Breakdown: Kings outwork Canes, Carolina winless in 13 straight

By Mike Maniscalco
Nov 11, 2009

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The Carolina Hurricanes are winless in thirteen straight, yes it is that bad.

Game Breakdown: The Hurricanes take a penalty early that results in a Kings goal as Ryan Smyth knocks it past Manny Legace after Legace made the initial save. After 20 minutes the Canes were outshot 13-2 and big reason why penalties again, the Canes did successfully kill off a 5 on 3 power play chance for a 1:50 that started to change momentum for the Canes, but Carolina was thoroughly outplayed in the first 20 minutes. But the Kings strike early in the second 2:01 in the period Jarret Stoll redirects one past Legace for a 2-0 lead. The Canes then start to dictate play and Tuomo Ruutu blisters a shot past King netminder Erik Ersberg to make it 2-1 and the Canes outshoot L.A. 11-7 in the period and also start to win the physical battles with Andrew Alberts laying out solid checks to Kings forwards. In the third period Tuomo Ruutu ties it on a wrister but the tie would be short lived. The Kings retake the lead on Andy Jones power play goal, into an open net after a neat play by former Cane Justin Williams to lure the defense to him and ease a pass to Jones. Alexander Frolov then sets up Wayne Simmonds for a back breaking goal to make it 4-2. with 9:55 left in the game. To add insult to the Canes 13th consecutive game without a win, Justin Williams, the former Hurricanes scored into an empty net to seal the game with 1:41 remaining.

The Difference: The Kings outworked the Hurricanes playing a more desperate brand of hockey. L.A. looked like a team needing a win . That and the two power play goals, the first to start the game, the second to win it.

What it means: The Canes have the worst record in hockey and have no answers of correcting that anytime soon.

Off the boards: Justin Williams has 10 assists which would lead the Hurricanes, and 5 goals which would also lead the team. Tuomo Ruutu doubled his season scoring output with two goals tonight to give him 4 on the season.

Three stars: 1st star: Canes Tuomo Ruutu, he scored 2 goals and was physical, he just wasn't enough offense by himself. 2nd star: Kings Justin Williams, he wanted to make an impact in his return to Carolina and did by setting up the game winner and scoring the empty net goal to cement the Kings win. 3rd star: Kings Randy Jones, tallied his first assist and goal of the season tonight and blocked four shots.

Penalty box: Penalties again that lead to two power play goals. The Canes were 0-2 on the PP and are without a power play marker in their last 23 chances. Never mind the 13 game winless streak, Carolina has not earned a point in the last 7 games.

Up next: Friday at home against the NY Islanders a team that beat Carolina in a shootout earlier this year. 7:00 face off.

Most Recent Comments

RE: Breakdown: Canes hammer Panthers 7-2

Great win and a boost for them.

RE: Breakdown: Canes hammer Panthers 7-2

The Canes shooting was on the money in this game. Kostopaulos's defensive steal and then scoring was outstanding. Even though the Panthers did help the Canes with mistakes, they looked very confident in shooting the puck. Matt Cullen's goal was a laser and Brind'Amour's shot hit the right top side of the net. Great game guys, keep it up.

RE: Breakdown: Canes hammer Panthers 7-2

Apparently jgunn was right the other night about the squeaker of a win over Tampa Bay giving the guys confidence. That game didn't give me much more confidence because I needed to see some offense to feel better. Obviously the Panthers game showed some offense! That was great to see - especially with so many different guys scoring.

The Panthers helped a lot with some mistakes, but it was good to see the 'Canes cash those in. In the earlier games, they missed a lot of their chances.

I'm still a little concerned about how many opportunities the opponents are getting. Cam made some great saves and the Panthers missed some good chances last night. But I'm still feeling a lot better about this team after last night's game. That was more like what I thought they're capable of,

RE: Breakdown: Canes hammer Panthers 7-2

Great team effort from the Canes in this game. It's a good sign that the Canes didn't let up on the gas even though they led this game from the start. I'm concerned about Pikinen though and hope he can play tonight.

WRAL Sports Fan

Mike Maniscalco