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Playoff GDT: Round 1, Game 3 Canes @ Sens 4/23 7:30

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
The series moves north and the Canes try to put a stranglehold on it.

Stankoven is ridiculously hot with a 10 game point streak. We’ll see how the Sens match up against him with the benefit of last change. There were no changes at practice yesterday and Andersen was in the starter’s crease and, with 2 days off since the last game, that probably won’t change. They’re skating this morning so we’ll see.

Ottawa might get dman Tyler Kleven back tonight, he skated at their optional practice yesterday. Artem Zub didn’t skate, it looks like he’s still out, but might return at some point.

FanDuel and TBS for TV.
 
Here’s the other wee brain block thing about Canes playoff woes— getting wins on the road. I expect Ottawa to come out firing on all cylinders, they’ve been in every game so far. If the Canes can come away with a road win in the series, it would be terrific!
 
I suspect we might eventually find that Zub has had his leg amputated, even though he’s listed as questionable. All jokes aside, getting Kleven back would be huge for them. He’s actually playable, unlike Thomson, which means they won’t have to hide that third pairing so much. That took a huge toll in Game 2 as that thing dragged into multiple OTs. Like I said yesterday, I don't think last change really helps Dallas Green much in this matchup, but having a functional third D pairing really will, especially if they can get a W tonight to get this series stretched out some. If they lose tonight, it won’t matter nearly as much.

The vast gap in team playoff experience here really factors in, I think. Ottawa’s going to be desperate and riding the crowd but that was true last year when they came home trailing Toronto 2-0 as well and all it got them was a trip to OT before they lost Game 3. They eventually found a couple of Ws and got that series to 6 games, but this Canes team is a far cry from the psych ward that was/is the Leafs. For me this feels a lot like the Canes’ series with Washington last year. Ottawa is a really good team and they’re game, but they’re relying on goaltending too much. As that series went on, Carolina figured it out because they had the experience not to lose their cool and get frustrated when things weren't going their way. This one feels the same way. The games are a struggle, to be sure … but I like Carolina’s chances to keep figuring out the puzzle as they get more cracks at it.
 
I met Dallas Green's son, John on a dive trip in the Turks & Caicos back in the early 1990s. Their family has a house on Provo and John was diving with the same operator we were. It blew John's mind that I remembered that he pitched for the Winston-Salem Spirits in the late 80s. Dallas was on the island at the time, but wasn't diving those days. Fun times.

Anyway, Lets Go 'Canes!

Jim
 
Line shuffling for the Sens tonight.

Tkachuk-Stützle-Batherson
Greig-Cozens-Giroux
Foegele-Pinto-Amadio
Cousins-Eller-Zetterlund

Sanderson-Matinpalo
Chabot-Spence
Gilbert-Thomson
Kleven-Crotty

Garrioch says that Kleven-Crotty is the 3rd pair tonight though.
 
That Ottawa 1st line was taking shifts late in the 3rd period and in OT. I expect that line to jump over the boards every time that our 2nd line is out there and possibly if our 4th line gets trapped on icings.

Line 3 will probably go against the Aho line, leaving line 2 the headache of having to deal with the Staal line.

They might not want to play that 4th line as much as Roddy will be rolling out our Jankowski line, so I expect all of those other 3 lines will get cracks at our 4th line.

It would be a good time for our 1st line to score actually have productive 5v5 shifts.
 
Honestly, if Ottawa tries to pair their 3rd line against Carolina’s 1st unit, it might get really ugly for them. Pinto has struggled so much keeping up with Stankoven that I shudder to think what Aho might do to him. And Carolina would LOVE to get that top line on track a bit. Going with Kleven and Crotty is fine so long as Kleven can handle a full load. It gets Gilbert out of the game, for one thing, and he’s been a mess. And clearly Green doesn’t trust Thomson in this situation, not that you’d blame him. He looked lost on Monday. Again, I keep saying it but I don’t see a heck of a lot of answers in line matching for Ottawa.
 
There's already a lot of debate about the home team officiating crew the Sens have tonight.

The league would benefit by taking control of these ugly games early in round 1 and cleaning things up.
 
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