With hopefully a fresh start after the trade deadline, the Carolina Hurricanes entered Tuesday’s game with five straight losses and exited with a sixth. The Hurricanes did pick up an overtime loss point in the 4-3 loss to the Boston Bruins for the second time in the six-game losing run. The point game pulled the Hurricanes to four points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot (no games in hand for either team).
What stands out to me is that the version of the Hurricanes that shows up and competes hard for 60 minutes is roughly a .500 team right now. When one then adds in the every fourth or fifth game where the Hurricanes either player poorly or do not show up for 60 minutes, the ledger quickly tilts to sub-.500 which obviously is not going to get it done this time of year, especially now trying to make up a deficit.
The first period reminded me a bit of a couple of the Hurricanes high-powered wins awhile back. Fueled by power play success to the tune of two goals, the Canes scored three in the first period and emerged with a 3-2 lead. But the welcome scoring surge covered up a period that was shoddy defensively. The team had at least five of the variety of break down or defensive zone turnovers that led directly to grade A scoring chances unless thwarted at the last minute. Justin Faulk with an all too common occurrence when he carries the puck around the net and then tries to be tricky by darting by the side of the net and up the middle of the ice. But all too often, including on Tuesday, he has had the puck roll off his stick for a centering pass to the opposition in the slot. Jaccob Slavin covered up that mistake, but another bad Faulk turnover saw a player alone in front of Scott Darling for a goal. Those were just the two headliners of a first period filled with egregious break downs. But the power play made the first period seem better than it was. A pretty play that saw Faulk find Skinner between the circles, Jeff Skinner deftly tip it on net and then Brock McGinn show great hands in finishing a rebound in close was good for a goal on the power play. And Teuvo Teravainen shot through an Elias Lindholm screen was good for another goal. When Teravainen found a streaking Sebastian Aho for another goal, all was good. But a late discombobulation that saw Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce failing to corral a puck which led to a Bruins goal with only three seconds to go in the first period to make it 3-2 at the intermission.
The Hurricanes started strong in the second period and spent much of the first five minutes of the period hemming the Bruins into their own end. But when the Bruins scored first in the second period to tie the game at 3-3, the game suddenly felt very much like the Penguins loss last Friday that saw a Hurricanes team go unrewarded, get scored upon and then fade massively after that. But this time the Hurricanes hung in and continued to play even. The second period finished up at 3-3.
The third period was oddly slow, sluggish and cautious almost as if both teams were willing to slowly grind out an entire period to get to overtime. And that is exactly what happened.
And perhaps to no one’s surprise at this point, the overtime period ended badly pushing the Hurricanes’ overtime mark to a meager 2-8. The path to get there was somewhat familiar too. The Hurricanes had the puck early but did not manage a shot on net by a 2-on-1 with Aho and Slavin. Soon thereafter, Riley Nash won a puck battle with Derek Ryan with Brock McGinn caught in no man’s land. When the puck went the other way with McGinn and Ryan in the rear view mirror, it was very quickly a 2-on-1 that saw Darling go down a bit early seemingly guessing and then look frozen as the puck zipped past him glove side high into the net.
Notes from the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins
1) Scott Darling
He was not horrible, but he certainly was not great either. I guess when a team gets to the point where that is marginally positive, it says a lot about the state of the team’s goaltending. To be fair, the defense in front of him was shoddy in the first period, and Darling did make some good saves, but the goalie at the other end of the rink made more and was better. He was beaten through the five hole from in close again. Part of the book on him in cases where a player has time in front him is very clearly to consider shooting five-hole early if Darling is still moving or is yet to get set. There continues to be an opening there that does not close quickly enough when players shoot a split second before he is ready.
2) Teuvo Teravainen
Teravainen had a solid game offensively. He found the target through Lindholm for his goal, and made a pretty pass to send Aho in alone for his goal. Past the two scoring plays Teravainen had a solid night.
3) Noah Hanifin
Possibly spurred by the return home to Boston where he has multiple times played well, Noah Hanifin also had a strong game. He was assertive using his skating ability to take away time and space all night.
4) Lucas Wallmark
He had one good scoring chance that was partially thwarted at the last minute. Otherwise, he did not necessarily stand out in a good way, but he did not look bad either which is important for the center position where attention to detail defensively is critical.
5) 0 for February
All of Victor Rask, Jordan Staal, Derek Ryan, Lee Stempniak, Joakim Nordstrom and Marcus Kruger (so basically half of the most regular forward group) made it through the month of February without a goal.
6) Victor Rask
Like Justin Faulk whose troubles were chronicled in the game recap, Victor Rask found himself in the middle of too many lost puck battles, defensive zone misses and other troubles that resulted in him being a minus 3 on the night.
7) Ice cream is still good
Seeking positives and to help a good cause, Tuesday marked game 1 of a Carolina Hurricanes-centric ice cream quest.
Next up for the Hurricanes is a Thursday match up in Philadelphia.
Go Canes!
How about that Tommy Wingels guy. I would’ve given a conditional 2019 5th for him. He’s even a former Blackhawk… Surprised GMRF wasn’t all over that.
3 key observations:
1. The team that signed two players to improve got 2 goals from the players it added.
2. The team with the better goaltending won.
3. BP decided to put the guy who is -300 (or smethin close) and last scored in 1954 (or cose) on the ice in early overtime. That gu lost a faceoff which led to the game winning goal for the opponent.
’nuff said, I don’t think this needs much additional deliberation.
More seriously, Ryan has not scored a goal in 14 games now, and he was promoted to 2nd line center duties.
This team isn’t good enough, that’s all I can say. It lacks identity, drive, passion, grit, goaltending.
It’s lost 6 games in a row, and still we see little to no personnel changes.
I see no passion, commitment or ambition, none, zero.
I see players that have gotten used to mediocrity, a coach that makes, excuse me, stupid decisions, and a general manager that seems apathetic to the point where he almost outright says nothing is wrong in his press conference.
The only options left is a deep dive to the bottom. The Canes won’t get there, but they can hopefully get a top 5 draft pick if they keep playing this bad.
Then it is up to the new owner to work his magic over the summer, chop the dead weight, re-energize the guys that can be re-energized and get this team back on the right track.
It’s a tall order, but despite all the negativity, there are players that can do it, it’s just a matter of changing the culture to the can-do mind set, bringing in some help (if we can, Carolina is not a top exciting destination) and try again.
I tried waiting a few hours to let the immediate frustration wear off. Here goes:
1. Faulk is getting close to horrible status. First Boston goal he gets bodied off the puck 3 feet from the blue line… boom! Goal. Under 5 tied in the 3rd, he thought is was a brilliant decision to exit the zone cross ice… through 2 defenders. Boom! Grade A- chance. Two minutes later he panics with the puck throws it behind the net. Problem is only a Bruin was there. Great recovery by Slavin.
2. We have a bunch of players that enter the offensive line clearly and simply fire on net or send it around without having the patience to wait for the forwards to drive the net (ok, the couple forwards we have that actually do drive the net.) The only players that are calm and patient with the puck are: Williams, Aho, Staal.
3. Start feeling a little playoff hockey intensity on the ice and it becomes painfully evident that we are grossly outmatched by strong teams. Bruins’ checking got in everyone’s head. No grit aside from Staal and McGinn.
4. I have no idea what’s going on with team defense but we were horrible though the neutral zone. The gaps were ridiculous and it got no better in the defensive zone. Are we really at game 63 still seeing both defensemen take the player coming behind the net and no forward rotating to the front of the net? Wow.
5. Offensive zone looked like a pickup hockey game. Come to think about it, maybe by 2020 we’ll learn how to cycle the puck in the offensive zone. Can you tell me a team that showed consistent ability to cycle? WTH?
Bottom line is we’re overmatched at the moment – front office included. How in the heck can SI continue to add that talent in Tampa? Geesh, even read a rumor he went hard at McDavid. Then Boston, who many haven’t talked about adds Nash? We have a great city; fantastic climate; and fans dying to support this team. Williams was a nice add and I applaud the efforts with Darling. We need a radical change to the culture of this franchise. Hopefully we’ll see that soon because this feeling… well, it sucks.
Good points and writeup lovethecanes.
Agreed, IMO Faulk is horrible status. I was hoping we traded him at the deadline. I cringe anytime he is on the ice wondering what he will mess up next. He has cost us tons of scoring chances against. I don’t get it, maybe it is the pressure of the “C”. I do not believe he should have the “C”. Certainly not next year if he stays around. He is not a good role model for the younger guys when he plays worst then they do. He is our worst D, a liability, and we have guys in the AHL close to being ready.
What I saw expressed with no frustration:
1. Darling made numerous outstanding saves of we would have had a repeat of our previous game with Boston. Rask for Boston not nearly as challenged as Darling.
2. Canes, true to their identity, cannot score 5 on 5. Two power play goals and one even handed in the first period. Not even an sniff of a scoring chance for two subsequent periods.
3. No team could win consistently with the defense as bad as ours. We don’t just make errors, we make glaring errors like leaving opponents alone (I mean ALONE) right in font of our goaltenders (Ward and Darling both). We are not learning from our mistakes.
4. Overtime saw the usual brilliant coaching. Aho, Lindholm, and Slavin to start and they almost won the game. Then we went to Ryan, McGinn, and Faulk. Forget Ryan has scored 1 goal in February. Since January 1, 2018 he has scored 1 goal that happened to occur in the middle of February. Faulk when we have Hanifin? I won’t fault the choice of McGinn because he always puts forth a good the effort, but where was Teravainen (our leading scorer)? Where was Skinner (our most dangerous goal scorer)? Where was Williams ? Until I get an answer that makes any hockey sense, I put this loss totally on the coach.
Lost opportunity to pick up two points. Very much an atypical Bruins game. As many opportunities the Canes provided through shoddy defense, the Bruins matched with their ineptitude. Simply, the Canes can’t finish to save their lives. Too many shots directly into the goalie’s pads or wide of the net. The lack of offensive prowess is emphasized in overtime, where pure talent trumps a system. Canes simply can’t compete with the majority of teams on talent alone and don’t have the stud goalie that can mitigate the disadvantage in skill. A sense of urgency in the extra period would help, but to date we’ve seen no inclination from this group of players or coaches to ramp up the intensity and attempt to save the season. I thought we’d see something different last night and carry some momentum into Philly on Thursday. I’m guess I’m just stupid to think things will change from what we’ve seen through 4/5th. of the season.
Your usual good synopsis tenininumee. You could just leave off the last line because you were not stupid, you were hopeful just as most all of us were.
Hard to pin this loss on one particular area. It is rather the culmination of various known factors.
Matt said it best at the top…”the version of the Hurricanes that shows up and competes hard for 60 minutes is roughly a .500 team right now”. Several of us have agreed on this point for awhile now.
This is exactly why you add a piece or two whether last summer, during the season or at the deadline. We didn’t have to give away the farm to boost our grit. Maybe then our scorers would settle and come around, but I digress.
My gut tells me GMRF will mention at the season ending presser that had we converted in half our overtime games we’d be in the playoffs. This is exactly why you try to make additions so that the team has a boost to get over .500 consistently, where said droughts can end and the players can taste the playoffs for future growth and confidence. Instead, April vacation awaits.
It’s gonna be a very interesting offseason. Or, at least it better be. Let’s take a look at our new owner. He’s young, and a billionaire. There’s a reason for that – he’s smart and knows what it takes to make the right decisions. Either by hiring people around him that know what they’re doing, or by trusting his own mind and gut. Or both. At this point, with this broken team, I can only hope that TD will allow his billionaire business instincts to kick in, and turn this failing business into a successful one. And step one will be to surround himself with the right people, because the people he has now, have not gotten it done for years now. And a billionaire business man will not allow that to keep happening. I know he’s not a “hockey guy”, (yet), but maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe what this franchise needs, is someone with passion, brains, and the money to back the decisions that need to be made to improve. Let’s all hope that’s what we have with our new owner. I suppose we’ll find out soon enough… because staying the course with the ‘I like the group we have’, mentality, will just give us more of the same.
Goaliedad, best writeup I’ve seen about what needs to be done at the management level of this team. I’m all in for supporting the new owner and really have confidence in him. I wouldn’t worry about his lack of hockey background for the reason you cited and in addition to his in depth understanding of analytics. He can look at the analytics and decipher from them if what the coach and/or GM are telling him make any sense. They won’t be able to pull the wool over his eyes. I still have confidence, despite my numerous frustrated ramblings, that RF has a plan and I am willing to wait to next season to see if his plan results in a much more competitive roster for next season. I can’t justify jumping ship when I said I would buy in when he first got the job. All the commentators at the trade deadline indicated the have not teams needed to follow a plan or rebuilding through the draft and developing their young players like what RF has done for Carolina in order to rebuild. Let’s face it, who is going to trade us a prolific scoring first line center or wing? The answer IMO is no one unless we are willing to give up a Slavin or Hanifin plus other assets like a first round draft pick and a prospect or two. I’m having trouble grasping giving up that much in the way of assets and still not know if the defense and goaltending was going to be any better. I am confident of one thing. If things don’t get better, TD will do everything possible to remedy the situation.
Totally with you Goaliedad, that is my hope.
Why is Peters so enamored with Ryan? He is on our PP and he played in OT? We have many more skilled players than him so why? He is a 4th line player!
Wow! Hey guys!
Did we all see different games last night?
I saw my beloved Canes play a good game last night. They played against the Bruins; a team that had won 10 more games than we had to date.
We were playing without one of our best players. They were playing without one of theirs. We were playing with a couple of young, mistake prone defensemen. So were they. They were playing with the home ice advantage. We were playing with the visitor’s disadvantage.
Relatively early in the game, the Bruins were desperate enough to start gooning it up. We made them pay with 2 power play goals.
They had their goons on the ice. One of our grittier players languished in the press box. Another was eliminated from the game by an unsuccessful attempt by a Bruin goon to remove his eye with a stick blade. One Bruin goon tried to inflict a concussion on Victor Rask. No call, but Rask did trip him as he skated away.
Go Victor!
It seemed as if the refs had swallowed their whistles. But this is the kind of “no blood, no foul” attitude one comes to expect this time of year. Since we have little grit to offer, we had best keep up the power play scoring. Trust me, our two power play goals forced the Bruin goons to exercise a little restraint. Very little, but at least some restraint.
Throughout the game, I found myself shouting at my TV, “Great save, Scottie!” In my not-very-humble opinion, he kept us in the game.
I loved what I saw from our new 1C, “Fishy” Aho. He was brilliant.
Equally brilliant was Wallmark. I can’t believe how strong he is. Skating with the puck and forcing goalie Rask to make a save while forced to literally carry the much larger and heavier Rick Nash on his back.
Wow!
And, it pains me to admit it, but Fleury made it through the game having not committed a goal-costing error.
Granted, we were not perfect. Much needs to be done toward playing a perfect game, but we have established our identity.
We are the “Overwhelming Underdogs!” (With apologies to Yogi Berra)
I am so proud of my beloved Canes!
You saw what I saw until you got down to Wow! and before “Overwhelming Underdogs.” Fleury may have his faults, but we have another defenseman who puts him to shame named Justin Fault..er…Justin Faulk. And, where’s this established identity, or did I miss something that flew over my head (a common occurrence in my elder years). Real good writeup IMO powerless.
Our Roster:
Sebastian Aho = 1st line above average
Phillip Di Giuseppe = 4th line at best some grit an ability.
Elias Lindholm = solid two way player,under achieving offensively.
2nd/3rd line
Brock McGinn = work horse perfect 3rd line player. 2nd in pinch
Joakim Nordstrom = excellent pk guy hits solid def. 4th line
Victor Rask = dog most of year. zero foot speed 3rd line center
Derek Ryan = excellent 4th line center in pinch 3rd line center
Jeff Skinner (A)= 20-40 goal scorer is a huge D liability. minus
player. should be 1st line wing but has no D can’t
trust him!
Jordan Staal (C) 2nd line center above average two way player
Lee Stempniak = after injury start he has been eh should retire.
Teuvo Teravainen = tons of talent very inconsistent.
Lucas Wallmark = haven’t seen enough 3rd/4th line center?
Justin Williams = solid vet 3rd line player
Justin Faulk (C)= #1 or #2 D playing horrible slow feet and poor
positioning. right now 3rd pairing D
Haydn Fleury = okay 3rd pairing D should be better next season.
Noah Hanifin = talented young D needs to clean up D 2nd pairing D
Brett Pesce = 2nd pairing D solid D
Jaccob Slavin = our #1 dman only getting better
Trevor van Riemdyke= solid D great 3rd pairing guy 2nd in pinch
Klas Dahlbeck= nice 7th Dman
Scott Darling = playing okay-eh so much for #1
Cam Ward= soild back up
as you can see we have a lot of 3rd-4th line players having to play up.
need 1c and 1w then everyone else slots better.
Under achieving D (faulk for sure)
goaltending = below average.
lets be real this is a hard playing group on most nights but not a playoff team.
unless Necas becomes an Aho we need to hit FA hard for 1c and a 1w
I’m hoping we can snag RNH or Dreiseitel from the Oilers over the summer. With the huge salary increases I just can’t imagine they can keep all 3.
We culd even trade Faulk to them as an insensitive or some of our prospects.
RNH is not my idea of the ideal top tier center, but he is a definite upgrade on the centers we have now and could cherish the increased responsibility and find chemistry with some of our wingers.
I still think Dreiseitel is over-rated (at least salary wise) but he could become a top tier player if he can get out of the MacDavid shadow.
Johnny boy from the Islanders would be ideal, but something tells me they will get a deal done with him.
We should keep trying to get Max from Montreal over the summer (I doubt it’s possible but who knows).
Then we should go after one of the older defenseman and try to upgrade the goalie position.
If some of the Checkers prospects come up and impress, this team could be exciting again next year.
I also think a shakeup in team personel and leadership is well overdue.
Great hockey players do not necessarily translate to great coachesand even less great managers.
I think an NHL team should be run as a business, and a manage with strong business background should be running the show, not an ex-hockey player, no matter how good.
I’d like to hear other opinions about Faulk. I catch myself holding my breath almost every time he has the puck. It has to be mental with him this year; the added pressure of wearing the C? I noticed his lapses last year as well but not to this degree. Wasn’t he paired often with Slavin last night? Is this an acknowledgement by the coaches that he is weak defensively? He should be in his prime physically. I’m hoping this is just a confidence issue.
You can’t fault DR for his effort and attitude, he just gets over-matched too often on the boards and loses too many puck battles. It’s possible he has worn down over the course of this season; he is what TSN calls “diminutive” (unusually small). Why BP keeps riding this horse is beyond me.
Another comment about Skinner. To maximize his ability, he needs a fast, power forward type winger to open up the ice and compliment his style (reference Eric Cole in Skinner’s rookie season when Skinner won the Calder trophy).
This is one of my biggest beefs with RF – not providing the right MIX and BALANCE of players. Yes, the current conventional wisdom seems to be that speed, youth, and finesse are the new way to construct a team, but call me old-school in believing there is a place for grit, snarl, nastiness and toughness. RF has been successful in adding the former but woefully short on providing the latter types of players. This seems to be a recurring theme in comments by fans. If RF doesn’t address this need for more physicality this summer then I believe it will lead to his downfall. He could have addressed this at the trade deadline for a reasonable cost but did nothing.
I actually thought we played a decent game and expected far worse against BOS without #11. We had the majority of the possession in the last 8-minutes of the 3rd during crunchtime and didn’t fold when they tied it.
Darling had no chance on Nash’s goal and, though he looked out of position, the Wingle’s goal wasn’t on him either. He wasn’t the reason we lost and played good enough for us to win. I would start him again against PHI – we need to know what we have here and at this point there isn’t much to lose. I personally believe he can play much better (I may be in the minority here).
The defensive lapses are just killing us; this has been the #1 problem all year and just continues to haunt us. Faulk has really struggled, but our wingers have had trouble clearing the zone, too; I see too many finesse plays when we often need an assertive clear to the neutral zone (even if it means we lose possession) or even an icing – or as Tripp would say, “more hope than belief.”
I agree with those who question the personnel decisions in OT. I would start with some combination of Aho, TT, Lindholm, McGinn, Staal, and even Wallmark, and then Slavin, Hanifin, and TvR on D and then see what happens. Faulk and Skinner too often try to make the “hero” play and lose possession or take low percentage shots.
The Wingles goal at the end of the 1st was the real killer.
Agree with your Darling point. His play this season has been out of character and may be attributable to what has to be an adjustment from being a backup to assuming the responsibilities of a starting goalie. I too believe BP needs to ride him the rest of the way. Maybe he can string some good performances together and carry the positiveness to next season. I don’t know what his ceiling is, but I don’t believe he’s as bad as his play has been so far this season.
Thx for expanding … your comment is a much more complete thought and exactly in line with my thinking.
Agree…agree..agree with your appraisal. Also agree with tenininumee’s post supporting your comments.
Make that another agreeing. I believe at this point we should play Darling as much as we can. What it does is tells us if he can rebound, if not, it tells us to buy out his contract. I do believe he is capable of more but even if he plays adequate he does not make those stops that win you games. 5 hole and high glove side have been consistent misses. He has to fix this. Lets see if he can work it out with a string of games. Its all about next year and if he stays.