem is in the GM’s bathroom mirror .....(and it isn’t his lovely wife) Wake up Jim! Does something smell like smoke? Could it be those bridges behind you?
Posted by Eddie B from Raleigh on 03/02/09 at 09:29 AM ET