Last weekend, the Canes lost an important weekend opener to the Penguins, but then rebounded with a resounding win on Saturday against the Islanders and followed it up with another against the Jets on Tuesday. This weekend started yesterday with a loss to the Senators and sees another quick turnaround and a chance to rebound.
Last week’s festivities were hockey-related. Tonight’s are Star Wars. But with the Canes still playing well, there is cause for optimism that the team can again rebound.
The San Jose Sharks come in playing well with a 4-0-1 mark in their past 5 games. They also bring a powerful offense that is fourth in the league in terms of goal scoring and also fourth on the power play. When you couple a rejuvenated Joe Thornton with some scoring ability on his wings in Tomas Hertl and Joe Pavelski and then through in some Brent Burns to basically add another forward from the blue line, you get goals in bunches. Being on home ice, Jordan Staal’s line will see another night of match up hockey just like last weekend against Crosby’s line and then Tavares’ line. That match up will be critical to deciding the outcome as will likely be the Canes search for more production from its other top lines.
Here is what I will be watching Friday night:
1) Here we go again – Jordan Staal’s line as the stopper
Nestrasil/JStaal/Nordstrom has been absolutely stellar holding down other teams’ scoring lines on home ice where Coach Bill Peters can drive this match up. (On the road, opposing coaches are mostly able to steer around this match up that they do not want.) The goal is for Jordan Staal and company to at least break even. They have been doing better than that on many nights. That puts the ball on the tee for the Canes other lines to win their match ups and a hockey game in the process.
2) But what about that depth scoring?
Scoring past Jordan Staal’s line has been sporadic at best of late. The Canes do have a couple huge outbursts but also have also seen Victor Rask and Eric Staal’s lines shut out on many nights. The trio of Eric Staal, Kris Versteeg and Phil Di Giuseppe has notched only 2 goals in 7 games since the all-star break. They continue to play a decent game in terms of possession and are still generally winning Corsi battles. In theory, if you win the Corsi/possession battle, you should eventually be rewarded with scoring. The Canes could really use some ‘eventually’ from that line right now. Riley Nash has been a huge bright spot of late stepping into Justin Faulk’s slot on the power play and leading the way in terms of goal scoring past Jordan Staal’s line. Here is hoping that the lines more expected to score can provide a bit more.
3) Goalie
I have not seen a report from the morning skate yet, but Cam Ward is supposedly ready to go again. (He backed up on Thursday.) With the back-to-back and ‘meh at best’ outing from Lack on Thursday, I would expect Ward to get the start in net.
I continue to think that the Canes 2015-16 season hangs on whether the team can find a burst of scoring from at least 1 of the other top 3 lines. Especially when a road-heavy March schedule kicks in, the team will need more balance to win at the pace that it needs to not only match but beat the teams ahead of them.
The puck drops at about 7:07pm at PNC Arena.
Go Canes!
