Canes-Rangers

Tonight the Rangers come back to town for a much anticipated 7:00 game.

The Canes haven't played in a week. I'm sure the guys are anxious to get back on the ice, and I know the fans are ready so see the boys again.

However, the restlessness has a little more to do with the Blueshirts than it has to do with the All-Star break. The last time these two teams squared off, Matt Cullen left the game with a concussion after a hard high hit from Colton Orr. Later in the game, Andrew Ladd suffered a broken orbital bone after he was sucker-punched by Sean Avery while the linesmen were restraining Ladd.

Carolina spent the better part of 05-06, the entirety of 06-07, and the first half of this season without an "enforcer", but that game changed it all. Wade Brookbank, the 6'4" 227 lb enforcer, was recalled from Albany the next day. Since then, he has made his presence known. He isn't getting much ice time, but his time is short and to the point.

Peter Laviolette is more concerned about getting the two standings points tonight and hasn't told his players to "even the score" or anything like that. According to LSB, he has expressly forbidden Andrew Ladd from fighting.
However, Brookbank is in the lineup, and Laviolette says the boys will be ready for whatever happens.

Defenseman Tim Gleason echoed the sentiment :

"We don’t want to focus on one particular person. We want to focus on beating them to pucks. If they want to goon it up, we have no problem doing that, but that’s not the way we play.

We’re just a hard-working team. When it comes down to it, if they want to get gritty, we’ll get gritty back.... If we have to muck it up, we’ll muck it up."

I won't be at the game. I'll be watching from home on Center Ice. I'm hoping that the RBC Center faithful give Sean Avery a not-so-warm welcome.

Secondary to all that piss and vinegar stuff, Eric Staal will be trying to beat his little brother Mark.

A tertiary rallying point is that Matt Cullen will be going against the team who never made him feel like he was a welcome addition to the team.

Although I would love to see Avery get his ass whipped, I'm not anticipating any fireworks. Just a good game.

In the near future, I plan to write a very boring piece about the naming rights of the NHL Arenas. Some of them aren't as funny as you think.

canes lose big; avery is a punk

Sean Avery is a goddamn punk.
There. I said it.

The Rangers defeated the Hurricanes 4-2 on Wednesday night, and showed their ass doing it.

The home team did a marvelous job of shutting down the Carolina power play, which has been stagnant lately. They had to kill a full five minute penalty in the second, plus a minute of six-on-three in the final minute of the game. The Rangers PK should get the first star of the game.

Carolina started the game with only 11 forwards and ended the game with only nine. Their power play struggles notwithstanding, this is no way to win hockey games.

Midway through the second period with the score tied at one, Matt Cullen was blasted at center ice by Colton Orr with a marginally late but very violent open ice hit. The puck was still in the vicinity, but Orr had to come from lower Manhattan to deliver the hit. Cullen was knocked out of the game, requiring stitches below his nose. Orr was given a five minute major for interference (a new rule) and a game misconduct. Mike Commodore jumped to Cullen's defense, but the fight was short and uneventful. On the ensuing major power play, Carolina was unable to get anything going, and it was probably the turning point of the game.

Carolina would later take a 2-1 lead on a different power play, but at that point they were down to ten forwards and they weren't looking all that great.

The Rangers exploded for three goals in the first half of the third period, but it wasn't quite out of reach.

With just under six minutes to play, Sean Avery delivered a hard forechecking hit to Glen Wesley into the boards behind Cam Ward. There was a bit of a disturbance first between Avery and Wesley. Then there was a lot of pushing and shoving by all players on both teams. For no reason, Sean Avery went after Trevor Letowski, but nothing came of that. It seemed like cooler heads were prevailing, but Avery chose to also go at Andrew Ladd. This was a mutual thing, except the linesman weren't going to allow it. The whistles were blowing, the linesmen were restraining both players. It should have been over.
Avery took at least two, probably three sucker punch shots at Ladd with the linesman between them. Ladd never threw a punch. Somehow, Ladd was given a game 10 minute misconduct penalty to match that of Avery. And Carolina was down to nine skaters. It should have surely been a five minute advantage for Carolina, but the only extra penalty was to Avery for instigating one of those goofy interference penalties -- preventing Glen Wesley from picking up the stick he had dropped. Avery was given a game misconduct penalty on top of it all, but those don't affect the length of the power play.
It was of no matter since Carolina couldn't convert the power play anyway, but it might have been different with more time.

Jaromir Jagr had two goals.

Scott Walker scored a shorthanded goal for the Canes. It was their first shorty of the year.

Sean Avery will be a marked man the next time these two teams play. A clean fight is one thing. A marginally clean hit is one thing. Sucker punches are another thing entirely. This will be looked at by the league, and he will receive a short suspension.

I'm too tired and too pissed off to search around for precedence on this kind of thing. One side of me thinks that because he threw punches after the linesmen had stepped in, it'll be multiple games. The realist in me says that it'll be one game.

Orr won't and shouldn't be suspended. Unless he already had a game misconduct in hand.

Above the animosity I'm feeling towards Avery, I'm really concerned about Cully. If he has to miss any time, it'll be a huge blow to this already hurting team.

I've said before that Avery is a guy with a lot of brawn and a bit of talent to go with it. It's a shame that he plays the way he does, agitating and instigating and traipsing around the borders of legal play.

Carolina is off Thursday, and hopefully there will be good news about Matt Cullen.

Ladd's return delayed, JR asks about Neil

Although Erik Cole returned to the Hurricanes lineup on Saturday, the team is still far from "healthy". Ryan Bayda was sent back to Alabany, but Keith Aucoin remains with the big club. Apparently, Carolina is looking for some ways to ease the pain.

Trevor Letowski is getting more ice time than most fans would like. Chad LaRose is doing an excellent job of stepping up into the voids left by the injuries of Andrew Ladd and Scott Walker.

According to Lorenzo Perez from the Raleigh News and Observer, Ladd has suffered a setback in his recovery. His ankle just isn't getting any better, and the decision has been made to take him off the ice for another week or so. At that point, he'll start skating again, and then it could still be another week or more before he returns to game action. Apparently, the Walker injury is so far off the charts that they're not even talking about it. The last think I read was that he was still in "excruciating" pain, dealing with torn cartilage in his ribs. There is absolutely no timeline on his return. Not even a vague, foggy one.

With the loss of Scott Walker, you don't just miss a guy who's going to give you 50 some odd points. You don't just miss a second line right wing. You don't just miss a good locker room-type guy. You miss a guy who is going to do those things AND drop the mitts when necessary. Or at least come to the defense of his teammates.

We're not just talking about pugilism for the sake of pugilism. We're not talking about some hack whose only purpose is to fight or to serve as body guard (read: Georges Laraque). There aren't very many skaters who come to mind when you think about a mixture of skill and tough guy-ness. It's like that sponge that's all abrasive on one side and soft on the other. It's like the McDLT. It's like sour patch kids. It's like that split 7" record you used to have with Minor Threat on one side and Beat Happening on the other. It's like... okay. You get the point.

I've thought about this at great length. After game nights, I drive 1.5 hours to get home. I always listen (and sometimes call in) to the post game show. Once I get out of that station's range, I still think about hockey. Okay. I think about girls, too. But mostly, I think about hockey stuff.

One player that obviously comes to mind who possesses both brawn and talent is Sean Avery. Another is Chris Neil. Neil doesn't exactly fall into the "skill player" category, but he's more than "just a pugilist".

According to Spector's Hockey Rumors (via Bubba from Canes Country), at least two teams (Carolina and Edmonton) have contacted the Senators to inquire about Neil's availability. It doesn't seem like Neil and his $1.1M contract are going anywhere, but it doesn't surprise me that Rutherford is going fishing.

It certainly wouldn't hurt to have a solid NHL caliber third line right wing who can contribute to the scoring categories AND who will drop the mitts when called upon. With Scott Walker's return looking distant and the setback to Ladd, Trevor Letowski, and no healthy extras, Carolina may need to do something. Soon. They're playing extremely well despite the injuries, but some reinforcement sure would be nice.

The only setback to having a guy like Avery or Neil is the reputation that they each have. Avery is a reputed loudmouth, jerkwad, boor, etc. Chris Neil has somewhat of a "dirty player" reputation. Remember the Chris Drury incident? Remember the Andy McDonald incident?

I don't think I like the idea of having either of those guys. I just don't think they would fit into the system here.

That said, it was just a "rumor" anyway.

The Canes will be back in action on Halloween night at Florida.