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GDT: Canes v. Caps 1/2 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
I hope everyone made it back here safely and is staying reasonably warm. The Canes open the 2018 calendar year with a game against the Caps.

The teams haven't played yet this year but will knock out 3 of the 4 games over the next 11 days, with an old fashioned home and home next Thursday and Friday. This also starts a stretch where the Canes will play 7 games over the next 13 days, leading into the 5 day break. The Canes carry a 6 game home winning streak into the game and have won 7 of their last 9 overall. Marcus Kruger didn't practice yesterday but Lee Stempniak continued to practice, albeit in a yellow jersey. His return could come before the break, although I imagine they'd want him to play a few games in Charlotte first. We'll see who's in and out after the 10:30 skate.

The Caps have overtaken the Devils and lead the Metro with 51 points in 40 games. They're only NHL .500 on the road at 8-8-3 and have lost their last 3 road games. Ovechkin is 2nd in the league with 24 goals and he also leads the team with 41 points, tied for 12th in the league. He's been relatively quite recently though, with 3 goals in his last 10 games and ony 1 in his last 6. Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson have 27 assists, tied for 12th in the league. Braden Holby isn't having a great year by his standards. His GAA is 2.63, more than .50 goals worse than last year and his highest since 2013-14 season. His Save % of .918 is in line with his career average of .921. Their PP is 15th at 19.5% but 10th on the road at 20.8%. Their PK is 21st at 80.4% and 18th on the road at 79.2%. They're 7th in the league in FO % at 51.4%, not far behind the Canes who are at 52.4%.

Fox Sports Carolinas for TV.
 
We enter this game still at that same spot in the standings that continues to confound this franchise. Hopefully THIS is the time we finally win one in that spot.

I agree with you on Stempniak needing to actually play games in the AHL before being allowed to suit up for the Canes. Before he can go on another conditioning stint he needs to be activated, so that means that either someone else would need to go in IR or Wallmark needs to be sent back down first (confounding as that is). Then of course the question will again arise...where would Stempniak actually play in this lineup? Although Victor Rask might have an answer to that question the way he is going with someone capable sliding over to center.
 
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cmaleski2 said:
We enter this game still at that same spot in the standings that continues to confound this franchise. Hopefully THIS is the time we finally win one in that spot.

I agree with you on Stempniak needing to actually play games in the AHL before being allowed to suit up for the Canes. Before he can go on another conditioning stint he needs to be activated, so that means that either someone else would need to go in IR or Wallmark needs to be sent back down first (confounding as that is). Then of course the question will again arise...where would Stempniak actually play in this lineup? Although Victor Rask might have an answer to that question the way he is going with someone capable sliding over to center.
Click to expand...

Stempniak seems like fine veteran trade bait fodder to dump if he can get back to playing any kind of useful minutes between now and the deadline. With the amount of depth and youth in the system, I just do not see how that guy fits anywhere on the Canes at this point.
 
Here is how they lined up in the morning skate. Kruger is still out so Wallmark stays in the lineup. Note the bottom 6 forwards. On D, Fleury draws back in with Faulk, Dahlbeck is back in the pressbox.

Aho-Staal-Teravainen
McGinn-Ryan-Lindholm
Skinner-Wallmark-Di Giuseppe
Nordstrom-Rask-Williams

Slavin-Pesce
Fleury-Faulk
Hanifin-van Riemsdyk

Ward starts in goal.
 
andyt said:
Here is how they lined up in the morning skate. Kruger is still out so Wallmark stays in the lineup. Note the bottom 6 forwards. On D, Fleury draws back in with Faulk, Dahlbeck is back in the pressbox.

Aho-Staal-Teravainen
McGinn-Ryan-Lindholm
Skinner-Wallmark-Di Giuseppe
Nordstrom-Rask-Williams

Slavin-Pesce
Fleury-Faulk
Hanifin-van Riemsdyk

Ward starts in goal.
Click to expand...

That's how Michael Smith tweeted them, with immediate Twitter comment about Williams being on the fourth.

But maybe this should really be more correctly viewed as Peters sorting them out this way:

Aho-Staal-Teravainen
McGinn-Ryan-Lindholm
Nordstrom-Rask-Williams
Skinner-Wallmark-Di Giuseppe

Skinner demoted to the fourth and Nordstrom elevated to the third with Rask and Wallmark still 3C and 4C. (only semi-:sarcasm)
 
andyt said:
Here is how they lined up in the morning skate. Kruger is still out so Wallmark stays in the lineup. Note the bottom 6 forwards. On D, Fleury draws back in with Faulk, Dahlbeck is back in the pressbox.

Aho-Staal-Teravainen
McGinn-Ryan-Lindholm
Skinner-Wallmark-Di Giuseppe
Nordstrom-Rask-Williams

Slavin-Pesce
Fleury-Faulk
Hanifin-van Riemsdyk

Ward starts in goal.
Click to expand...

Seems to me that unless and until Rask starts to contribute, we have an impossible combination situation up front when you combine that with already not having a legit 1C.
 
So Peters is still bagging on Williams and Skinner. I guess we can forget about changes to that first power play unit that has been boring opponents silly for weeks.
 
Elsker said:
That's how Michael Smith tweeted them, with immediate Twitter comment about Williams being on the fourth.

But maybe this should really be more correctly viewed as Peters sorting them out this way:

Aho-Staal-Teravainen
McGinn-Ryan-Lindholm
Nordstrom-Rask-Williams
Skinner-Wallmark-Di Giuseppe

Skinner demoted to the fourth and Nordstrom elevated to the third with Rask and Wallmark still 3C and 4C. (only semi-:sarcasm)
Click to expand...

Two 3rd and a half lines.

And for a positive spin on this: It is better than the two 4th lines that were iced the last several years. So things are getting better.
 
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JWilly has been a tale of two players so far. Guy continues to hustle whenever he's out there and is one of the few to have a little grit to him. On the other side, he has made many many bad passes so far this year. A little too much "French pastry" as Al McGuire would call it, as opposed to just making a safe effective pass.
 
PDG with Wallmark and Skinner is fine...the guy plays with energy and is not completely without skill. I look at those lines and see no 4th line and 2 3rd lines. Assuming Peters puts them out with some logic attached then all 12 players will be getting plenty of quality time and opportunity tonight.
 
cmaleski2 said:
PDG with Wallmark and Skinner is fine...the guy plays with energy and is not completely without skill. I look at those lines and see no 4th line and 2 3rd lines. Assuming Peters puts them out with some logic attached then all 12 players will be getting plenty of quality time and opportunity tonight.
Click to expand...

Well, I hope that's the case. I know Skinner has been less than stellar recently (a turnover machine) and Williams has thrown way too many soft passes that are easily picked up by the opponent, but moving our leading goal scorer and one of our leading point-producing veterans down to the 3rd and 4th lines smells of coaching crankiness to me. We need these guys playing more minutes if we are to have a shot at the playoffs.
 
Its not just Bill Peters that does this. Cam Atkinson played some on the Jackets 4th line and was a healthy scratch for a game I believe this season. He's been struggling all season.

I could see Wallmark and PDG actually getting Skinner going. Saddling Williams with Nordstrom and Rask? Well, yeah, that is probably not going to get Williams going in the right direction.
 
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