Blue Jackets 3, Canes 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Carolina Hurricanes went into the game with an 11-game winless streak and without forwards Eric Staal and Ray Whitney.
And after the first 7 1-2 minutes Saturday, they were playing without goaltender Cam Ward, who suffered that coach Paul Maurice called a "significant injury" to his left leg.
That's asking a lot of a hockey team, and especially one that's struggling, mightily. It was asking too much this night as the Columbus Blue Jackets surged in the third period to take a 3-2 victory at Nationwide Arena.
Trailing 1-0 after two periods, the Jackets opened the third with a flurry of goals. Nikita Filatov scored 50 seconds into the period. Jared Boll scored at 2:55, and then Rick Nash just 36 seconds after Boll.
Just like that the Canes' lead was gone and the game, in essence, turned into another lost cause. The Hurricanes, who got goals from Erik Cole and Tim Gleason, fall to 2-11-3 and again failed to win a road game, falling to 0-7-2.
Ward was injured with 12:25 left in the first period and had to be helped off the ice. Ward was bleeding and appeared to have been hit on his left leg by Nash's skate after Nash was knocked down in front of the Canes goal.
Ward was taken to a hospital for further examination and treatment.
Michael Leighton is in the game for the Canes.
Cole scored his first goal of the season at 9:05 of the first on a Matt Cullen assist. ...
The Canes in pregame have no line changes from the Leafs game, and the defensive pairs remain the same. Cam Ward in goal.
Here are some numbers to ponder: since the start of last season, the Jackets are 15-3-3 against Eastern teams and have outscored them 62-39. Goaltender Steve Mason is 13-1-2 against East teams with a 1.41 goals-against average and .950 save percentage.
About the blogger
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is in his second season as the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at chip.alexander@newsobserver.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @ice_chip.
Comments
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LaRose
Sun, 11/08/2009 - 10:19 — smhockeyLarose caught lightening in a bottle the 2nd half of 08' when he had good speed and was going to the net. His speed is off from last year and he is largely unable to go outside in on "D", unlike his 08' goal run. Add to that mediocre hands and an unorthodox skating style which poorly positions him for shooting and we have the Larose we saw before the surge of 2008. He simply wasn't worth the money he got. Trading him will be difficult. Watching him check opposing "D" and bounce off even disqualifies him as a good 4th line "checking forward". Love the guys effort but he has marginal talent and it is showing.
If i remember right...
Sun, 11/08/2009 - 14:18 — procellaeWhen Lavi was fired and Maurice came in, Maurice originally put LaRose on the 4th line. This seemed to cause him to pick up his play. This is what you were saying about him catching lightning in the bottle in the 2nd half. Perhaps Maurice can move him down and see if something similar occurs.
I too
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 23:11 — esteban1949watched a good game, that went south in the 3rd period. AD & others already have pointed out what went wrong yet again tonight. I personally don't think Cam ward got an artery cut, as there wasn't enough blood on the ice. But from the looks of how Cam was trying to waddle down the ramp even with support to keep him off one or the other leg, tells me that it is serious. How serious ? not sure. like all of you here, I'll not speculate about his Olympic ambitions ( or anyone else on the Canes)but I still feel that in the case of the Canes, the team as a whole owes themselves and we fans their undivided attention on what is going on in the NHL more than one's national/Olympic teams. And in Closing...Our AHL Affiliate, The Albany River Rats...Won 2 games in a row now as they beat the Phantom's 3-1...Now the canes can return home, and lick their wounds and prepare for Williams & the L.A. Kings on Wednesday...
By that time all of us will know what and where the injury situation is and will be for all of the Canes wounded, and what if any trades, call ups JR will do.
have a good week end & a safe one everyone !
Go Canes !!
What would you prefer?
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 22:47 — drailAt this point it, the loss doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is that its not even Thanksgiving and I'm already contemplating this question. Let me preface this by stating that by no means do I condone quiting. I've seen too many games to know that anything is possible. I've done the math and know what its going to take to make the playoffs. With the hole that they dug themselves in, they could be an above average team the rest of the way and still not make the playoffs. So, what would you prefer? Having a good run and finishing 9th or 10th, missing out on the playoffs and ending up with the 14th pick? Or continue down this road and having a chance at a top 3 pick? Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin would be a good addition to the other young player we'll have next year.
If this funk continues for
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 23:17 — procellaeIf this funk continues for much longer, I say it's time to focus on rebuilding. We are an old team, and we are in for a rebuilding year eventually. I would much prefer getting Taylor Hall and having a great team for multiple seasons than having a run this season, maybe making the playoffs, having a bad draft pick, and losing key players in the off-season.
MY preference re question failed run or draft pick
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 23:08 — abramsdougThe organization long term would benefit from being able to draft a top three franchise player. This team is close to being a top tier team; although it sounds crazy on the back of a twelve game winless start. I would prefer that the transition to next year's team continue. Sutter and Boychuk have shown they can skate and battle with the best in the NHL. Let's start putting into place next year's team. There is an obvious problem with the defense. It may be that McBain still needs time, but the defense can scarcely be worse with somebody from Albany that it is at present. Starting the transition now will give the players a chance to play together this season. Cole and Cullen are doing a great job with Boychuk. Cole in particular has been a leader on the ice. The Cullen/Cole/Boychuk line is crazy fast. Jokinen was given another assist, so he continues his point streak. I like the Samsonov/Jokinen/Ruutu line. Hopefully, if there were a top three forward with crazy speed and scoring, he could play on a Sutter/Staal/top three pick game changer line -- assuming Whitney is not re-resigned. Suddenly, the Hurricanes forwards are among the fastest in the NHL. Defensively, it will be time for Carson, Rodney, and McBain to step up. The fourth line of Walker/Brind'Amour/Kostopoulos is a hustling fourth line. It is possible of course that Walker will not be re-signed and if Rutherford intends to re-sign Walker, he might trade LaRose. In any event, the point is that another franchise player at wing would be a tremendous long term benefit to the Carolina Hurricanes organization. So if I had a choice, my choice would be play the young players and build for the future. If Cam Ward is injured significantly, I would bite the bullet and bring up and play Peters and Murphy. I have no belief that Leighton can provide a winning effort on a consistent basis.
Rebuild
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 23:53 — drailI agree that the Boychuk/Cullen/Cole line has been good. Staal and Whitney are going to come back in the next couple weeks and I think you'll see the Whitney/Staal/Cole line again. I'd like to see Sutter move up to the second line with Cullen and Boychuk. The Euro line is a great 3rd line. Then go with Kostopoulus/Brind'Amour/Walker for the 4th line. Trade Larose now for whatever you can get. Whitney will have the most value at the trade deadline, so trade him to a contender for a first round pick if you can get it.
Rebuild
Sun, 11/08/2009 - 00:11 — abramsdougI agree with you. I think LaRose is the odd man out. Although I really hope Whitney can be re-signed and that RUtherford and Maurice have a plan in mind to keep him, my brain tells me Whitney is likely to be asked to waive his NTC. In addition, with Cam Ward's injury, the arguments for rebuilding now become even stronger. Take the pain now of rebuilding and get the benefits of a stronger team next year.
Canes v. Blue Jackets
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 21:58 — abramsdougAt the moment, the Hurricane defeats are entirely predictable. The good news is that Sutter and Boychuk continue to show why they need to be kept. Leighton against the Blue Jackets is a guaranteed loss. Many of our key players are too frustrated to play intelligent hockey. Gleason knows better than to force a pass in the middle to a covered forward. Corvo's earlier mistake again was one of those mind-boggling mental lapses. I haven't seen the event stats, but it's more of the same with no goals by LaRose and Brind'Amour. Cole is stepping it up. I think the team overall played well except for about five minutes of total collapse. I believe adversity builds character, and the Hurricanes will come out of this carnage a better team -- not the same team in terms of personnel, but a better team. I suspect the trades will start within the next week to ten days. The weaknesses and gaps are just too obvious. For yet another game, the non-existent power play cost the team the game. Boychuk will be great on the power play as he gets settled. He already has an assist. So in two games, he is halfway to LaRose's point production for the season. Same defensive inability to defend behind the Hurrianes' own goal and goals scored by players who are scoring their first goal of the season. This pattern will continue throughout the season until necessary personnel changes are made. On the other hand, as long as the players I view as core team players continue to fight, I have no real complaints. I am happy to watch Sutter and Boychuk. I think Cole is playing some of his best hockey. No complaints with Cullen, Samsonov, Jokinen either. I doubt personally whether the Hurricanes will be experiencing many wins if Ward's injury leaves Leighton in goal. I predict if Ward is out that Peters and/or Murphy will get some time in the net.
oye vay
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 22:18 — AN0NYM0USJust when you think things can't get worse! I'm quite worried about Cam. I hope his femoral artery wasn't sliced--it appeared more than a sliced leg--appeard to get up in the groin area. If Cam goes down, I'd look for the Canes to try to get an experienced goalie who might be available to get us thru the season. We'll know more tomorrow, but things look grim. I hope I'm wrong.
pulling out of the funk
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 22:05 — procellaeI have no doubt in my mind that the Canes will eventually come out of the funk they are in. They will be a better team. However, the problem is that they are running out of time to come out of the funk. There isn't time to slowly come out of the funk. While it technically is still early on in the season, this stretch will come back and haunt us in March/April. It has been said many times. The Canes will have to go about .650 to .700 on the rest of the reason to make the playoffs. They will not capture the division. They will have to make 4-8, and honestly, if this continues for much longer, this isn't going to happen. I highly doubt they will pull a Washington of two years ago. They don't have players skilled enough, and Washington will not start to falter as the Canes did.
Heh
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 21:43 — procellaeYou know, this was the first game in over 4 years that I have not watched (excluding the ones not televised that I didn't go to). I cannot stand to watch this. Another 40 minute game. This team is so fragile it's not even funny. In case you didn't know, the Canes have let up at least two consecutive goals in 16 straight games. And guess how many games they have played? That's right...16.
I am just annoyed that again they start the game off good, let in a goal, and then just let it fall to pieces, while putting forth a horrible effort to tie the game at the end.
There is clearly a mental problem with this team. While I have avoided blaming Maurice as much as possible, it's clear that he is not able to instill any confidence in this team. I would say to get rid of him, but the problem is what we would do after he is gone. With two head coaches under contract, I don't see them getting another. Possibly Francis will move up, or we will continue the recycling and bring back Lavi.
Sigh...
Maurice, Team Psychology and the Losing Streak
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 22:13 — abramsdougI can truly understand people concluding that Paul Maurice has not been able to instill team confidence in his system. The twelve straight winless games is a fact; and ultimately a coach has to take responsibility for the performance of his team. Even so, I respectfully disagree that Maurice should be fired now. I don't think there is a coach alive today who could turn MIchael Leighton into a winning NHL goalie. I can't blame Maurice for having a team full of significant injuries. I wonder who could coach the Hurricanes to victory against the Blue Jackets on the second of back-to-back games with Cam Ward injured, with Staal out, with Whitney out, and with Ruutu banged up. Considering those factors, I though the team did well with the personnel it has on the ice. I won't repeat my earlier obsevations about the personnel weaknesses. To be clear, I am not a person who loved the idea of the return of Paul Maurice. It is simply that under the circumstances I think it is the Hurricanes' organization best interests to give him a meainingful shot at putting together a team in which the players adhere to his system. If after that occurs, the Hurricanes remain ineffective as a team, Maurice should go on his own accord.
Maurice is a "known quantity"
Mon, 11/09/2009 - 10:04 — Mo_MiseryHe has coached in the NHL for a long time and has a .416 win % he is clearly not a top NHL Coach thinking that after nearly 1000 games coached that is going to magically change is not reasonable. JR hired him because he is his friend, he is comfortable with him and he is a decent coach that came really cheap. With the Playoff Run that gave JR the ammo he needed to sign him to an extension, now we will get the results Mo has always got...around a .40% win percentage with extended periods of losses and runs of decent Hockey so settle in for Mo Hockey. It is not pretty, 2 to 3 goals a game hope for some OTLs to get some extra points to squeak in to playoffs every few years.
A lot of people want to compare this to Laviolette's 2 post cup years but honestly there is no comparison this team is much worse with more talent. By the way Laviolette has coached around half as many games as Maurice has .501 win % He has a Stanley Cup championship, AHL championship and has been produced winning hockey every where he coached.
So the question is not should Maurice be fired? The question is why was Maurice extended and what does that say about JR as a General Manager? Is he happy with a Team that wins 40% of its games?
Maurice, Team Psychology and the Losing Streak
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 22:13 — abramsdougI can truly understand people concluding that Paul Maurice has not been able to instill team confidence in his system. The twelve straight winless games is a fact; and ultimately a coach has to take responsibility for the performance of his team. Even so, I respectfully disagree that Maurice should be fired now. I don't think there is a coach alive today who could turn MIchael Leighton into a winning NHL goalie. I can't blame Maurice for having a team full of significant injuries. I wonder who could coach the Hurricanes to victory against the Blue Jackets on the second of back-to-back games with Cam Ward injured, with Staal out, with Whitney out, and with Ruutu banged up. Considering those factors, I though the team did well with the personnel it has on the ice. I won't repeat my earlier obsevations about the personnel weaknesses. To be clear, I am not a person who loved the idea of the return of Paul Maurice. It is simply that under the circumstances I think it is the Hurricanes' organization best interests to give him a meainingful shot at putting together a team in which the players adhere to his system. If after that occurs, the Hurricanes remain ineffective as a team, Maurice should go on his own accord.
If this team turns it
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 23:12 — procellaeIf this team turns it around quickly, I would be fine with keeping Maurice. But the fact is they continue to look weak mentally. I'm sure Maurice has tried and tried again, but as we were talking about with Lavi last season, he just doesn't have that influence over the team. If a coach loses control over his team, that can lead some bad things (i.e. 12 game losing streak). Maurice needs to get his team on track fast or leave. There comes a point when you have to say, all right Maurice, you're out of chances. It has been a month since they last won a game. How much longer should we give him? Each game we lose, the playoffs slip farther away. It has been shown time and time again that a firing of a coach can quickly change a team's attitude/performance/feelings/etc.
And on the comment about the Canes not playing too badly with what they have, I agree completely. They played a pretty good 40 minutes. The only real issue was that they couldn't capitalize on their scoring chances (big issue, though). This was the same in the SJ game and the Toronto game - they come out with jump and you can see the team that they truly are. But everything goes south when they are scored on. Personally, I don't think they have many issues on the ice for the most part. The issues are in their heads. If they can get their confidence back, they will be a good team. This goes make to my comments about Maurice. He is not able to instill confidence in this team, and this is their major problem.The coach needs to fix the major problems on his team. But clearly, Maurice isn't able to fix this on his own.
Welllllllllll
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 21:47 — WAStoutLavi could coach to .500.
I know it's fruitless thinking but maybe he learned his lesson about playing some defense.
I think we need more than
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 21:53 — procellaeI think we need more than .500 coaching now ;)
I don't know...I wouldn't be complaining if Lavi were to return, and it makes sense with the contracts. What we need right now is offense IMO (an offense that can finish their chances?), and having Maurice won't help. But Lavi won't help with the D. Maybe Maurice and Lavi can be co-head coaches.
I Know I Am Wasting My Time
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 21:36 — WAStoutBut for the sixth game in a row...can we PLEASE fire Mo now?
At least he used his timeout right for once.
Maurice and Francis
Sun, 11/08/2009 - 11:50 — abramsdougWAStout:
You may be getting your wish, or at least partially. The Ottawa Sun is reporting a rumor that Francis may be taking over for Maurice. My GUESS (just a hunch) is that Francis will become the behind the bench head coach and Maurice will be elevated into management as Chief of Team Strategy and Personnel and will go into the box with Rutherford. Maurice knows a tremendous amount about hockey. Maybe his skill set is best served in that capacity rather than being an on ice, behind the bench, motivator. I tend to think Francis may have better people skills and may be better at the motivational side of coaching. In short, Maurice has a great hockey brain and it makes no sense to pay him to play golf.
http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2009/11/07/11672171.html
PORTION OF OTTAWA SUN ARTICLE
Oh, Carolina
. . . The biggest issue for the ’Canes could be C Rod Brind’Amour. The 38-year-old is struggling and has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $3.6 million per season. The ’Canes need to get quicker. A move that could be imminent in Carolina: Ron Francis taking over from coach Paul Maurice.
Hmm...that seems like a good
Sun, 11/08/2009 - 14:14 — procellaeHmm...that seems like a good arrangement. I agree that Maurice is too hockey smart to let go. I like his coaching, but the reason that I think he should lose the head coach title is because he is not able to instill confidence in this team. A shake-up is needed, and by moving Maurice up, we are getting the mentality change that comes along with coaching changes, but we are also benefiting from keeping a highly intelligent coach.
Started Walker
Sat, 11/07/2009 - 19:45 — canephanMaybe Mo saw my post. (Starting the 4th line giving Scotty more ice time) This team needs to skate for Cam. Walker scores we win....;)