In what shapes up to be a challenging week schedule-wise, the second game features another high-powered offense in the Toronto Maple Leafs. Thus far, the Maple Leafs lead the entire NHL with 4.4 goals per game. (Insert jealous face.) The game represents another challenge for the defense which is still a work in progress and an even bigger one for the Hurricanes’ offense to try to keep up. The slight positive compared to Tuesday is that Maple Leafs are not nearly as well-rounded as the Lightning in terms of defensive acumen, coming in at 22nd in the league in goals against.
With the Hurricanes riding a two-game losing streak and facing the prospect of dipping below .500 for the first time this season, here is what I’m watching…
‘What I’m watching’ for the Carolina Hurricanes versus the Toronto Maple Leafs
1) The right kind of desperation
As I have said a couple times in the past few days, good teams that are struggling have an uncanny ability to find the right kind of desperation before things are truly desperate and can use it as a boost to grab a win or two even when things are not clicking. Bad teams are only able to muster desperation when things are truly desperate, and it is usually too late.
Call it random coincidence or consider it more, but Justin Williams who last fought on December 18, 2014 has had his gloves off in each of the past two games when the Hurricanes were struggling and needed to somehow find a higher gear. It is purely speculation on my part, but my hunch is that he senses the need to manufacture a higher intensity level and gear when things are not going the Hurricanes way.
On Thursday, I will be watching to see if the leaders and also the team in total can use the current bout of adversity to dial up the intensity level and roar out of it instead of meekly trying to wait out a slump.
2) The blue line
Especially on the road where Toronto can dictate match ups, Thursday will present a maximum test for the blue line which is still a work in process. Best bet is that Peters is forced to split Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin again, but when he tried that to start the season, it lasted exactly one period. Regardless of how Peters mixes and matches and how Babcock tries to dictate match ups, Toronto is deep enough offensively to come in waves, so it should be a good test for all six defensemen.
On Thursday night, I will be watching to see how the blue line performs against another top-tier offense.
3) A spark or two offensively
Now with one-goal offensive efforts now being the majority (four out of seven games), the Hurricanes need to find something that clicks. It is all hands on deck. Can the power suddenly find cohesion and more scoring chances? Can a player or two have a big game offensively when the team needs it? And can Coach Bill Peters find combinations that have chemistry and generate more offense? Regardless, as much as anything is possible in the NHL, going into Toronto with the current offensive power outage still intact and hoping to come out with a tightly played 2-1 win seems like a really dicey proposition.
On Thursday night, I will be watching to see if the Hurricanes can muster some semblance of sustained offensive that results in scoring.
4) Bill Peters and his ability to find something that clicks
Already mentioned above, I will be curious to see how the Hurricanes line up on Thursday. I have been beating the drum to put Sebastian Aho in a slot where he can handle and distribute the puck more for a full week already, but per usual Peters is not taking my calls. (Sigh.) Regardless, I will be watching to see how the Hurricanes line up on Thursday to see if different combinations can provide a spark or two.
A few other random comments as I ramble in 3-3-1 angst…
–This is a leadership game. Much was made of the captaincy this summer and the chips fell Staal-C, Faulk-C and Skinner-A. I have no idea what tools the group has at their disposal, but the very clear task for the captains right now is to rally the troops, help them find a higher gear and get any kind of win.
–Timing would also be right for a statement game in net that helps steal a needed win.
–Sebastian Aho at his core is a playmaker accustomed to playing with the puck on his stick in transition. With an offense desperate for scoring, PLEASE put Aho either at wing with less puck-centric center (Rask) or at center himself. Not putting Aho who is arguably the team’s second most dynamic offensive player in a position to leverage his natural skill set and potentially boost line mates in the process seems more bizarre with each passing game that sees the offense mostly sputtering.
The puck drops at 7:00pm on Fox Sports Carolinas with John, Tripp and Mike.
Go Canes!
This reminds me of an old saying, “A pessimist is an optimist with experience”. Even though we are 3-3-1 and not in terrible position standings-wise, the outstanding questions of this team have been the same as they were since 2010. That is 7+ years of the same concerns. Our scorers have difficulty scoring and our defense breaks down too easily.
Talent comes in several forms and players have changed, but no matter the talent we seem to have, collectively it’s a repeated issue of not getting pucks on net, too much perimeter play, lack of net presence, lack of physicality in our own end (allowing others to walk right in and take liberties). Rewind all the interviews and that’s all you hear.
The Caniac fans who have been through the ups and downs since day one understand this formula all too well. Which is why even with a decent start to the season, it’s clear to see the core problems. We can all say the first few games were close and that the Calgary game was a staple of how we should play, but we only scored twice and almost coughed up the lead late in that particular game so not sure that’s a barometer.
As Matt alluded to, this is time for desperation. We’ve had 7 preseason games and now 7 regular season matches. This team as constructed cannot have any more excuses. For whatever moves GMRF had or didn’t have at his desk this summer, I’m sure he’s paying attention.
The biggest problem I see is that GMRF appears focused on stats and structuring whereas Coach Peters uses stats to his advantage but deep down knows stats don’t lead to wins, chemistry does (and his lines don’t have enough). I think this is where BP and GMRF disagree and need to get on the same page.
I watched Columbus play Buffalo last night. Columbus scored 5 goals and Buffalo 1 goal in that game as follows:
1. Man (Jenner) in front of goalie screened a shot from outside that Bobrovsky never saw.
2. Man (Jenner) in front of goalie screened a shot from outside that Bobrovsky never saw.
3. Man in front of goalie outside shot rebounded in goalie area and was tapped in by man present in front of goalie.
4. Man in front of goaslie outside shot rebounded in vicinity of goalie and was tapped in by man present in front of goalie.
5. Breakaway in last minute of game man in on goalie alone with a trailer.
6. Buffalo goal: Man in front of goalie and goalie never saw outside shot.
Every goal they got was made possible by a man stationed directly in front of the goalie facing outward from the goalie. Scoring goals in any meaningful quantity requires a presence in front of the opposing goalie by a player willing to play there and who has decent hands. He doesn’t have to skate well, shoot well, or pass well. Those attributes might help him on defense, but a 2 or 3 goal lead in a game is a much better help.
There is a reason IMO that Columbus gets that in front of goalie presence and that is Tortorella the coach. If that is the case, despite all the other conversation, if we want to score (and thereby win) we need Peters to act like a coach and demand player presence in front of the goalie. Further, seeing this need, it makes no sense to me to see a Zykov, a player that plays in front of the opposing goalie, playing in Charlotte with 5 goals in 7 games.
JOB ONE: PUT SOMEONE IN FRONT OF THE OPPOSING GOALIE!
Peters needs to forget all the Nordie, Ginner, etc. nicknames because if no one will go in front of the opposing goal he can use “Pansy” for all of them.
TOR is not as strong defensively – they regularly yield 2-3 goals. They just score 6 a game! LOL! – a winning combination. So we need to take advantage of that weaker defense and keep the puck in the offensive zone as much as possible (think 1st and 3rd from TB game). With the Leafs’ speed it will be about neutral zone play and making sure their forwards don’t get behind our blueliners – and the Canes have been weak on that so far this season which will be challenging.
Can’t agree with you more RR. Get someone…..anyone in front of the goal tender. Look at what Simmons brings to the Flyers. He has made a living screening the goalie. He also has great hands.
This thread reminds me of Mike Flanagan of Section328 welcoming Bryan Bickell to the team last year. He said something like “whenever we have the puck just go in front of the goalie and stand there. Don’t move, don’t do anything, just act like a fencepost.” Ha!
We had some movement through the slot against TBL, but rarely timed a shot with the screen. It looks like a systematic thing that needs practice and refinement.
I would love to see Aho center an all Finn line, with Turbo and Kuokkanen.
It is time for our bottom 4/5 defensemen to find their games, that is a key not only for tonight but for every other game this season.