ACC Country

Monday and Tuesday epitomized all of the problems the Carolina Hurricanes have had this season. In addition to the already injured Brind’Amour, Williams, LaRose, Tanabe, Seidenberg, and Eaves, Erik Cole and Ray Whitney were both sidelined in Jersey, Cole with a touch of the flu, the Wizard with a sore groin. Joe Jensen got the call up from Albany and then HE GOT SICK in the middle of the game. The scoreboard probably made Caniacs sick, as well, with the Devils dominating Carolina for the third time this season, 5-1, the game never in any doubt. The first three game winning streak of the season goes up in smoke with #26 and #13 missing the game. They would be back the following evening in Raleigh when the Canes battled visiting Boston, and they would be integral to the outcome.

Zedno Chara and Marc Savard each put a power play goal on the board for the Bruins, and Carolina, despite peppering Boston netminder Tim Thomas with nearly 50 shots for the game, found themselves in a two goal hole with less than two minutes to play. However, in eeriely similar fashion to the Toronto game in mid-December, the Canes managed to tie it with goalie Cam Ward pulled for the extra attacker. Whitney converted a beautiful backhand pass from Andrew Ladd in front of the net to kill the shutout bid by Thomas, and then Cole wristed one over Thomas’ right shoulder, practically the same shot from the same spot on the ice that Whitney had tied the Leafs game from on December 18. The game was headed for OT, somehow, and ultimately to a shootout after each goaltender came up with some big saves in the extra session.

Now let me share with you an interesting statistic about the Canes and shootouts. Over the past two seasons, the Canes have one exactly one shootout, the wild game in Philadelphia earlier this season that saw Brind’Amour win the game on one of the goofiest shootout goals imaginable, the puck flipping straight into the air over Flyers’ goalie Marty Biron, then dropping off his helmet, off the crossbar, off his shoulder, and then into the net. That’s not the interesting stat. The interesting stat is that on nine shootout attempts this season by the opposing team, Carolina goalies have stopped ZERO shots. Seven goals, two misses, zero saves. The good news is that the Canes are actually putting shootout goals in the net this season, unlike last year. We’re 5-8 on the 07-08 campaign, and Matt Cullen was a post away from making that 6 shootout goals for the club on Tuesday night. We just have to get some stops on the other end. Thankfully, we’ve only lost two games due to this thus far this season.

On tap for the Canes, the remaining five games of a crucial six game homestand, visits from division challengers Atlanta and Washington tonight and Saturday, respectively. Heading into tonight, the standings, ripped straight from NHL.com, look like this:

The Canes somehow still the lead the division by two points. The problem of course is the fact that the Capitals have two games in hand, two opportunities to close that gap or even take the lead outright. The Thrashers also have two games in hand, but a win by Carolina at RBC tonight would stretch the Canes’ lead over Atlanta to five points, making the extra games irrelevant. Florida still lurks in 4th place with 60 points, and Tampa still is within striking distance eight points back. The Lightning close out the homestand next Saturday, with visits from the Devils (trying to sweep the season series against us) and the hated Rangers in between the divisional games next week. I think anything less then 4-1 on the rest of this stretch, injuries or not, would have to be considered a disappointment for Carolina as the Canes need to create some space in the division or, at the very least, gain some ground in the conference standings just in case we get overtaken for the Southeast Division lead.

The trade deadline is next Tuesday, and while there’s still a bunch of rumblings about Canes’ GM Jim Rutherford making another move, I don’t think we need to dabble on the trade market. I don’t think we should be buyers, nor do I think we should sell. Hold firm with what we have, try to make a run with what’s left of the injury ravaged team, and see if the Rats can provide enough energy to get us there. Then, come the offseason, make some moves as needed, because we’ll have a lot more wiggle room to do some things then.

I’m out for now. Will likely be back Sunday or Monday with some weekend thoughts on everything. But expect me to be sporadic next week, as I have finals (love the quarter system) plus, the real kicker, getting my grill rearranged on Tuesday. Yup, the wisdom teeth are all getting yanked and I suspect I’ll feel like crap all week. Good thing the Heels are off.