Carolina becoming road warriors
Feb 20, 2009
Tags: Hockey, Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes dismatling of the New York Islanders should raise the spirits of the team and fans alike. Eric Staal scored his 25th and 26th goals of the season and Matt Cullen and Ray Whitney continue to click on the teams second line. However we saw this act before where Carolina has everything was rolling on the road to return home to face a Southeast division opponent. That story had a nightmare ending with a 5-0 loss to Florida.Tonight had a different feel to it. The Canes played a defiant brand of hockey against an inferior opponent setting the physical tone early and playing creative offensive hockey. The kind of hockey the RBC Center crowd has been clamoring to see and with Tampa Bay in town the Canes need to bring that same intensity to the home ice.
High points: Carolina was dominant offensively they didn't have to play great defense tonight, however the back checking pressure of the team was some of the best of the season. The Islanders that had put 60 shots on Cam Ward on October 25th, only could manage 24, and rebounds were controled by Ward or his defence. Matt Cullen continues to shine with Ray Whitney and Chad LaRose subbing for the injured Justin Williams. Tuomo Ruutu did his best Wayne Gretzky impersonation setting up Eric Staal's second goal, banking the puck off the back of the net making some space and feeding Staal for a nice finish.Anton Babchuk and Dennis Seidenberg had a solid game on the blue line, Babchuk stepping up for the injured Joni Pitkanen on the power play, even though the Canes did not score with the man advantage.
Welcome back Tim Conboy, the Captain of the Albany River Rats must have had so many emotions heading into the game with his AHL teammates involved in a serious bus accident earlier in the morning. Conboy played on the fourth line but also saw time with Rod Brind'Amour and Jussi Jokinen, almost scored a goal and got into a fight. Hard to see him return to the minors.
One more note on the physical front, Chad LaRose took on Mike Comrie, LaRose who has shown that he deserves top six minutes has been not just an energy player, but an offensive threat and always shows backbone.
Low points: none.
The Canes need to make sure this report shows up for the post game against Tampa.
