PITTSBURGH — With Canes coach Paul Maurice, sometimes it's not so much what he says as how he says it.
After the Canes' 3-2 loss to the Penguins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Maurice was asked about the injuries to Tuomo Ruutu and Erik Cole. Both had lower-body injuries, and Cole's came on a knee-to-knee hit from the Pens' Matt Cooke.
"On those two guys, I'll know tomorrow," he said. "I don't know much right now. We'll see how they wake up and how they feel."
On the surface, that sounds like Ruutu and Cole could be OK. And they may be. But there didn't seem to be much optimism in the tone of Maurice's voice.
Later in the postgame news conference, Maurice was talking about the flow of the game when he noted, "That was a completely different style of game than the last 14 that we just played.
"I mean, it went from Erik Cole going to the net, it would be, you know, they'd exchange 14 punches before they established net front position and tonight's game they were inteference penalties. So it was a little bit of an adjustment for us from what we've seen. So we'll have to make that adjustment."
Again, a simple statement about the game. Or was it a veiled comment on the referees' calls?
Not long after saying that, Maurice popped up and left the podium, the look of concern never leaving his face as he walked the hallway at Mellon Arena back to the locker room.
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at
Comments
Like many
Tue, 05/19/2009 - 09:54 — esteban1949Canes fans I too hope that Ruutu and Cole will be able to play and feel good about it on Thursday, but we do have the likes of Conboy,Sutter and a couple other of the Black Ace's to try and fill in. Sutter was on the bench when the canes have played the Pens during the regular season...but seeing i am NOT behind the bench, making any of the calls...all i and the rest of us fans can do is wait & see.
Go Canes !!
Conboy and Ryan
Tue, 05/19/2009 - 09:44 — Hockeydogwould be my guess if both Cole and Ruutu were not available Thursday. I guess the NHL instructed the refs to make sure nothing gets out of hand so the NHL poster boy Crosby doesn't get hurt. And I mean no disrespect to Crosby with that comment. I have nothing but respect for him.
All in all the Pens won the game and the Canes lost it.
What do you expect on the
Tue, 05/19/2009 - 09:02 — mokimanoWhat do you expect on the officials when they are not held accountable to the same degree as the players are? The NHL says your not allowed to comment on the officiating, your not allowed to ever criticize a blatant wrong call or mistakes made by NHL officials...the same guys that butcher some games are right back out there the next night or two with no recourse. Consistency would be nice, but that is way too much to ask for from Bettman's cast of cronies...
without cole and ruutu who
Tue, 05/19/2009 - 08:59 — clementnormanwithout cole and ruutu who would play helminen and boychuk?
"Or was it a veiled comment
Tue, 05/19/2009 - 01:56 — hctimo787"Or was it a veiled comment on the referees' calls?"
Not in the least. He was rightfully calling out the refs and the league. Three ticky-tack calls early in the game that arguably (read: definitely) wouldn't have been called in the Canes first two series, and then the refs virtually swallow their whistles for the remainder of the game except for a bump in front of the net by Cole.
I don't care if the refs are going to swallow their whistles or call a game like it's the regular season, but it absolutely must be called consistently throughout the entirety of a game, or at the least called consistently through a single period. It's bad enough that the officiating changes from game to game, but even worse is that it changes from period to period, and at least in the first period tonight, changed during a TV timeout.
It's unfair to both teams and I am fed up with it. Who isn't? Why do so many people complain about officiating? Because it's so horribly inconsistent. Call the damn game consistently for Pete's sake! IT AIN'T THAT HARD!
And I agree with lightthelamp, the Canes will get through it.
Great Post
Tue, 05/19/2009 - 12:00 — Caniac324I agree completely
Gotta love the consistent
Tue, 05/19/2009 - 00:05 — lightthelampGotta love the consistent officiating in the NHL...whatever, we'll adjust, though hopefully with 15 and 26.