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GDT: Canes @ Sens 2/18 7:30

cmaleski2

cmaleski2

Well-known member
First game of a back to back scenario for the Canes takes them to Ottawa to face the struggling Sens.

Sens are 1-3 since the big Dion Phaneuf acquisition with just a shootout win. Erik Karlsson leads the NHL with 52 assists. Mike Hoffman and Bobby Ryan are the goal scorers with 24 and 20. Craig Anderson has a 2.80 GAA and .916 Sv%. As you can guess with those goalie numbers, Ottawa allows a LOT of shots, they are worst in the league with 33.1 shots allowed per game.

Canes will be without Justin Faulk again tonight. Cam Ward is healthy enough to be the backup tonight, but Peters noted yesterday that he has yet to decide on his starter for tonight. I still expect it to be Eddie Lack.

Fox SportsSouth for TV tonight.

Lot of other games of interest for the Canes playoff hopes tonight...Detroit @ Pittsburgh, Jets at TB, Caps at Isle, Boston at Preds, NYR at Toronto...(teams in bold are the teams we are rooting for).

So lots of important action tonight. These are 2 points the Canes don't want to be leaving on the table tonight against a team that they are better than.
 
Put the boot on the neck of this Sens team.Some distance from them and a few other teams would serve us well down the stretch.
 
Need a win tonight. This must be tough on RF. The Canes are close to the bubble and yet he can't afford to lose sight of the future.
 
I have noted that Cam's recovery time from injuries seems to be inversely proportional to just how well Eddie is playing. :sarcasm
 
8 minutes in and the canes look like the canes of last year. Ottawa is beating them at their own game.
 
And Bush cross checked Rubio and Cruz slashed Trump :) I guess we get 1 more game of mudslinging for the SC vote. :rolleyes(2):
 
Not a particularly good game for our guys, they battled, to the end. Props for pulling the goalie so early. Think Faulk's absense starting to show (3rd period of last game actually..).
 
Thought we played OK, but their net-minder was better than ours. Eric Staal can't hit the side of a barn right now. We had enough to win this game and it's sad that we couldn't capitalize.
 
ThinIce said:
Thought we played OK, but their net-minder was better than ours. Eric Staal can't hit the side of a barn right now. We had enough to win this game and it's sad that we couldn't capitalize.
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It is incredible his decline, like the freaking blackhole. Possession monger maybe, but more akin to a BlackHole. Anybody on his line is sucked into his negation. This is hardly a news flash. He's needed a change of scenery to be quite honest for 2+ seasons at least and has just ground-pouted it down to where it is now. I empathize, but he must bore some responsibility here for his performance too. I mean, what gives?
 
JamesNorthern said:
It is incredible his decline, like the freaking blackhole. Possession monger maybe, but more akin to a BlackHole. Anybody on his line is sucked into his negation. This is hardly a news flash. He's needed a change of scenery to be quite honest for 2+ seasons at least and has just ground-pouted it down to where it is now. I empathize, but he must bore some responsibility here for his performance too. I mean, what gives?
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Last night watching the game it hit me how obvious I think it is that he is out of here and everyone around the organization knows it. John and Trip don't talk about him....at all. His only mentions are the usual trade deadline comment type stuff. No one mentions or brings up his play, which is now a staggering 7 games this month with zero points. This has mostly been true all year, but even the few shots he has been in on some commercials and promotional materials seem to have been taken out of rotation. Add in his recent interview comments to Ottawa media and the writing is clearly on the wall.

The more interesting thing is the play of Jordan Staal during the period above when all this is happening. He is now the player everyone thought he would be and earning his pay check. Well done Jordan and way to step up. That has to be an awkward weekly family dinner lately!
 
JamesNorthern said:
It is incredible his decline, like the freaking blackhole. Possession monger maybe, but more akin to a BlackHole. Anybody on his line is sucked into his negation. This is hardly a news flash. He's needed a change of scenery to be quite honest for 2+ seasons at least and has just ground-pouted it down to where it is now. I empathize, but he must bore some responsibility here for his performance too. I mean, what gives?
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Remember Brind'Amour's last year and a half? That was painful to watch, although Brind'Amour had a few more years on him than E12 does.
 
Results like last night again show how fragile the Canes playoffs chances are. We lost and everyone we are chasing got either 2 points (Tampa and Pens) or 1 (Isle). The hole just got deeper.

At this point it may benefit the Canes to have Eric Staal sit a game just to collect himself. I'll admit I had a pit in my stomach when he went feet first into the boards thinking that he might be injured.
 
cmaleski2 said:
At this point it may benefit the Canes to have Eric Staal sit a game just to collect himself. I'll admit I had a pit in my stomach when he went feet first into the boards thinking that he might be injured.
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It's weird, but my anger at his play has turned to sadness - I know this must be eating him up as much as it bothers us. Temporarily benching a sitting Captain is dicey and I doubt we would do anything like that before the deadline passes. However, I agree that it may be just what the team (and Staal) needs.
 
ThinIce said:
It's weird, but my anger at his play has turned to sadness - I know this must be eating him up as much as it bothers us. Temporarily benching a sitting Captain is dicey and I doubt we would do anything like that before the deadline passes. However, I agree that it may be just what the team (and Staal) needs.
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The body language says it all with Eric and for a Captain and leader to sulk and pout the way he has when he is slumping is one of his worst attributes. The head in the air and eyes rolled after missing a great scoring chance time and time again is not what leaders do. Follow up your chance, work even harder but don't just quit on the play. Awfully slow and nonchalant for a guy in a contract year that's only 32! At least Brindy in that last year had the years and mileage on the odometer as his biggest reason for the drop off in play.
 
Eric needs to bear down on his shots. Maybe practice starting with his back to the goal and quickly turn and hit a mounted target, preferably one that a trainer moves with a string or something. Seems he is blindly throwing pucks towards the net. The old "I'm not looking that way so they will be surprised when the puck magically goes in" and then the puck goes wide and way off target. Then comes the body language.
 
KTown11 said:
Eric needs to bear down on his shots. Maybe practice starting with his back to the goal and quickly turn and hit a mounted target, preferably one that a trainer moves with a string or something. Seems he is blindly throwing pucks towards the net. The old "I'm not looking that way so they will be surprised when the puck magically goes in" and then the puck goes wide and way off target. Then comes the body language.
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This happens way too often to be a practice issue or "not bearing down". His wrist(s)? or some part of his body has to be permanently screwed up. He gets no snap off his shot at all. Either way, he is a shell of the player he once was.
 
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