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Archive for October 10th, 2008

Save the opening night blues for St. Louis

10 Oct 2008 @ 9:48 PM

The Canes came out with vengance on their mind after the season ending loss only months before. Instead they fell into a 2-0 hole to start the first thanks to an old friend. But the Canes were resiliant and kept at it. After a powerplay goal by Ruutu and a dazzling move by Whitney near the end of the first the Canes have all the momentum. Brindy would put them up 3-2 but would be answered a few minutes later by Dvorak. Joni was being Joni again tonight and put the home team up to stay with just over 5 to play in the 2nd. Despite a late comeback attempt and some, shall I say “questionable” calls, the Canes stood solid and emerged victorious 6 to 4.

So here’s some thoughts on the game. Defense:
Pitkanen – Gleason was solid, real solid. They compliment eachother extremely well and very well might be the best top pairing in the southeast. Dare I say it they could very well be among the top 2 or 3 #1 pairings in the east when all is said and done if they can carry this play over to future games. But they weren’t the only ones doing their part from the blueline. Frank Kaberle was back in fashion tonight and after doing the matador routine on the Panthers first goal had an otherwise solid night. Corvo didn’t produce but he didn’t look bad by any meens either despite his -2 so that’s a wash to me, he should put up the numbers this year regardless. Seidenberg impressed looking like he really wants to be a part of the Canes long-term plans and he deserved the 21+ minutes of ice time he got. Fantastic feed by him on the powerplay to Ruutu. Wallin was also a very pleasant surprise making the nicest play I’ve seen him make since the 05-06 playoffs to set up Lacouture for his first Hurricanes goal.

Up Front:
The Staal line was dominant despite Eric not ending up on the scoresheet. He was dangerous all night, Whitney is still the Wizzard and Eaves looks like he could easily have a breakout season alongside those two. The Brind’Amour line was not at its strongest even strength but they more then made up for that on the powerplay contributing both goals. Ruutu showed some glimpses of why he was considered the best prospect in hockey a few times tonight. The Cullen line was alright, shut down the Panthers forwards and pestered their D all night but didn’t produce until an empty netter at the end. The line that impressed me the most was actually Brookbank-Sutter-Lacouture. Generated a lot of action in front of Vokoun and the end result was a goal for Lacouture and Brandon’s first NHL point.

Special Teams:
This powerplay is lethal, period. The Pitkanen-Corvo setup on the point will generate more then it won’t and having the Brind’Amour setup with what looked like a resurgent Kaberle on the 2nd unit ensured that if the Panthers focused on stopping the 1st unit they would get burnt in the end. It happened, twice.
The PK… I’m still not sold on. It should improve over last season by simple law of averages, but there were only 3 players iced tonight that I would consider putting on a PK with Gleason, Wallin and Seidenberg. That said, the Canes new attacking attitude with the forwards will pay off and ensure that the PK improves. Sutter especially was impressive there, this kid has Selke written all over him, just such a cerebral defensive player at such a young age.

Dave’s 3 stars:
3 – Ray Whitney
2 – The Pitkanen-Gleason pairing… yeah I know it’s a copout, so sue me
1 – Brandon Sutter