Canes stay off ice, make line changes

TORONTO — During a slow, snowy bus ride from Buffalo to Toronto on Saturday night, the decision was made to cancel the Canes' scheduled practice today.

Instead, the players huddled with the coaching staff and general manager Jim Rutherford at the hotel before breaking up into groups for off-ice conditioning.

"Some days, putting the gear on and going out and skating, you take more energy than you get from it," coach Paul Maurice said. "We're in the middle of a long stretch of games here now and quite a bit of travel, so being on the ice wasn't going to make us better today."

Maurice is hoping a few more line changes will help produce more scoring and help the Canes break out of their five-game losing streak. In the 3-1 loss to Buffalo on Saturday, he started Justin Williams on the fourth line with Brandon Sutter and Patrick Eaves.

Maurice liked what he saw. Williams, still trying to regain his form after the Achilles tendon tear in preseason, will be on Eric Staal's line Tuesday against the Maple Leafs, Maurice said.

"I've been really impressed with the way Justin has handled my approach to him," Maurice said. "He went out last night and showed some anger in his game and finished some checks. That's not what I expected him to do. That's not his game. I'm not trying to turn him into a grinder.

"But he showed a passion I think he's going to need to get back. I mean, he's a great player and very gifted and he's had significant injuries. He's back way before we thought he'd be but he's going to have to really, really push himself back to form and it's going to be uncomfortable for him to do that.

"But I thought last night he didn't play much early but then went out and played his butt off and earned the right to play with Eric."

Maurice said Tuomo Ruutu would be moved to Rod Brind'Amour's line with winger Chad LaRose, with Matt Cullen continuing to center the line with Scott Walker and Ray Whitney that was the most productive against the Sabres. Walker's play, Maurice said, "was fantastic — he just worked and worked and gave us a lot."

The Canes have produced just nine goals in the five-game slide, being outscored 23-9.

"We're just not getting the handle on some pucks around the net that have to go in for us to get that good feeling," Maurice said.

The Canes did score four goals Thursday against Toronto, albeit in a 6-4 loss. And the chances were there against the Sabres.

"We played a harder game (at Buffalo)," Brind'Amour said. "We competed. It just didn't work out.

"We've just got to keep playing hard and believe in ourselves. One good thing is no one is pointing fingers. We're all in it together."