The Confluence
Off Day Notes: Penguins have exposed Canes’ defensive liabilities
by Tony on 05/25/09 at 12:22 PM ET
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The Penguins have certainly shot holes in Cam Ward’s playoff resume. 14 goals allowed in three games, 11 in the last two alone.
But while Ward is clearly not having his best series, it would be nice, in the Canes point of view, if he had some help out there keeping those pesky Penguins forwards out of his face on a constant basis.
As I mentioned in my series preview, one of the keys to this series was going to be the Penguins’ ability to take advantage of the Hurricanes’ offensive defensemen’s defensive liabilities.
After three games, I’d say that key has been met. Wouldn’t you ??
The stats don’t look very good for the Canes’ defensive corps. Nik Wallin is the only Canes’ defenseman in the black with a +2. Frankie Kaberle is even. But check out the others:
Joni Pitkanen - 1 assist, -2
Joe Corvo - 1 goal, -5
Dennis Seidenberg - 1 goal, -5
Tim Gleason - 0 points, -4
Hey, it’s not like Penguins fans haven’t been down that road before, that’s for sure. It wasn’t that long ago that Sergei Gonchar was getting booed on a regular basis at the Igloo because he couldn’t pick up Edzo’s system quickly enough. Penguins fans couldn’t get rid of Rob Scuderi soon enough, mostly because of his pairing with Joe Melichar. We’ve seen such defenseman only a few years ago such as Eric Cairns and Lyle Odelein.
So unless the Canes devise some last-minute defensive scheme that will stop the Penguins’ offensive onslaught, this series is over, whether that’s Tuesday night in Raleigh or back at the Igloo on Friday night.
Other notes:
- I’m tardy on the Chuck Fletcher GM signing by the Wild, as well as the subsequent promotion of Jason Botterill to GM Ray Shero’s assistant. Sorry, slipped through the cracks.
- Another interesting column in today’s Pittsburgh PG by Bob Smizik. Bob suggests the Penguins lose Game Four tomorrow night in order to heap the extra millions another home game would generate for the Penguins. I don’t know if Bob actually wants the Pens to lose Tuesday night, but I’ve never been one for keeping the enemy alive. Let’s put this thing away tomorrow night and get prepared for the Finals.
- Interesting “discussion” taking place over at theLet’s Go Pens message board. Seems as there were some over-exuberant Penguins fans that got involved with some shenanigans at the RBC Center during and after Game Three. I personally didn’t witness any of that, outside of some juiced up Pens fans chanting on their way out the door. But let me just say this: Visiting team’s fans will always be targets at the home team’s arena. Also, those visiting team’s fans will not be given the benefit of the doubt. Always been that way, always will be. Now, whether that results in fights or whatever is really a case-by-case basis. Personally speaking, I simply equate the supposed dust-ups to relative youth and alcohol. Who knows, if I was 20 years younger, I might have been right along with those guys hooting it up. I prefer nowadays to set the example for my youngest son, who at nearly 16 isn’t that far away from those who were probably the ones liquored up at RBC.
- Hopefully Evgeni Malkin is OK from that skate boot he took to the neck in the latter stages in Game Three. One thing’s for sure, when Geno wants to hit someone, he can do it very effectively. His offensive skills aside, he’s a big boy. Quite frankly, I’d like to see him get physical more often.
- Looks like the NHL has heard the complaints from around the hockey world about the enormous wait until June 5th of the Finals. Looks like if the Penguins and Wings can finish their respective series by Wednesday, the Finals would start on Saturday in Detroit. Game Two would still be in a back-to-back scenario on Sunday, May 31.
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Tags: Carolina+Hurricanes, NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
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