ACC Country

Six weeks ago, the Carolina Hurricanes were sputtering, winners of only 5 of their previous 13 games, and fresh off a 6-1 beatdown in Raleigh at the hands of the New Jersey Devils. Their sizable division lead, built on the back of an 11-4-3 start, had evaporated. Then, on Valentine’s Day, Carolina captain Rod Brind’Amour went down with a torn ACL. At last, the hockey experts predicted, the injury bug would finally do in the Hurricanes.

The experts were wrong. Carolina won that game, and has gone 13-3-1 with Brind’Amour out of the lineup. Now, the same experts who were writing the ‘Canes off are singing the praises of their relentless perseverance and the efforts of 23 year old superstar center, Eric Staal.

After exploding onto the NHL scene with a 100 point sophomore season, Staal’s production dropped off, tallying only 30 goals and 40 assists as the Hurricanes failed to return to the playoffs to defend their Stanley Cup. Staal began the 2007-08 season with 21 points in his first 17 games. But the Carolina center hit a wall, with only 3 goals and 3 assists in his next 16. He turned it back on in mid-December, putting up 21 points in 18 games through the infamous “three shorthanded goals given up” game against the Islanders on January 22. And then the switch was flipped off again, pointless over the next seven games, with a -4 rating.

Then Brind’Amour got injured. Seventeen games, Staal’s +9 with 27 points. Nobody in the NHL has scored more over that time period. With the healthy bodies running out for the Hurricanes, Staal has taken it upon himself to lead by example. Gone is the Eric Staal of 2007, taking shifts off and mailing in entire games from time to time. In his place is the 2008 NHL All-Star game MVP, skating hard every shift, backchecking consistently, and heading up an steadily improving penalty kill unit, all the while using his size to make plays and get physical. We are seeing the talented young scorer emerge into the franchise player the club hoped he would be when Carolina drafted him 2nd overall in 2003. He is the face of the team, a team he has thrown onto his back and willed to the brink of the playoffs. It will be Staal’s efforts that set the tone for the ‘Canes playoff run. Early returns are looking positive.

Speaking of the playoffs, heading into the final two weeks of the season, the Eastern Conference standings look like this:

The Hurricanes hold a five point division lead over the Capitals, with a HUGE showdown between the two clubs coming Tuesday night in Raleigh. A Carolina win over Washington almost assuredly clinches the division for the ‘Canes. If the Capitals win on Tuesday, the lead is cut to three points, with the final meeting of the season between the two clubs in D.C. on April Fool’s Day. Either way, a 2-2-2 finish – six points – clinches the division for the ‘Canes, and if they defeat the Caps in either meeting, they are assured of the tiebreaker if the Capitals run the table otherwise.

On the injury front, Ray Whitney is likely out for the remainder of the regular season after undergoing ankle surgery last weekend. While possible the Wizard could return for the final week of the season, I see no reason Peter Laviolette brings him back before he’s 100% unless the Capitals creep within a point or two of the division lead. Chad LaRose and Justin Williams were also spotted skating at recent practices. While J-Willie won’t be taking shifts anytime soon, it’s possible that we could see LaRose back in the playoffs, and the penalty kill could certainly use #59 harassing snipers at the point. Matt Cullen is out again, this time knocked a little silly after an awkward landing on a hit he took in Chicago two weeks ago. Cullen skated off the ice on his own power and stayed on the bench, then played in the Buffalo debacle two nights later, but has apparently had more post-concussion issues after landing on his head in the United Center on March 12. The combination of Cullen and Corvo at the points has proven deadly on the power play, and not having Cullen not only leaves the power play shorthanded, but makes the Staal line as the only proven scoring threat at even strength, although Trevor Letowski has chipped in with a goal in each of the last two games while centering for Patrick Eaves and Tuomo Ruutu.

Last Sunday at RBC, Joe Corvo became the first Hurricane defenseman ever to notch a hat trick, as #77 potted three power play goals against his former Ottawa team. The momentum carried over to Atlanta on Wednesday, as well. Took the daughter up to Philips Arena – fighting the detouring traffic downtown due to the extensive tornado damage – and enjoyed the ‘Canes 5-3 victory. Carolina took advantage of a disinterested Thrashers team, putting a 3 spot on the board in the first period, then immediately answering an early second period Atlanta goal with one of their own – Joe Jensen’s first NHL goal, second time this season a Cane has done that in Atlanta this year. (Casey Borer was the other one on January 4.) I’ll share a couple of pictures from the pregame skate:

Then, the following evening, Carolina went into the always dangerous BankAtlantic Center to visit the red-hot Panthers in a critical division game, as Florida has creeped back into the playoff picture.  Cam Ward probably turned in his best performance of the season, making no fewer than six highlight reel saves to keep the ‘Canes alive and into a shootout, where two saves by Ward and a Sergei Samsonov goal left the game in the hands of… who else?  Eric Staal, and our captain-in-training came through, slipping a five hole wrister JUST past Tomas Vokoun to give Carolina the shootout win.  Exactly the kind of goal we need from Staal, who’s earning that A on his sweater every time out.

I’ll check back in fairly soon with reaction to this weekend’s highly entertaining NCAA Tournament. And I’m sure Eric will have some thoughts on next weekend’s slate of games, as well.  The ‘Canes skate Tuesday and Friday in Raleigh against the Caps and Thrashers, then Saturday in Tampa.  It is possible that we could be back here discussing Carolina’s division title next weekend.  Or we could be discussing the disappearance of a division lead.  Huge week in hockey.