On the surface, the Carolina Hurricanes deserved better in their 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Friday. The game was sloppy, but the Hurricanes were the better team and won the battle in terms of possession time and shot totals. And then even when they did seemingly score, the goal was wiped away by an offsides that happened earlier and had little to do with the goal
But on the other hand, this game was eerily reminiscent of bad Canes teams from years past that chucked bushels of mostly harmless shots at the net but did not fare as well in terms of winning battles to score goals in close or simply in terms of raw finishing ability.
The game was a strange with regard to what paths might have been expected for it. After some wild 10-goal affairs during the past two seasons, the Isles who entered the game ranked dead last in goals against tried to patch holes in the ship, play a more defensively-oriented style and slow the Canes offensively. In a strange way, it mostly worked. The Isles seemed to give the puck up at will at times, but were nearly perfect in terms of staying on the right side of the puck and keeping the Hurricanes from generating anything on the rush or unmarked in close. The first period was a sluggish and sloppy one with the Isles apparently focused first and foremost on staying out of trouble and the Hurricanes playing along by dialing down into a slow, methodical and more sideways than north-south approach to advancing the puck. The Hurricanes tallied a massive 16 shots on net, but because of how many were from the outside, I think the shot total overstates how dangerous the Hurricanes really were in the first period and also helped Thomas Greiss play his way into the game.
The second period started with more of the same. The Hurricanes continued to be the better and control possession and shot totals but just like the first period were unable to convert either to a goal. As often happens when a team controls play for a long time, momentum shifts when opponent scores first. And that is what happened at almost exactly the midway point of the second period. Johnny Boychuk fired what looked like a fairly harmless shot from the blue line and beat Ward to get the Islanders on the scoreboard first. It is hard to tell from the replay whether Ward was screened or if maybe he was actually just distracted by screen (as in he looked away from the shooter). Regardless, after mustering even less for scoring chances for the Canes, the Isles struck first. Then the Hurricanes seemed to scored when Jeff Skinner fired a shot from between the face-off circles, but the goal was waved off because the Hurricanes were offside. And that maybe was just the perfect indicator of how the night was going to go for the Hurricanes without reversing course. Despite being outshot 28 to 15 through two periods, the Islanders carried a 1-0 lead into the locker room.
The Hurricanes did try to push in the third period, but the Isles were even more content to sit back and defend the middle of the ice in the offensive zone. Combined with the Hurricanes sloppiness moving the puck from stick to stick that was a recipe for more offensive zone time but also a relative shortage of grade A scoring chances. A puck-handling mishap at the offensive blue line that saw Noah Hanifin miss on a pass to Justin Faulk. Faulk reacted lackadaisically and instead of mustering the desperation to either get a piece the puck to knock it forward or tie it up on the boards, he mostly fumbled around and sent the Isles off to the raises. Hanifin chased down the eventual goal scorer from behind but seemed torn on whether to try to defend the play cleanly or just tackle the Isles player for a penalty. That was just the opening he needed to beat Ward and make it 2-0 Islanders. To add insult to injury John Tavares scored late without even putting the puck in the net when he was tripped on a breakaway with an empty net.
More than anything, the game reminded me of Hurricanes games from 4-5 years ago that saw the team struggle to score and then try to solve the problem by simply dialing up the volume of what was not working (chucking too many harmless shots at the net).
Recap/notes from the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders
1) The power outage rears its ugly head again
I have written multiple times in the past week about the Hurricanes struggles to find enough offense from the forwards and how it had been overshadowed by a couple big games led by blue line power play and a small group of forward scorers. None of Staal, Teravainen, Stempniak, Ryan or Nordstrom have scored since the home stretch started on January 30. And Williams, Rask, Lindholm and Di Giuseppe are stuck on a single goal during that stretch. That adds up to a total of goals for nine forwards over a stretch of 90 total games. The surge in scoring by the blue line and power play in a couple outburst games mask a problem that continues to grow.
2) 31st! 31st!
The game was bizarre to me. The Islanders who are dead last in the league in goals against made adjustments and with them shut the Hurricanes out. A shutout is never good obviously, but it would be somewhat different it were a good defensive team playing tight hockey to its strengths. But the Islanders entered as the absolute worst team defensively in the NHL, and Thomas Greiss came into the game with a sub-.890 save percentage and a goals against average that had somehow ballooned to more than 4.00.
3) The two things that bother me most
First, I come out of a game like this asking myself what this team’s identity is or at least hopes to be. It is unclear to me what the Hurricanes aim to be. Theoretically, they could be a fast-skating attacking team offensively, but the slow, step-wise methodical, ‘don’t make a mistake’ style of moving the puck cautiously up the suggests that is not it. Because of the intermittent struggles defensively and sub-par goaltending, it does not seem realistic to aim to win regularly with air tight defense. And therein maybe lies the problem. It is not clear what exactly the repeatable version of good Carolina Hurricanes hockey in 2017-18 looks like. Occasionally, it is high tempo offense. Other times it is a puck possession game that stays out of trouble and generates enough offense to eek out wins. Here and there it is a defensive brand of hockey seemingly built to win 2-1. But over any course of longer than a handful of games even when good, I just do not get any sense that there is a repeatable formula that strings together the dozen or more games of strong hockey that this probably needs to make the playoffs.
Second, the inability of this team to find the higher gear after pushing up to where they want to be is completely and utterly maddening. Under no circumstances can this team obtain and then keep good things. Need a bounce back after a horrible loss? The Hurricanes quite often have responded admirably and found that. Need a couple wins to push up the standings? The Hurricanes have been able to do that multiple times? Need to take care of business against bad teams? The Hurricanes have significantly improved in that regard in 2017-18? But in the event that the team manages to climb its way a small amount above the playoff fray, it has unanimously resulted an ‘exhale’ type setback that sees the team unable to muster the desperation and hunger that got them there. Desperate play continues to be reserved for truly desperate situations which pretty much assures that the team will continue to find its way back there.
4) Noah Hanifin as the intensity increases
In trying to find a couple positives, I have been watching the young players closely in games like this that take on a bit of a playoff-like element. Hanifin was involved in the turnover and goal against mishap for the Isles second which was obviously not a great moment, but in general, I continue to like his ceiling. His scoring has slowed a bit but has still taken strides forward this season. I also really like his potential when things dial up and get faster and more physical. Even when pace picks up, Hanifin is at the top of the group in terms of speed and skating ability. And when the physical play rises, Hanifin is big enough and strong enough to hold his own. His game is still a work in progress in terms of eliminating the occasional defensive lapses, but he projects to be capable of dialing up the physical part of his game when that is required in big games.
5) Jeff Skinner
Today’s goal did not count unfortunately, but I still give him credit for starting to carry the mail again offensively after a slow stretch. With the aforementioned power outage that spans three-fourths of the Hurricanes forward group, the timing could not be better.
6) Cam Ward
I am not sure what to make of his game. The team in front of him did not score, so that rightfully is the story of the game. I am unsure what to think about the first goal he allowed. I guess best case, he was screened but with screen out a ways, he should have been able to find a sight line. Worst case, I wonder if he was just fooled and that the shot came just as he looked away from the shooter to the potential screen. Regardless of how one wants to grade Ward, the goalie at the other end of the rink was better which hurts when that is one of the worst goalies in the league this season.
7) Still alive despite more signs of trouble
Despite whatever negatives everyone wants to justifiably heap on top of Friday’s loss or the back-to-back losses, the Hurricanes will still wake up on Saturday morning very much in the playoff chase. The Hurricanes are only a point behind the Islanders with a game in hand and are tied with the Blue Jackets but giving up a game in hand.
It’s not over. It just feels like it too often.
Next up is a rematch against the New Jersey Devils this time at PNC Arena on Sunday. With two consecutive losses, the importance of that game has grown.
Go Canes!
It was ugly!
Good thing we are keeping two of the top 3 scorer down in the AHL, because, you know, the Checkers are important, much more important than bringing some scoring to the parent club.
I predict BP will sense the need and shake up the roster badly, he may even go as far as to put Nordstrom on the first line and play Darling as an extra defenseman.
Just to add to your comments breezy…we have so many prospects in Charlotte that we have six each night sitting in the stands as healthy scratches including our last year’s first round draft pick (Gauthier). Why won’t we bring a couple of scorers up which would not only possibly bolster the Canes and would allow for playing time in Charlotte for a couple of forwards who are sitting in the stands nightly. We apparently do this so we can start last night’s game with Nordstrom, Rask and Stempniak as our opening line. Another of the coach’s hunches I guess that they were going to have a breakout game scoring wise or a reward for their outstanding performances in the past few games maintaining their perfect non-scoring streak.
Apparently, RF has decided that what I paid for my season tickets this year was not for going to meaningful games competing for the Cup. My money was a donation to support the team to insure the fans who are sitting at home waiting for the team to improve will have a team here in Raleigh. RF has no commitment to me to do his best to put the best team on the ice NOW. If the team doesn’t improve, the homesitters will stay at home and RF and TD will again expect me to be a dupe and ante up another “donation” for next year. That expectation is wearing thin. I don’t enjoy going to games where the team doesn’t show up to play in 40% of their home games, with half empty stands, and management putting no priority on remedying existing on ice performance deficiencies.
At least RF is still happy with the team, so we must be…?
What, me worry?
Wonder how happy TD is now? Think he’s making a lot on his investment?
This is why stats don’t mean much in the end. We just lost to a goalie with AHL numbers and we had better shots in warm-ups. I say this all the time, hockey is all about how well you handle the ebb and flow, and this team couldn’t handle or adjust to a team dead last in the league defensively. When things don’t work your way you screen the goalie more and crash the net like there is no tomorrow. You don’t just let THAT team come into your building while you flip harmless shots from the outside. The past two games have made it hard to trust this roster down the stretch.
Anyone in their right mind who thinks we can give up 4-point games consecutively against teams hovering around the same playoff spot is an old sell.
The team is good at making up deficits but always fails to add to their gain. The unfortunate result is unless we go on a points streak I think we’re out of it (and how long have we all been talking about that streak?). The next 10-games are against some stellar teams. For a team who hasn’t won more than 3-games in a row, that’s another old sell to believe.
Well, TD just bought the team and may deliberately be biting his time until the off-season to update the on ice product.
I am increasingly unhappy with BP.
* The lack of identity is a coaching problem.
* The lack of willingness to bring up young guns, especially in the second game of a back to back to inject energy. Clt has had issues with inconsistency but they have been scoring in bunches lately. Granted, they played on the 13th and 14th so yesterday was a bit different in that their top players were truly out of gas.
There was no fire yesterday and Matt described it very accurately as a de ja vu to 2 to 3 years ago where players were happy with a bunch of low effort perimmiter shots.
That being said, the no goal call was utter horse poop, , reminds me of a similar call in the Nashville Pittsburgh series (I think it was) last spring. The wording has to be changed to better reflect the intent of the rule, as Trip kept reminding us. I guess a New York based team will generate much more revenue for the NHL if they make the playoffs (my understanding is that the NHL keeps most of the playoff revenue, so from a financial perspective having Edm and Car battle it out for the cup must have been the worst possible scenario for them). No, I am not accusing the NHL of a conspiracy *grin* not seriously anyway.
As cute as the interview with the moms was the outcome on the ice was terrible, maybe the kids get nervous having mom watching them.
BP kept shuffling lines which obviously didn’t work so please stop. Okay in practice but not so much in games. Some AHL players deserve an opportunity NOW. Wallmark has 36 points in 34 games and is plus 11; Foegele has 23 goals and is plus 21. Nordstrom has 2 goals & 2 assists for the season and is minus 11! I don’t know what the thought process is here but we need more firepower. Stempniak had a 2/3’s wide open net at close range but couldn’t elevate the puck? BP needs to hold players ACCOUNTABLE. Lindholm is frustrating; some games he is invisible and other games he looks like somebody lit a fire under him. IMO the problem isn’t so much the inconsistency of the defense and goaltending; it’s the lack of balance in the group of forwards. A topic for another time is what to do next year with Checkers defensemen McKeown and Samuelsson. They are a whopping plus 66 with 9 goals and 27 assists. Bottom line reality – the Canes will never be overly successful until they get stronger at the center position. This has to be addressed or else this story remains the same.
Good writeup blinkman.
Breezy has a good point. I’m all for the mom and dad trips, but maybe next year they can do this in the Fall? Not suggesting this is the reason the team slid the past two games, but makes you wonder. We were on a good roll, playoff type games of late, and routine is everything right now. I’m sure the routine got sidetracked a bit.
live_free_or_die, you have highlighted the story of this season for the Canes. It’s we didn’t win because:
1) it was a back-to-back game,
2) the change in time zones,
3) didn’t get in a morning skate,
4) the boys just didn’t show up,
5) we had a lot of passengers tonight,
6) the other team wanted to win too,
7) they scored first and that deflated us, and
8) the new one, the mom’s were at the game.
Boy, this tem is sure fragile.