GDT: Hurricanes @ Penguins 10/8/13 7:00PM

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Who is Eric Stall?

Really? you call yourself a Canes fan and don't know who Eric Stahl is? You would think with 3 Stalls in the Canes org, every Cane fan would know the name Staal.

 

[Joe McGrath]

So for some actual thoughts about the game now.

The Good: Eric scored an "effort" goal. Showed some life following that. Sekera continues to impress me with pretty much everything he does. Gerbe continues to impress. Lindholm made a few of those subtle stick plays that you don't expect out of an 18 year old. He's getting better. Cam's beast mode sequence was ridiculous.

The Bad: Tlusty looked completely lost out there (until he went to the 4th line and had one very good shift). Cam have up at least 1, probably 2 softies. The bottom 4 D looked exactly like what you would have expected to against Pittsburgh. Completely exposed. Bowman can't be on the first line. I have to believe that Muller stuck Bowman there to lite a fire under Tlusty. What exactly did Dvorak do to get bumped to the 4th?

All in all, the Canes got worked by a team that's much better than they are. Get used to it. Thursday against the Capitals is a better barometer for where this team is. If it's another 40-25 shot discrepancy and 3 goal loss, then it might be something to get a little worked up about.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Random thought/observation, Harrison needs to lean how to end a fight on his terms. He always hangs on too long and gets popped at the end.

 

[the halleJOKEL]

This game was not nearly as bad as most of you are making it sound. Crosby and Malkin were the two best players on the ice, and it showed. Could have easily been a 3-2 loss or win following Gerbe's tying goal. We had them pinned in their zone several shifts in a row afterwards and couldn't get another one. The scoreline was not an accurate representation of the game, imo.

 

[rocky7]

Somebody get a YT up of that Ward series of saves, please.

that was indeed an incredible display of goaltending that even had the Pittsburgh fans on their feet clapping. no doubt he has been playing well but is still good for a softy or two and has yet to display any consistency so far in this young season.

that said however, that brief spurt of effort has likely earned Ward another season of worship regardless of how inconsistent he plays. sure there's Khudobin but he is still unproven.

yes we're only three games in but some worrisome trends have begun to emerge already.

 

[the halleJOKEL]

that was indeed an incredible display of goaltending that even had the Pittsburgh fans on their feet clapping. no doubt he has been playing well but is still good for a softy or two and has yet to display any consistency so far in this young season.

that said however, that brief spurt of effort has likely earned Ward another season of worship regardless of how inconsistent he plays. sure there's Khudobin but he is still unproven.

yes we're only three games in but some worrisome trends have begun to emerge already.

The only truly soft goal he let in was the final Jokinen goal when the game was already over.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I was thinking this all game but didn't bother posting it- we saw entirely too much Ryan Murphy and Jay Harrison on the ice. Harrison singlehandedly gifted them two goals with dumb penalties, and Murphy was ineffective in either zone, though they still seemed to get more ice time than the other pairings. I didn't catch any of Komisarek during the preseason, but he can't be much worse than Harrison was yesterday.

EDIT: Checked nhl.com, and the Murphy/Harrison pairing indeed had less TOI than the other pairs. They were just that bad.

Going back to one of my own posts in another thread:

TOI for our defensemen so far:

Justin Faulk - 20:08 (Shea Weber)
Andrej Sekera - 19:38 (Christian Ehrhoff)
Ron Hainsey - 19:04 (Duncan Keith)
Brett Bellemore - 17:41 (Johnny Boychuk)
Jay Harrison - 12:37 (John Moore)
Ryan Murphy - 12:01 (Sheldon Brookbank)

The players in parentheses had similar average ice time in 2012-13.


I post this to illustrate a problem with our current defensive setup -- we're dramatically overplaying our top two pairings so that we can dramatically underplay our third pairing.

1) We will not be able to continue to do this because we are going to end up on the road, where we can't control the matchups as closely. So that third pairing (Murphy) WILL be exposed sooner or later.

Last night, here was the ES TOI:

Hainsey: 19:54
Sekera: 19:07
Faulk: 18:22
Murphy: 17:20
Bellemore: 16:26
Harrison: 13:19

A lot less Faulk and a lot more Murphy. Good teams are going to be salivating at the thought of catching this defense on the road where we don't get our choice of matchups. This is fundamentally a personnel issue, we simply don't have the horses to run with a top-end offense.

 

[geehaad]

I thought the game was very watchable, which is saying something for a 5-2 loss, and the positives have been too-easily forgotten (this board's MO). The forwards were making things happen, the defense looked less inept, and Ward was mostly good - save for the 5th goal (I blame the skaters in front of him for all skating toward the boards on that 4th goal). And all of those things are notable considering it was Pittsburgh and they were only missing Letang.

I say give Murphy 10 games then see where he's at. If he's not made significant improvements in the second 5 games over the first 5, send him down and let him process what he's learned.

Same with Lindholm, except send him down regardless of any noted progress. He's just too dainty for the NHL right now.

I didn't like Muller's tinkering with the lines, at all...and normally I'm don't put much stock on line chemistry. In the first two games and before the line shuffle, I thought the 3rd and 4th lines had shown up (FINALLY). And then he screwed with it. If Staal's line isn't making hay, then just be patient...Staal will figure out how to get himself some points.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

'member this? HAHA

I got so depressed I slugged down four shots of whiskey for dinner and went to bed at 9 o'clock. FML

I recommend finding a third hobby. Hurricanes hockey and alcoholism probably aren't sufficient to ensure your personal happiness.

--hank

 

[Identity404]

The only truly soft goal he let in was the final Jokinen goal when the game was already over.

Not pinning the lost on Ward, he faced way to many high quality scoring chances and made a lot of great saves, but looking at the highlights the last three goals he gave up were all very stoppable. Jussi abused Ward blocker side high twice and Ward tried to cover the puck in the crease on the Glass goal, failed, and exposed the entire half of the net.

Next time we face the Pens I say start Khudobin. Jussi and Sutter know how to beat Ward.

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

So are we realistically looking at Jordan Staal being a $6 mil/year checking 3rd line center for the next 10 years? We gave up how much for that?

As far as Ward, I for one am absolutely comfotable with him splitting time equally with Khudobin, who I think is much better than many give him credit for.

 

[NotOpie]

So after watching last night and having some time to sleep on things here's my take:

There's way too much latitude being given to Cam Ward on the board right now. Not 1, not 2, but 3 of the goals given up by him were eminently stoppable. Same old, "glove side high"....and unscreened at that. A professional goal tender has to stop those shots 99.9 times out of 100. Yes, the sequence in the 3rd is historic, but still. But for Cam's glove hand, this game is a tie or better. edit [actually it was only 2 goals glove side high, the other was blocker side, my bad]

When Bowman was elevated to the 1st line (Tlusty has played quite poorly this young season; showing too little of the toughness of last year), its jump returned. There's way too much Bowman hate going on. All he does is skate fast and hard, isn't afraid to hit, mostly makes heady plays, and yes, he can score (no need to point out that he hasn't to date). In fact his centering pass in the 3rd should have been an easy tap in for Hainsey, who noticeably wiffed big time. Truthfully, I think he'd be better on the 3rd line w/Skins and Elias, but....

Lindholm looks solid. Sure, maybe he's still a little tentative, but the extra shifts he had on the 3rd line portended good things to come. Let's see if he continues to progress before we talk about sending him down or back to Sweden.

Riley Nash is an enigma. He made 2 or 3 good plays defensively and had a couple of good zone entries too. Then he disappears for multiple shifts at a time. He's a 4th line C on a team that gets their 4th line 7-9 minutes. It's time for Lindholm to push up to the 3rd line.

WTF on faceoffs. Roddy if you have any job in this organization it is to teach the youngsters this skill. As strong as Sutter is, winning 18% of your faceoffs is unacceptable.

Murphy is young and still learning. Period.....oh, and he's small, but very, very fast. Give the kid some time. I like the comment about seeing where he is after 10 games (I'd probably give him more like 15).

Hainsey is a little like a combination of Corvo and Pitkanen. He makes the total brain-fart play followed up with a, "did he just really do that moment". He's a really, really good shot blocker.

Skinner was again, one of the best Canes on the ice last night. It appears to me he just needs a compadre that he can trust to make the most of his effort. He has that w/Dvorak, I believe. I'd like to see if he can develop it w/Lindholm.

Finally, I'm glad the Muller shuffled the lines a bit. I'd really like to see Dwyer off of the 2nd line. He just isn't offensive enough. He also belongs on the 4th line. The lines I'd like to see us try against the Caps are:

Bowman/EStaal/Semin
Gerbe/JStaal/Tlusty
Skinner/Lindholm/Dvorak
Sutter/Nash/Dwyer

Faulk/Sekera
Murphy/Hainsey
Bellemore/Komisarek

I'd sit Harry after his stupid penalties.

I know I'm kinda being harsh, but this is how I saw it.

 

[Unsustainable]

I hope Gleason is back sooner then later.

Tlusty might still be nursing something, Semin looks off still also.

Glad to see Eric get some confidence back, maybe that will help Semin.

 

[NotOpie]

Two other things....we were out-hit 25 to 16 last night. I'm not expecting us to be bangers, but the Pens aren't known for their physicality. Step up boys....way too many times last night Pittsburgh entered our zone totally unencumbered.

Bellemore was neither terrible nor was he good. He was merely average. But I thought he clearly outplayed Harrison yet again.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I can't believe we had 16 hits in that game. Nash threw the only one I can remember.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I can't believe we had 16 hits in that game. Nash threw the only one I can remember.

Sutter had at least 2 on one late shift. Murphy got a piece of somebody with his hip in the 1st. That's all I can remember.

 

[tomdundo]

I recommend finding a third hobby. Hurricanes hockey and alcoholism probably aren't sufficient to ensure your personal happiness.

--hank

 

[tarheelhockey]

Sutter had at least 2 on one late shift. Murphy got a piece of somebody with his hip in the 1st. That's all I can remember.

I remember the semi-hip check... it's awesome to see a young player using that move. If anything, it might make opponents cautious about trying to blow past him and compensate for his lack of bulk.

 

[Lazyking]

disappointing loss last night. Ward made some saves but did not play well. That goal to make it 3-2 was horrible. Took the life right out of the team.

 

[What the Faulk]

Philadelphia had 40+ hits the other night. Hits can be deceiving.

 

[Buenos Necas]

Here's the hip check he threw at Couturier, definitely could be a good move for him.

[NHL]2013020032-100-h&site=hurricanes[/NHL]

 

[spockBokk]

disappointing loss last night. Ward made some saves but did not play well. That goal to make it 3-2 was horrible. Took the life right out of the team.

Agree, you can't completely fault Ward for the loss but the last 3 goals given

 

[Lazyking]

Agree, you can't completely fault Ward for the loss but the last 3 goals given up by him were stoppable IMHO, maybe you can somewhat give him a pass

At 2-2 you have to make a big save. It's great that Ward can make these ungodly series of saves but maybe he wouldn't have had to if the team wasn't deflated by his softie given up two minutes after they tied it.

I still believe in Cam, its early, run him out there against the Caps and see how he responds.

 

[spockBokk]

disappointing loss last night. Ward made some saves but did not play well. That goal to make it 3-2 was horrible. Took the life right out of the team.

Agree, you can't completely fault Ward for the loss but the last 3 goals given up by him were stoppable IMHO. Maybe you can somewhat give him a pass on the 4th due to bad luck in the circle, but the two Jussi wristers completely deflated the team. You stop that 3rd goal, and I think we at least claim a point.

More disturbing to me is the lack of production from J Staal and Semin. The Dwyer on 2nd line experiment works (sometimes) defensively, but long term you probably need some more scoring there.
I'd put Tlusty there and roll something like this:

Bowman/Dvorak E Staal Semin
Gerbe J Staal Tlusty
Skinner Lindholm Ruutu (when healthy)/Dvorak
Sutter Nash Dwyer

D pairings will be shaken up I'm sure with the return of Gleason, but last game aside, the pairings do seem serviceable for now.

 

[behemolari]

This game was not nearly as bad as most of you are making it sound. Crosby and Malkin were the two best players on the ice, and it showed. Could have easily been a 3-2 loss or win following Gerbe's tying goal. We had them pinned in their zone several shifts in a row afterwards and couldn't get another one. The scoreline was not an accurate representation of the game, imo.

really? i just checked three star selection and there was one guy doing hat trick paid by canes to do so ..interesting