NEWARK, N.J. -- Well, that was pretty ugly.
At least, that was the Carolina Hurricanes' perspective — almost in disbelief — after the dismal 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils in Wednesday's Stanley Cup playoff opener at the Prudential Center.
For the Devils, there wasn't a real blemish to this game, to this victory. The big smile on the face of Lou Lamoriello, New Jersey's president and general manager, after the game spoke volumes about the feelings of everyone in the organization.
"I thought through and through we got contributions from everyone," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "It was pretty precise, how we wanted to play.
"We know our opponent is a very tough opponent and we need to be a disciplined team in everything we do."
The Devils were just that — precise and disciplined. They took just two penalties, both in the third period after building the lead to 3-0. They allowed 19 shots in the game and precious few good scoring chances for the Canes, who got their only goal from Ray Whitney at 9:22 of the third.
"They were better than us in all areas," Whitney said. "They have a good veteran team that was prepared to play tonight and we just didn't answer."
The Canes had some players making their first playoff appearances, including defensemen Tim Gleason and Anton Babchuk and forward Tuomo Ruutu.
"We had some nervousness," Whitney said.
Gleason was responsible for a penalty 37 seconds into the game for too many men on the ice.
First-game nerves? Gleason smiled, a rarity in the Canes' locker room after this game.
"It was stupid," he said. "Too many men the first shift I jumped out there. That was my mistake in the playoffs -- hopefully that was it."
The Canes, nearly everyone in their room agreed, were too tentative, especially early in the game.
"I think we were," Gleason said. "We were trying not to make mistakes and that's not how we play hockey.
"We finished off the year on a positive, winning a lot of games. If we were confident then, we can be confident now."
Gleason said coach Paul Maurice was as positive as possible after such game, that he didn't come in and bark and howl.
"He gave us a positive chat," Gleason said. "We've got to move on from it and stay positive.
"We've got a lot of character in this room and a lot of guys who have gone through this. This is all part of it. The message was positive, to go to practice, learn from it and move on."
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at 
Comments
As we all know shots on goal is the key
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 13:16 — psw_453The Canes really need to generate more shots on goal in game two. Of course everyone has said this about New Jersey for the past ten years but the facts are the facts.I don't expect the Canes to generate too many shots 5 on 5. They really need to take advantage of the special teams aspect of the game and generate some real scoring opportunities. This is the clubs best chance IMO.My personal PSW Blog
out-played and out-fought
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 11:11 — rmmeliThe Devils did exactly what they had to do and did it to perfection. They knocked the Canes off their game and won easily. Why the Canes came out so flat is a mystery only they can answer. I had the misfortune to listen to the Devils commentators and they were saying the same thing - the Devils out fought the Canes as they needed to do. Hopefully the Canes can sort themselves out.....
Bad
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 09:30 — CanarseLosing isn't the end of the world. Playing like they needed to be wearing skirts is awful. No hitting at all until the third period except for the occaisional Ruutu shot. Brind'Amour seemed to be in December form. Cole is a nightmare with the puck on his stick. The defense sorely needs a leader. I hope Corvo has some kind of injury they aren't talking about. While the rest of the team improved at the end of the season he regressed.
Return of the Candy Canes
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 09:10 — HockeydogAlthough there was some hitting by the Canes, they were mostly out muscled over the puck by smaller players.
Staal comes to mind as well as TheReaper's fine examples.
Brind'Amour was awful. Still early in the series, and they could drop both games at "The Rock" and win the series but they will have to find the March edition of the Canes, and lose the Candy Stripes.
Bring it in Game 2
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 08:31 — Canes73We all know that losing the first game (especially on the road) is not the end of the world. In '06, we lost the first two at home and battled back to win the series against Montreal. Hopefully they don't wait until game 3 to wake up this time around. I didn't think that the Canes would walk into NJ and win both games, I was and still am hoping for a split, so the loss doesn't overly concern me, what does concern me is the effort put in and how quickly they packed it in. I was thinking after the 1st...okay they're down one but will come out blazing in the second. I was in disbelief after they came out even flatter in the second and still had no jump in the third.
Friday night they need to come out skating and hitting and crashing the net. Brodeur had it way too easy last night. I don't even mind the odd goalie interference penalty if it means getting Brodeur off his game.
Lets go Canes!!!
The Canes played like the
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 08:16 — TheReaper49The Canes played like the gutless bunch of muffins they are often accused of being. That will not work in the playoffs, especially against the Devils. They have to take hits to make plays. They have to give hits to stop plays. And they have to get in Brodeurs face.
Some egregious examples:
LaRose skating by the Devil's player and flashing out his stick instead of hitting him which directly led to a goal.
Little Brian Gionta outmuscling and taking the puck from Brind'amour and setting up a goal.
The total lack of net presence all night.
The good news is that we shouldn't be tired for Friday night because nobody played last night. Actually, I take that back, the 4th line had a few, good dominant shifts. So, naturally they saw hardly any ice time.
Physical Play and the Hurricanes; and a Test of Team Character
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 07:47 — abramsdougThe book on the Hurricanes is that the forwards aren't in love with physical play. I assume that Ruutu, Cole, and Walker are not included in that analysis because it is hard for me to imagine anybody saying those three don't play with a physical edge. In any event, here's a quote from Mike Mottau from an article online at
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/sarah_kwak/04/16/devils.canes/index.html?eref=sircrc
"If you play them physical and don't allow them to spend too much time in the offensive zone, they get frustrated," White's partner Mike Mottau said of covering the Hurricanes' top line. "You can just tell by their body language [that they were frustrated]."
I think the statements concerning body language of frustration is an accurate observation by Mottau. Francis and Maurice understand that playoff hockey requires a team to control its emotions, including both responses after winning and after losing. Still, the achilles heel for the Hurricanes is that as a team sometimes there is tendency for the team to fail to rise to the occasion and to be outhit and outskated. The Hurricanes were one of the best teams in the NHL at the end of the season, so obviously the team has the ability to win under any circumstance. Now it's a test of the team's character. Coming into the first round, the idea was to win at least one game in New Jersey. It's time for the Hurricanes to hit the erase button and to outplay the Devils on Friday.
Sorry Doug, but if the
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 09:12 — mokimanoSorry Doug, but if the Canes forwards cannot handle the physical play of the Devils, what would it be like against a team like the Bruins or Flyers or the Caps or any other team that is more physical and larger than Carolina? Like Reaper said, you need to take hits to make plays, you need to give hits to create offense...to a man this team failed to show up and that is inexcusable. Nerves...come on...half that roster that played for the Canes last night has won a Cup, they crapped the bed and they better wake up and smell the coffee come Friday, no way no how do you come out and lay an egg like they did last night in a playoff game...these guys should be embarrassed with that effort and Friday has to be a polar opposite of Wednesday's game to have any chance in this series.
Disappointing Start and Coming Out Flat
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 09:49 — abramsdougIt is difficult for me as a fan to understand how a team like the Hurricanes could come out flat for the first game of the Stanley Cup Series; but in the end whether the Hurricanes lost in the fifth overtime or lost by being dominated, it's still a single loss. I agree that the Canes forwards have to handle the physical play of the other teams to succeed; and clearly the entire team was absolutely manhandled last night. I am optimistic, however, that the Hurricanes on Friday will play the kind of urgent, relentless hockey that they showed at the end of the season. As bad as the game was to watch, it must have felt miserable to be playing that poorly from the player's perspective.
Hey Chip
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 09:08 — esteban1949You had better watch out...that Sarah Kwak is a better looking reporter sir !!! hey i better Warn Phil Janack too !!!
Gop Canes !!
True For Everyone in NHL
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 08:15 — GoShelfThat sort of comment is true of pretty much everyline in NHL - take away time & space, play physical, and dominate puck possession. That's what the Staal line can expect for the remainder of this playoff round - facing White & Mottau and the Madden line, especially on the road. If they are going to have any success against what I would call an average d-pair (White is big & slow and Mottau skates well but is undersized) they need to get the puck deep and be moving through the neutral zone with speed, which means they can't turn the puck over like they did last night.
Hoo boy. Let's hope that
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 07:26 — caneshockeyfanHoo boy. Let's hope that game was an anomaly. Because that beatdown was absolute and clinical. What a statement from the Devils.
Well all i know
Thu, 04/16/2009 - 07:02 — esteban1949is that the Canes knew better, there was no real reason or need to be nervous, as the team prior to this was playing playoff style hockey, and aside from a couple of good charges to the net..and the Whitney,LaRose,and Cullen line...NJ had the canes boxed in,and wrapped up tighter than a jonesonville braut in a bun. Nervous ? Come on Guys...That Dog Don't hunt !! The Devils out skated,checked & fore checked the canes as well as out shot them too. Even Corvo didn't keep a tight leash on Mr. P. it seemed that at times the canes were leaving Ward out to fend for himself...we had no real net presence to help Ward. Ok, game one is done and history...The Canes know what and how to do it...So as the old commercial used to say...Just Do IT !!!
Go Canes !!!