Of the former Hurricanes in the playoffs, it would be hard to single out a star performer other than Peter Laviolette. The Philadelphia Flyers coach, by trying to climb into the Pittsburgh Penguins’ bench during a late-season meeting between the two future playoff opponents, threw the Penguins way off their game.
The Penguins have been brutal in falling behind 3-0 to the Flyers, and that may be completely independent of Laviolette’s gamesmanship, but there’s no question they have utterly lost their focus and composure, taking ridiculous, predatory penalties and instigating preposterous brawls. The Flyers are hardly free of blame -- they’re thrilled to be the Penguins’ dance partner in this bizarre self-destruction -- and Laviolette sowed those seeds before the playoffs ever started.
The NHL has clearly lost control of what is happening on the ice, with players attempting to injure one another with no fear of discipline -- and for good reason, after Nashville’s Shea Weber was inexplicably let off the hook by Enabler-in-Chief Brendan Shanahan for twice trying to slam the head of Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg through the glass in the first game -- and the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series may be the worst
Of course, Laviolette and the Flyers would know as well as anyone that a 3-0 lead is no guarantee, having overcome that deficit themselves against the Boston Bruins two years ago on their way to the Stanley Cup finals.
On the other side of the ice in that series, Craig Adams has 17 penalty minutes in three games for the Penguins and was suspended for Game 4 after picking a fight with less than five minutes to go in Game 3 on Sunday.
Among players, Justin Williams leads the way with three goals in three games for the Kings, who have jumped out to a surprising 3-0 lead over the top-seeded Canucks.
Others: Ryan Carter has an assist and is plus-1 in two games for the Devils, as does Alexei Ponikarovsky; Joe Corvo is plus-3 and Dennis Seidenberg is plus-1 with an assist in three games for the Bruins; Ray Whitney is minus-2 in two games for the Coyotes, while Radim Vrbata left the second game of that series with an “upper body” injury; and Keith Aucoin is minus-2 in three games for the Capitals, making his NHL debut after beginning his career with the Carolina organization in 2001 and playing 53 games for the Hurricanes.
New Jersey (7 p.m., NHLN) and Phoenix (9 p.m., CNBC) both play tonight. Vrbata is listed as day-to-day.
UPDATE, 8:36 A.M. WEDNESDAY: Totally forgot Ian White, whose 39 games for the Hurricanes last season could aptly be described as forgettable. One goal and is minus-2 after Tuesday's games, averaging 18:01 in ice time.
In other news from last night's games, Whitney was amazing in a game otherwise ruined by yet another of Raffi Torres' flying sledgehammers, this time sending Marian Hossa to the hospital. Hossa, it should be noted, had already turned completely away from a puck. That's not finishing a check. It's hitting to kill.
Whitney, though, had the game-tying goal in the Coyotes' OT win and was plus-1, numbers which understate the way he controlled play in the Chicago zone for much of the game. He was outstanding.
Also, Jose Theodore got pulled from a playoff game, which I mention only because it harkens back to Game 6 in Montreal in 2002, when he was shelled by the Hurricanes (yet again) and it took him literally years to recover his confidence.
Luke has worked for The N&O since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist in August 2008. A native of Evanston, Ill., he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He can be reached at (919) 829-8947, @LukeDeCock on Twitter or
Comments
Ironic
Tue, 04/17/2012 - 16:52 — Hockeydad92Ironic that many of the names mentioned in Luke's article are part of the reason we are not in the playoffs. Ray Whitney and Dennis Seidenberg are the two player biggest losses we have had in recent years (including Cole) and we certainly miss the skill level of guys like Williams and Vrbata. Aucoin, Poni, Carter and Corvo were all replaceable but did we upgrade when they left or did we recycle / downgrade as usual.
Laviolette, well there he goes messing with that fire in a bottle again. I like Muller and the direction he has swayed the team but tell me again why we fired Lavi?
Lavi
Tue, 04/17/2012 - 17:39 — sittler27Like a lot of people sometimes you learn your biggest lessons in life through your biggest failures. No doubt Lavi is now having success in Philly. But at the time he was fired he had made some serious blunders in how he dealt with the Canes players and had seriously lost the room. There are players who were there who confided then and will confide now exactly what happened. The same thing had happened with the Islanders and it had to do with the very personal way he tried to motivate players and you can only go that well and take the players to highs so many times before they tune you out. The word is he has learned from those two siutations and is now a coach who tries to keep the highs and lows within a much narrower range and runs the ship on an more even keel. Case in point.... his players are much more controlled than the Pens and a lot has to do with his current coaching style.
If you look at the careers of most succesful coaches over a long period they have that trait. Scotty Bowman, Toe Blake and Al Arbour are examples that quickly come to mind. Guys like Keenan have short term success and flame out. Give Lavi credit for being an intelligent guy who learned form his mistakes and is now enjoying the sustainded success that comes with that.
This has been a very strange
Tue, 04/17/2012 - 10:37 — louis12580series of games and events. Some real good, hard, physical, skating games and some that evoke memories of Slap Shot.
Colin Campbell paved the way things are done with his constant waffling when it came time for fines/suspensions and while it is easy (now) to blame Shanahan, some of the blame has to go to the players and the NHLPA. There's an alarming lack of respect shown by the players and to me, they really don't seem all that interested in stopping that habit. The fines are puny because they were collectively bargained. Maybe the league, when it comes time, will up the ante and challenge the players to accept that challenge. Tougher fines and punitive action needs to be taken by both sides. Enact higher fines and stiffer suspensions. Have a strict code of suspensions that increases each time a player does the same thing. Maybe get to a point where a player is suspended say, double digit games, and can not be sent to the minors (as happened with Downie, I think) so he can be replaced on the roster. Make coaches and organizations reponsible for their actions as well.