Friday, time for the Desert Dogs
Feb 6, 2009
It's a cloudy and rainy Friday morning here in NoCal. As the Hurricanes prepare for a southern trek into the desert, there is no reason to feel like the weather. The Hurricanes are as uplifted as they have been in a while, thanks to their 4-2 shoot out win over San Jose. There is real good chance that they left that feeling inside the walls of the Shark Tank because now they realize that they will play their toughest game of the trip Saturday night, at something called the Jobbing.com Arena. Phoenix, sits just a couple of points out of a playoff spot but have lost five games in a row. They are young and restless and realize that they need to keep their heads above water. The Canes have already beaten them once and can but an exclamation point on this business trip with a two more points.
Not much of an update on Eric Staal Thursday morning. He left last night game with a lower body ailment. We were told that he could have returned but was held out as a precaution. The Canes will not practice Thursday, so he will not be able to test his problem on skates. A determination will be made Friday as to his availability. I will say it is totally 50/50 in terms of his "iron man" streak continuing tomorrow.
Major contributions were made by many Thursday night. The "core of four" defensemen who logged major minutes were all monsters. Take a look at these numbers:
Tim Gleason 27:36, 2 shots, 3 hits, 5 blocks ... Joni Pitkanen 29:31, 2 shots, 4 blocks ... Anton Babchuk 25:50, 6 blocks ... Joe Corvo 32:27, 5 shots and 3 blocks. That's pretty impressive. Brian Rodney was limited to power play and some even strength, Frank Kaberle was used sparingly. At some point there will be a wear down factor, it's important that they use the day off well to close the trip strong. There is a definite possibility that Nic Wallin will play in Phoenix and the hope that Dennis Seidenberg (groin) can return on Thursday.
Michael Leighton needed the game of his season and he came through at the "Tank". The early storm of sixteen shots in period one was critical for him to get through. Not playing for a couple of weeks and not starting for over a month, it was not an easy call. He has been working very hard in practice and it showed. The first indicator would be his conditioning and he was ready. Secondly, if any aspect needs work it's his side to side movement and post to post he was solid. There were times in the second period when it appeared the Sharks had the Canes on the ropes after they made it 3-1. But they survived as the team, collapsed back in front of 49 and got him through.
The plan was to go to Cam Ward in Phoenix and I don't think that will change.
Have a great weekend !
