Canes let opportunity slip away
Mar 1, 2009
Tags: Hockey, Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes did more than just lose to the Atlanta Thrashers 5-3 after leading by two goals with less than 10 minutes to play, the team missed an opportunity to take sole possession of seventh place in the East. Carolina jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the team did not play with the same urgency seen on the RBC Center ice on Thursday night and drifted through portions of the game. When Anton Babchuck gave the Canes a two goal cushion 1:41 into the third , Carolina shifted into neutral and Atlanta kicked it into high gear. Eric Staal said it best, "I think we sat back against a team that doesn't really have anything to play for and we were cheating on the rush and we made some mistakes and they capitalized. hose are mistakes we can't make this time of year."
Last night showed an area that the Canes need to address and can possible add at the deadline, toughness on the blue line. The defense for Carolina is built around skilled players who can jump into the play and provided offense, last night the team needed more players that can clear the puck out of danger areas and be physical against players like Ilya Kovalchuk who had way too much room to operate and had a hand in all five Thrasher goals. The Canes did not have Nic Wallin in the line-up and his physical presence was missed. But still Carolina could use one more blue liner who can take away time and space for the opponents top players.
This game could be attributed to playing down to the level of your opponent, and for at least 40 minutes Atlanta was content to let Carolina win the game without breaking too much of a sweat. If this was November, maybe that is acceptable, but with the playoffs on the line the Hurricanes have to play every opponent as if it is game one of a playoff series and set the tone. With both Buffalo and Florida losing the Canes had a chance to get into the top eight and put pressure on their opponents to win. Now the calendar turns to March and the Canes cannot afford to have any more down shifts.
Most Recent Comments
RE: Canes let opportunity slip away
The Hurricanes have a lot of good players, but are not a good team. Certainly a lot of the players are not playing up to their potential, but I think the biggest problem is not on the bench, but behind the bench.Mr. Rutherford: After the season ends on April 11 (or sooner would be fine), please hire a good coach for this team. Please do not limit your search to personal friends. A coach with a proven record of winning would certainly be best, but if that's not possible, an untested but promising new coach would be better than one with a long-term proven record of slightly sub-.500 mediocrity.
Mr. Karmanos: If Mr. Rutherford refuses to hire a good coach and insists on keeping one with a career sub-.500 record that is unable to get a team of good players to be a good team, please hire a good general manager who will hire a good coach.
RE: Canes let opportunity slip away
Mike;You are bang on with this blog today. Can not spin any green remarks on this one!
Bottom line is, that Nic Wallin should have been in the lineup, but to steal your tagline-in the new NHL, the reason why Kaberle(like the player-but his time has passed for what he can bring to the team)has been in the line up instead is that the Canes front office is hoping someone may make a trade for him and get his 2 million off the books for next season. I can only hope that Rutherford does indeed move him by the trade deadline and we get some more "seasoned" help up front.
I heard that the Oilers and Eric Cole have not been a good fit this year, so perhaps we could see a deal with Cole coming back and Kaberle leaving. Makes sense to me as Cole is only under contract for this season.
The only thing the Canes fans can hope for, is that as hurtful this loss was last night, Rutherford realizes he can not stand pat at the deadline, he has to move someone like Kaberle or perhaps Gleason(great player-but takes stupid penalties like last night) and hope something comes back in return that can stop the cycle of not being a playoff team year after year as I am afraid that is where the Canes are right now.
Pull the trigger, Rutherford....
