Canes try to focus only on Sabres game

Paul Maurice was on the ice today at Raleigh Center Ice, a coach leading the Canes  through a normal practice. Afterward, the players preferred to talk about tomorrow, about the Sabres game, about moving on.

But how do they get out of this losing funk?

"Play like a team, first and foremost," captain Eric Staal said.  "Just consciously be aware of keeping pucks out of our net and playing as a group, playing for each other, sticking together and going at it that way. That's the only way you can do it."

Maurice, the coach at the center of the storm, was asked how he would prepare his team for a game with so much speculation around about his job status following a miserable 4-0 loss Wednesday to the Montreal Canadiens.

"It's not a one-time thing. We've been dealing with that for a while," Maurice said. "The challenge is to not focus on anything more than one thing and to get that focus on one thing throughout your lineup, regardless of the style of game a player plays.

"We've clearly struggled defensively, but it seems we spend a lot of time talking about the offensive parts of our game and getting offensive players going. We weren't a good team last night in any parts of the game. Our focus has to be on each player playing that good, solid defensive game."

After practice, Maurice said one personnel move had been decided on: forward Zac Dalpe will be reassigned to the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) and Anthony Stewart would go into the lineup after being a healthy scratch. Stewart was on Eric Staal's line in today's practice with Chad LaRose.

"We have to get four lines off the bench," Maurice said, adding that Zach Boychuk could spend some time on Staal's line.

Maurice said he has sensed some frustration in goaltender Cam Ward. Ward was sensational Saturday in the 5-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins but was lifted in the second period against the Philadelphia Flyers and was not given a lot of help last night against the Habs.

"There would be some frustration in his game, and it comes from Cam believing in his heart he can play the way he did against Pittsburgh every night," Maurice said. "That's not a realistic standard. You pick your top five goaltenders in the history of the NHL, none of them played like that every night. ... We can't put him in that position, but we've done it."

Ward said that with such a busy schedule, no one is allowed to dwell too long on any game, whether a win or a loss.

"As miserable as it was in Montreal, and there wasn't a lot of good to take from it, today's a new day and you've got to prepare yourself for Buffalo," Ward said. "And work at just righting the ship. It's not as easy as it sounds but it's the way you've got to approach it. You've got to be strong mentally and this is a challenge for ourselves, but we've got to change within ourselves to get it done.

"I'm frustrated just like everybody else. You don't ever want to get to the point where you accept losing.""

Asked about the leadership needed to change the course of a season that could be swirling away, Maurice said to look to no one but him.

"It comes from the coach, bottom line. It's not on them," Maurice said. "We want to play a far superior team game, (and) I will ask them to individually prepare themselves. But this is now the time, in the most heat, that it's not on the captain, it's not on the players. It's on me."

How tough will it be with each game now feeling like a referendum on his coaching and job security?

"I'm not sure that that game-by-game started in early November 1995," he said.  "This is the grind that you learn to survive and deal with it as a man, deal with your players, rally your troops, have direct and honest conversations with players that need to have those. And make sure that when you're standing behind the bench you show that confidence in your team. And you just do it every day, night after night."

Jeff Skinner, asked about dealing with the speculation about Maurice, about possible trades, replied: "There's no use talking about it really."

"We've have to go out and the guys in this locker room have to figure out how to get a win. We can't be looking for outside help. We just have to get a win and find a way to get it done."