After a lackluster effort in a 4-1 loss in the second half of a back-to-back on Friday, the hope was that a day off would see the team find a higher gear on Sunday. That did not happen — not even close. The Hurricanes again looked to be stuck in the mud early and again were eaten alive when San Jose applied pressure in their own end.
The story of the front part of the first period was San Jose having more jump in all regards just like Detroit on Friday. That resulted in the Hurricanes playing a disjointed game in terms of trying to move the puck up the ice cohesively when they had it and also spending more time without it defending under duress. The result was not surprisingly more chances against than for and ultimately San Jose striking first on the score board. The goal was yet another iteration of the Hurricanes struggling to sort things out in terms of defending the second set of players off the rush. Problems started when Noah Hanifin was a little bit slow but more significantly a took a horrible angle at a Sharks player in the corner thereby leaving a wide open passing lane to anywhere in the middle of the ice. Then the issue of the Hurricanes forwards failing to identify and mark assignments saw Timo Meier skate uncontested into the slot to receive and fire. With arguably the team’s only grade A scoring chance, the Hurricanes pulled even at 1-1 when Jordan Staal picked off a lazy pass and quickly fed Sebastian Aho for a point blank chance. Aho made no mistake in finishing. But some combination of the hockey gods righting the scoreboard and another really tough defensive sequence by the Hurricanes sent the game to the first intermission with San Jose leading 2-1. Somehow the Hurricanes found themselves with four players on the wall and one defending a defenseman up top. The result was Chris Tierney left alone in front of the net with enough time to autograph the puck before stick handling and beating Ward. The play was really just a horrible group break down, but Hanifin peeling off the pile of four in the corner to defend a player up top instead of finding the player standing at the top of the crease jumps out as another decision-making error for Hanifin. Add in another play that saw Hanifin go to defend a player in the corner when partner Pesce was defending the puck on the wall for a Joel Ward chance very similar to Tierney’s and Hanifin had officially logged his latest ‘train wreck’ game by the end of the first period. To be clear, it was not as if he was alone in his struggles especially early in the game.
Jordan Staal summarized the first period succinctly in his first intermission interview when he simply said, “It wasn’t good enough.”
Getting out of the first period would have been a gift, but even 2-1 set the game such that the team was still in range if they could rebound in the second period. But the Sharks scored next when Brent Burns fired through a screen to make the game 3-1 only 2:03 into the second period. Some combination of the third goal and a Brock McGinn fight seemed to help the Hurricanes find the smelling salts and a higher intensity level. The Hurricanes responded with more physical play and somewhat better pace, but it was not enough. The Hurricanes managed a few more scoring chance but were not able to finish on goalie Aaron Dell who was sound throughout and San Jose buttoned down the offense a bit with a two-goal lead and kept the Canes’ chances to shots where Dell had a chance.
Defending a two-goal lead in the third period, San Jose played a strong puck possession game in the third period, continued to clog up the neutral zone and defended well in their own end. Even when the Hurricanes tried to push not much came of it. Teravainen whiffed on a centering pass and Stempniak and Faulk had decent shots from inside the top of the face-off circles, but in total the third period was also light in terms of grade A scoring chances.
Notes from the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 to the San Jose Sharks
1) Sebastian Aho
Like Friday, there was not much for positives, but Sebastian Aho continuing to lead the way offensively was easily one of them. The Aho/Staal/Teravainen line was actually pretty good overall in the midst of all of the things imploding around them. Aho had a goal obviously. Teravainen had a couple pretty good chances. Staal had one point blank chance (though I think on the power play). And in total the line was good.
After a slow start, Aho has been an offensive bright spot and now has 12 goals in his last 15 games at a time when the team needs to push upward.
2) Noah Hanifin
Rookie Haydn Fleury stood out in a bad way on Friday. Sunday was Hanifin’s turn. As important context, I believe it is true that the volume of what I have termed ‘train wreck’ games for Hanifin are decreasing this year, and he really has not suffered from extended stretches of sub-par play. But the occasional off game appeared in a big way on Sunday. By the end of the first period, he had been a primary player in leaving a Sharks player in front of Cam Ward along and had a lackadaisical relapse in terms of attention to detail on the first goal. Then when the Hurricanes tried to dial up the intensity level in second period he had a nice hit stepping up in the offensive zone but in the process created a 3-on-1 rush behind him.
3) Brock McGinn
I continue to be impressed with McGinn. First and most importantly, his game ranks as high as anyone else’s on the team in terms of finding his skating legs and an intensity level game in and game out. And while I am not a fan of staged fighting in the NHL and recognize that it does not count as a goal, I think there are times when absolutely nothing else is working and a sluggish team needs a spark or at least to make a clear ‘this is not okay’ statement. I think McGinn’s fight was well-timed as long as fighting is still part of the game.
4) Lack of offense
As I noted in the game preview, recent scoring issues have been overshadowed by one big six-goal effort and a few low scoring wins, bu the trend continued. In their last nine games, the Hurricanes have now been held to a single goal five times. Not surprisingly, the team is 0-5 when scoring only once and is a perfect 4-0 when scoring at least twice. The team just is not generating much offensively right now.
5) Cam Ward
Since goaltending is almost always front of mind lately, I feel like I have to comment on goaltending. While I do think the opposing goalie has been better in both of the two weekend losses, I do not in any way think you can pin either loss on the Canes goalies. The Hurricanes were outplayed in both games and had the type of break downs that just make for too many tough chances against.
6) Afternoon woes
The Hurricanes did collect an important Sunday afternoon win to close out a tough Thanksgiving week against the Nashville Predators, but the three matinees since then have been absolutely horrible. Toronto 8-1 loss. Calgary 5-1 loss. San Jose 3-1 loss. The total is 16 goals against and 2 goals for and three games in which the Hurricanes were mostly defeated by the end of the first period and never recovered.
7) Slipping away
As I said in my game preview, Sunday’s game was truly pivotal for the week. With a win, the Hurricanes would have capitalized with a 3-1 mark in four home games, but instead the team netted a treading water 2-2 that just is not good enough this time of year. By no means does the pair of weekend losses end the season, but I think it is fair to say that the wood for the coffin is at least up on the work bench at this point.
The urgency is increasing. The team needs to start finding desperation BEFORE things become truly desperate.
Next up is game five of seven at home against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
Go Canes!
Well, Tom, you’ve tried working on marketing improvements…kudos to encouraging the fans to support the team! Now, how about making some changes to improve the ON-ICE PRODUCT?
My suggestions would start AT THE TOP…
WHO, after all, is responsible for a team who struggles to score more than one goal…frequently? …at home? Who spends as little as possible, for years, to maintain a losing team?
Who claims to have LOADS OF GREAT PROSPECTS (in Charlotte), but does’nt even bother to try them out here?
Where is the concern and effort-to-fix this sub-par, cellar-dwelling team?
Tom, please put a little effort /money to work on fixing YOUR TEAM!
…OUR TEAM…WE WANT A BETTER TEAM…A TEAM TO BE PROUD OF!
…this is a plea coming from an original “FOUNDING PARTNER”, ie. Season-Ticket-Holder 1st year in G’boro!
Ditto: season ticket holder from day one, went to first cool bars above Brier Creek, photo of me and my eldest daughter when she was 5 months old, turns 21 in March, that is how long we have been supporting this team!!
My daughter at 5 months anc I were first picture with a Cane in N&O after that Cool Bars!!!
Need an experienced GM and a coach who the players respect, a winning coach.
If Peters stays, bring in talent, trade Rask, Faulk, Darling, Ryan, Skinner, GIVE THE “C” to AHO NOW!!!
Welp…at least we are consistent in .500 hockey. Imagine if we converted 3 of 4 points the last two games, that alone would have pushed us into playoff standing and made a statement we ARE ready. Instead, we are hovering the bubble line yet again and did not capitalize. At this point it is clear we lack enough capitalists. While GMRF likes his team, and rightfully so, Dundon may feel it’s time to make some kind of move. The current core is not getting it done, and I’m not sure how many chances we need to see before making said moves.
Skinner, Faulk, Lindholm, Darling, Kruger, Ryan, Nordstrom…be prepared.
The team we are currently putting on the ice is not good enough to do much of anything other than hover in mediocrity. Nordstrom, DiGuiseppe, Kruger, and Jooris as a group have contributed 6 goals this season as a group. If we had an Ovechkin or Malkin or Crosby type player, we might be able to afford such an ineffective line. But, more to the point is why do we have to settle for this type of performance? Why are RF and BP so enamored with these players? Do we not have three forwards in Charlotte that could produce collectively more than 6 goals in 50+ games? If the answer is “No”, then who is fooling who and we are in deeper trouble than we thought since we have been applauding how deep our minor system is. Jooris, while no scoring machine himself, has scored 3 goals (50% of what this foursome has scored in many less games), yet of the quartet he is the one that sits in the stands during our games.
None of the above makes sense to me. No wonder we have complacency on this team. If the coach “likes” you seems to be the criteria for making the team. Not ability.
We have infused one rookie into the lineup this year (Fleury) and it took us two years to get him here (a first round pick). Last year we added Aho as a rookie. We are adding one rookie a year to our roster while our competitors are adding two or three a year. This being the case, we are never going to be competitive for the playoffs. When we have holes to be filled at the NHL level, action to remedy the deficiencies has to be swift. We cannot (and no other successful team in the league does not) wait around for two or three years for some “prospect” to develop who “might” solve the problem. I believe RF is a smart man and believe he has developed a good pool of young talent in Charlotte. I do not agree with him if he feels it is OK or smart when we have obvious needs with the Canes that we don’t give those young assets a chance to fill the holes we have.
I am tired of going to games and witnessing what I have seen in the Detroit and San Jose games over and over again. The team is not progressing, it has stagnated, and the coach and GM appear to be doing nothing about it.
RF and BP start listening to puckgod and get your fannie’s in action. Do something now to show you have some ability besides “patience.”
Well put, we have some of the top scorers in the AHL, Zykov, Vogele (top scoring rookie), Walmark (we gave him a cursory look over a member of games, he didn’t pan out but he had flashes of potential, way more so than, say, Kruger). I don’t know why PDG is on this team I haven’t seen him do anything positive (although I don’t think he was playing today, the team was so lackluster that I am not even sure who was on the 4th line).
We clearly see it in the player and coach interviews that mediocrity is acceptable and there is no pressure on the players to perform.
BP needs to go, and I am not happy with RF either. The honeymoon is over, the team is not trending any better than in years past, we see no progress, the salary is about to take a major hike across the board. It’s time for change, playoff or bust, stop hovering in the mediocrity of the last 9 years.
OH, and give the captaincy to JW, start it now, staal and Faulk cannot complain since clearly they have not been taking the team in the right direction. Get the switch over this season and get JW a chance to establish himself as the leader in the lockerroom.
Breezy, your second paragraph sums my feelings up very clearly. Things are not getting any better. Management is trying to sell us on the idea of “Just wait until all these young prospects in the system mature or morph into difference makers.” Management does this even though their lack of action indicates they don’t believe we have anyone in Charlotte that can help or improve this team. They treat our current roster players as if they are so valuable that they can’t be improved upon, yet this team has scored one or less goals in 5 out of the last 9 games. We need more shooters and goal scorers and fewer pass first finesse type players.
We should see some names that otherwise would not have be available now become so. I think it’s time for Skinner to prosper elsewhere. Sure, good hustle of late but he’s too much a liability and searching for linemates after 7+ seasons. Problem is other teams know this. It’s clear Aho and Turbo have passed him on the depth chart, it’s time. It may also be time for Faulk and Lindholm. All three players are historically inconsistent over the last few seasons, especially when you need them most. These potential trades are usually draft day types as teams have more financial flexibility then, but I wouldn’t wait if we can help it. I would also send Darling back to Chicago and eat salary (or waive him outright). The returns on some of these deals may actually fill some holes. Bring up Ned to backup and see where this lands us at draft day.
I said all along Canes should have picked Monahan over Lindholm and Francis made another stupid pick, he comes from that pathetic Rutherford mold, barely knows how to select talent.
Time to hire a outside GM that has had success and knifes his to put talent together, Francis Gad 4 years, ENOUGH!!!
He and Rutherford have not selected a great goalie prospect in 12 years, are you kidding, how can that happen!!!
Francis is 0-3 with goalies, not including the below average prospects he selected.
I was at the game. Pretty disappointing. It was clear at the start, bad passing and slow. They had the previous day off to get their legs back. That sure worked. Its broke, a few guys have passion but most were just going through the motions. The coach does not get the guys ready to go, the captains do not motivate the team, etc. We have some talented players but its not enough.
I felt skinner was a keeper but the lack of goals, the big plus/minus, and defensive liability… I find myself changing my mind and agree with live_free_or_die’s comments. I agree with everything said above and every player listed in the comments above should start to worry about their jobs, BP and RF included. I said a while ago I was done with Darling. We are close to the playoffs but no real emotion.
This is not hate mail, it is just realizing what reality is. There needs to be changes. I am hoping Dundon will force something.