Canes to end road trip with grueling back-to-back

On Saturday afternoon, the Hurricanes will enter the friendly confines of the Bell Centre to take on the Canadiens. This game will end at about 9:30 eastern time. The Canes will then immediately fly to Detroit after going through Customs and play a Sunday afternoon game at 5:00 eastern. The Red Wings will be resting at home after having played there Friday night.

This seems extreme, but there are no rules against this kind of quick turnaround.

Carolina hasn't lost a game in Montréal since before the lockout, and there are two Hurricaes players who would just as soon call the Bell Centre home:

• In nine regular season games in Montréal, Erik Cole has registered 12 (8/4) points including two hat tricks. Last game there, Cole recorded one assist.
  In addition, Cole scored three goals in three playoff games at Molson in 2002.
  
• Cam Ward has never lost a game in Montréal. He has a career GAA of 1.48 and a save % of .948 in that building.

For the Hurricanes, Nic Wallin is "probable" for Saturday after sitting out a few games with lingering shoulder issues. Mike Commodore will continue to be out with a broken finger.

As for Les Habitants, they will be without the services of left wing Steve Bégin (shoulder) and centerman Brian Smolinski (knee). The slumping Michael Ryder was a healthy scratch in Montréal's last game as a "message" from coach Guy Carbonneau. Goaltender Cristobal Huet is out with a groin injury, leaving Carey Price at the wheel.

Puck drop will be at 7:00.

The Canes have been doing the Jekkyl/Hyde thing, alternating wins and losses. Their last game was a 2-1 loss at Tampa.

The Habs are coming off a 4-2 win over Boston. They have also been (for the most part) alternating wins and losses.

This will close out the four game series between the two teams. The Habs have won two and lost one. They have outscored Carolina 11-9 in those three games.

Montréal's offensive leaders are Alex Kovalev with 23 (12/11) points, Tomas Plekanec with 21 (9/12) and Saku Koivu with 21 (5/16).

Carolina's offensive leaders are Cory Stillman with 34 (16/18) points, Rod Brind'Amour with 31 (13/18) and Ray Whitney (12/15) Matt Cullen (6/21) and Justin Williams (9/18) with 27 points apiece.

Around the Habs blogosphere:

A Theory of Ice

Eyes on the Prize

Four Habs Fans

Sisu Hockey

A full writeup should follow the game.

Canes lose season opener

There was much fanfare surrounding the season opener last night, but in the end, the fans left the building thinking that they had just seen the Hurricanes of 2006-07. The Hurricanes forced overtime and emerged with one standings point, but like last season, they left with a loss on their hands.
This post will be bare-bones. A more detailed one will come later.

Early on, the Canes looked pretty good. There were some good hits, some good aggressive play, some good pressure, and even a first strike goal.

At 3:37, Erik "Hab Killa" Cole re-directed a one-time blast from Eric Staal near the top of the right circle. It was a power play goal (!). Officially, Cole from Staal and Walker at 3:37.

The Habs knotted it up at 13:01. Mark Streit from Alexei Kovalev and Andrei Markov on the power play.

In the first, the Canes had several good chances go by the wayside. Ray Whitney missed a yawning net, they hit a few posts, and on a few occasios, Cristobal Huet made spectacular saves.

No scoring in the second, but the Canes blew a golden opportunity at about 17:00 when the Habs made a sloppy change. The Canes ended up with a three-on-one break and couldn't convert the opportunity. This is what I would later refer to as the "Chad LaRose syndrome". Failure to finish.

9:31 of the third, Saku Koivu put the visitors ahead after Nic Wallin had been sent of for tripping. He went hard to the net and tapped one in from the low slot. Officially Koivu from Markov on the power play.

Bret Hedican rifled one in from the blue line at 12:48 to buoy the Canes hopes. Justin "Viva" Williams and Rod Brind'Amour with the assists. It was the only even strength goal of the game for either team.

Early in the overtime frame, Nic Wallin was again sent away on a cross-checking call. The Habs got what they needed out of their captain when Koivu scored the game-winner at 1:05 of the extra frame. Chris Higgins and Michael Ryder got the assists.

The "official" three stars went to Hedican (3), Cam Ward (2) and Koivu (1). I don't think this does justice to the way Huet played. The RBH three stars went:

THIRD STAR: Erik Cole, CAR. --- 1 goal
SECOND STAR: Cristobal Huet, MTL
FIRST STAR: Saku Koivu, MTL --- 2 goals, GWG

I'll have to go back and check the history, but it seems like Koivu has been what Cole is to the Habs: kryptonite. He certainly was on Wednesday.

During the first intermission, I had the opportunity to finally meet some of my fellow bloggers. It was a short meeting, but it was great to finally meet these good folks.

More on everything later. For now, work.

Canes fall flat, shut out by Habs.

On Thursday night, the stage was set for Rod Brind'Amour to score his 1000th career point in front of the home crowd. The stage was set for Erik Cole to jumpstart his slow start against the team he loves to terrorize. The stage was set for the Canes to move two points closer to Atlanta in the Southeast Division.

None of that happened. The Canes came out and stank up the joint en route to getting shut out 4-0 by the visiting Habitants.

Although the outcomes of Wednesay's and Thursday's games are quite different, they can both be summed up the same way. Poor special teams performance and really really sloppy defense were defining charachteristics in both games. I can't say that Kari Lehtonen was to blame for Atlanta's loss on Wednesay. He had no help in front, and he was hung out to dry on at least two of Carolina's goals. On Thursday, Cam Ward was put in the automatic dryer, left out in the sun for a couple of days, then put in the oven just for good measure. That's how dry he was left. On two of Montréal's goals, there was nothing he could do. One other was caused by a lack of support in front. He takes the "L", but it wasn't really his fault.

There was no scoring in the first period, nor anything penalty-wise worth mentioning. Carolina got off 16 shots in that first frame, but no quality chances.

At 10:45 into the second, Michael Komisarek got the Habs on the board with a shorthanded goal. Just after a 5-on-3 expired, they were able to generate a cheap chance that actually bore fruit. Komisarek attempted a centering pass from down below the goal line to the right of the goal. Somehow, it found its way in the net. At first it looked like it was tipped in by Steve Begin on the doorstep, but it must have been a Canes defenseman who caused the redirection. Begin got the only assist.

Saku Koivu, who suffered a serious eye injury the last time he played in Raleigh, gave the Habs the only insurance they would need at the 12:29 mark. Carolina's defense broke down in the neutral zone, and Koivu was able to make a dipsy-doodle move and beat Ward badly. It looked like he was the only skater on the ice. Everyone else was playing "statues". Granted, the Habs were on the power play, but it really did look like there were zero Canes skaters out there. Later in the game, he would put on some other displays, but this would be his only point.

At about 17:00 of the second, it became pretty clear that this would be a shutout. Carolina looked awful.

In the third period, the Canes were even worse than they had already been.

Mike Johnson scored on a breakaway at 13:07 of the third. A turnover in the Montréal end led to the one on zero break. There wasn't much of anything Cam could do there. Radek Bonk and Michael Komisarek got the helpers. I haven't reviewed the game to nail down the guy who committed the turnover, and I probably won't.

Still holding on for a "Miracle at the ATM", people stuck around. I'm stubborn. I always stick around to the bitter end. As if it wasn't painful enough, though, the Habs scored ANOTHER shortie in this game to salt it away. It came at 14:56 of the third and final frame. Again it was started by a sloppy turnover in the neutral zone, or down in the Habs zone. It was Tomas Plekanec on a one-on-zero break from the center red line. He worked it in down low and used a nifty backhand to get past Ward. It was unassisted.

Two shorthanded goals, one power play goal and one even strength. This is not the kind of night the Canes wanted. Fatigue from the back-to-back games is probably a factor, but it's not a good excuse for totally getting destroyed like that.

Erik Cole was flying, but obviously wasn't able to register any points. Chad LaRose looked great, and Scotty Walker was playing defense better that some of the defenseman. Aside from those three, the team was awful. Superstars included.

The Habs made a clean sweep of the three stars. The Raleigh media and I aren't far off in our assignment of them. The "offical" three stars go to Komisarec (3rd), Koivu (2nd) and Christobal Huet (1st).

The Red and Black Hockey three stars are:
Third Star Saku Koivu, MON. 1 goal
Second Star Michael Komisarec, MON. 1 SH goal (game winner), 1 assist
First Star Christobal Huet, MON. 31 saves, SO.

Up next, the Canes will travel to Ottowa. I'll be in Washington DC at a wedding.

Cans v Habs tonight.

Tonight, the Canes will host the Montréal Canadiens at 7:00 in the RBC Center. It will be the first meeting of the teams since the 2006 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

Although some of my assosiates might differ, I'm not even thinking about the Saku Koivu thing. Justin Williams nearly blinded him with an inadvertent but careless stick during that series. Koivu has never harbored any resentment, and the two have spoken a few times since then. I wouldn't expect any targeting of Viva or anything resembling retaliatory behavior from Koivu's teammates either. If they were going to do that, they would have done it back then.

Our much maligned anthem singer has been AWOL for the past few games, so we might get to see a good rendition of O Canada. Holly's leaves a lot to be desired. In the last two games I've gone to, we've seen two different singers. They both did a good enough job, but they both did the classic take waaaaaay too long with it thing. The seven-year old girl was good, though. Real good for being seven.

I still miss Karen Touloss. She did a great job. Anyone know for sure what happened with her?

Ballsy prediction #1 of the season: Rod Brind'Amour will get his 1000th career point tonight. Okay. It's not that ballsy of a prediction, but I'm going for it. How many times in your life do you get to see a guy score his 1000th career point? Hint: only 70 players in the history of the NHL have recorded 1000 points. I witnessed Ronnie Franchise notching his 1200th career assist. That was really cool. I witnessed him hit and pass some really remarkable milestones. I was lucky for that. While Roddy isn't quite as special as The eternal Captain, it's still awesome (in a quite literal sense) to be able to witness some of his major milestones. Later this season, with the right timing, I'll see Brindy score his 400th career goal.

I was also on hand when Joe Nieuwendyk scored his 500th career goal. I have to admit that was pretty cool. I was really confused at first when all the Devils players mobbed the ice as if they had just won the Cup. Once I realized what had happened, I really appreciated it. We stopped the game briefly while all the players from both teams congratulated him on that feat.

For the rest of this season, look here for "Ballsy predictions". Some will be more ballsy than others.

Puck drop is at approximately 7:00pm eastern.