Canes steady as they go
Feb 22, 2009
Tags: Hockey, Carolina Hurricanes
Sunday's matinee was a show in how the Carolina Hurricanes have kept pace in the playoff race and delivered an idol performance from Matt Cullen. The real star however has been the Canes consistant play over the last five games.
The Colorado Avalanche wanted to take the game by force; one minute into the game a tough goal to allow gets past Cam Ward and the Av's finishing hard hits all over the ice made it look like it could happen. But Cam Ward rebounded and made a big save a few moments later, after Tim Gleason was given a questionable push into the boards, Tim Conboy brought the RBC Center to life with a tussle with Chris Steward. That fight brought the home crowd back into the game and told the Av's that Carolina was not going to be run over. Soon after, Cullen scored his first of the game and 17th of the season and the Canes slowly took over. Colorado was coming off a large win over Washington, but once the Canes stood up to the visitors it was a text book performance on execution in all three ends of the rink.
Matt Cullen had been Carolina's most consistent offensive performer over the last month, being linked with Ray Whitney and Chad LaRose, that line generates scoring punch to compliment the Eric Staal-Tuomo Ruutu-Sergei Samsonov line. Cullen scored the first hat trick of his NHL career Sunday and now has 19 goals on the season, and it couldn't be hapening at a better time. Cullen last year battled through a head injury and was never able to capture the scoring form that he is acapable of adding. Now Cullen is right and the Canes are reaping the rewards. Add into the mix that Carolina now has balance on three lines with Rod Brind'Amour centering Patrick Eaves and Jussi Jokinen and providing jam and some scoring pop.
The Canes limited the Avalanche to just 19 shots on goal and played a complete team game in their end. The defense added yet more offense, this time with Joni Pitkanen to give the Canes a 4-2 lead. The Canes have Ottawa on Tuesday and Buffalo on Thursday, two games will go a long way into determining if the post season is in the Hurricanes plans. As long as the steady play of the last three games continues February should have this team on the march for a crucial month.
