“Hurricanes kill another penalty!” This is a play-by-play announcement that has been made frequently in the past several weeks. “Hurricanes lose” is another frequent refrain. Saturday night, the Carolina Hurricanes killed another penalty, but managed to lose again, this time to the New York Rangers by the score of 1-4.
Same old song
Once more, the same song was heard from the Hurricanes locker room. Catchy lyrics abounded such as this popular ditty from Jordan Staal,
“There was a little lull in our game, and we definitely weren’t using our legs. It’s a good team that makes you pay, and they did.”
Well, Jordan, can you please explain to the fans of the Carolina Hurricanes why your team wasn’t “using their legs?” A few games back, Coach Bill Peters said your team wasn’t hungry enough. I wrote then that fans were wondering how professional athletes could not be “hungry enough.”
[tweetthis]Jordan Staal, those same fans are just a little curious about this “lull in our game” and “not using our legs” thing[/tweetthis] It would be helpful if you or someone could please enlighten the fan faithful just exactly what was going on that your team was not “using their legs.” There is no doubt a very plausible explanation.
Short-handed
Another short-handed goal given up by the Carolina Hurricanes. Watch Dominic Moore of the New York Rangers skate through the Hurricanes as if they were spectators, and finally eat Cam Ward alive to make the game 2-0, Rangers.
This is one of the most irritating things to put up with as a fan. It’s a power play, for goodness sake. You have a man advantage. Yet you are not only not scoring, you’re giving up goals. This is crazy!
Coach Bill Peters stated the glaringly obvious after the game:
“60 minutes. Can’t give up freebies because we can’t outscore our mistakes.”
That is absolutely true with this year’s Hurricanes squad. Giving up the SHG to the Rangers was unacceptable, and the team just needs to stop giving up those kind of points.
Scary moment
Henrik Lundqvist is a beast. He is an elite goalie and seems to be getting even better with time. Saturday night, a hush fell over the Madison Square Garden, as Lundqvist took a puck right to the throat as his teammate Ryan McDonagh attempted to block a shot from the Hurricanes’ Brad Malone. Lundqvist was face down on the ice for several moments.
http://youtu.be/fs8TBxhW5jI
I for one was very concerned about Lundqvist. Then in true hockey fashion, Lundqvist shook the incident off and donned his mask. He went on to play the remainder of the game, totaling 31 saves on 32 shots faced. Henrik Lundqvist is a beast.
His teammate, alternate captain Marc Staal said after the game,
“Everyone knows he’s a competitor, and that’s a hard thing to do as a goalie, keep your focus after something like that takes place. He did that for us and gave us a chance to win the hockey game.”
Nash to the top
Rick Nash jumped into first place among goal scorers in the NHL with 29 goals. He is now tied with Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. He used Cam Ward on an unassisted goal at 6:30 in the first period:
Cam Ward no doubt would like a do-over on that shot by Rick Nash. So would Hurricanes defenseman Andrej Sekera. His pass up the ice was picked off by Nash, and the score quickly became 1-0 Rangers.
Speaking scoring again, Brad Malone got what would be the Hurricanes only goal of the night in the second period.
Brad Malone plays responsible hockey as many fourth line veterans do. He stays in his lanes, get physical in necessary, and scores the occasional goal.
If his teammates on the top line would follow this example more consistently, perhaps the Hurricanes would not only be killing penalties, but winning games, too. We’ll see when they play the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday. Hopefully by then, they will be using their legs.