The Canes' Eric Staal put in 26 minutes of ice time Monday in the 3-1 loss to Detroit, leading Red Wings coach Mike Babcock to say Staal's play was impressive but that "he's going to be dead by Christmas" with that kind of workload.
Staal said today that it was a matter of being caught up in a competitive game, against the defending Stanley Cup champions, and the Canes trailing by a goal most of the second and third periods.
"It was one of those games where we were going over the boards, looking to get that goal to tie it up," he said. "They're a tough team to play against and it was tough to generate some chances. We were pushing as hard as we could to get it, but it wasn't close enough.
"Any time you have competition like that, you want to be on the ice as much as you can. At the end of the night, when I saw the minutes, I was up there quite a bit."
Staal said he was doing all he could to re-hydrate himself and prepare for two games in Los Angeles this weekend. And coach Peter Laviolette said his star center logging 25-plus minutes would not be a regular thing.
"There's going to be times when that happens," he said. "When we're in a game and we're moving toward the end of it, you've got your timeouts and you're dealing with a lot of things.
"He's one of the top players in the league. Do we want him playing 26 minutes on a regular basis? No. But in the same sense you want to get a guy out there who has proven his numbers are tremendous offensively and we needed a goal.
"We did what we did. We knew we had days coming up (between games). He's a young kid. He can handle 26 minutes. Do I want to do it on a regular basis? No, but I thought it had to be done the other night."
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at 
Comments
My opinion
Sun, 10/19/2008 - 06:07 — masahira (not verified)i agreed with author. thanksqz
I wouldn't blame the coaches
Thu, 10/16/2008 - 10:06 — Anonymous (not verified)I wouldn't blame the coaches fully... ask any player from brindy to sutter, they would be on the ice for all 60 minutes if you let them.
it really shows staals leadership though, wanting th puck at the crucial moments.
FWIW, it didn't work, so I
Wed, 10/15/2008 - 15:48 — Vincent Vega (not verified)FWIW, it didn't work, so I hope Lavi takes that into consideration before doing it again. Staal was dog tired at the end, and unable to do anything but force shots from the perimeter. It sounds like a good idea, but it's actually counter-productive. At least IMO.
Staal looked hot (as in temperature)
Wed, 10/15/2008 - 15:32 — corner sitter (not verified)During the 3rd period commercial break, I got a good look at our bench through binoculars. What was somewhat alarming was that Staal was red. Maybe it was the contrast against the new black jerseys. But the guys sitting next to him looked refreshed and white. Staal's face was beet red.
The guy definitely was working his tail off. He can't do this every night. Hopefully, as they say, it was a one time deal.