Luongo and Montoya combine to shut out Canes

After a fast start in Colorado, the Carolina Hurricanes came out a bit flat-footed again, allowed a goal in the first 21 seconds of the game and ended up losing to the Florida Panthers, 1-0 on Wednesday night in front of 8,119 in Sunrise Florida.

The Panthers controlled play to start out the game and Nick Bjugstad sent a puck toward the net early that went in and ended up being the game-winner.  It was a rather odd goal to decide the outcome considering three goalies would make save after save the rest of the game.

Probably the best save of the contest would be made by Roberto Luongo when he robbed Victor Rask of an empty net but Luongo hurt himself on the play and would be replaced by Al Montoya midway through the second period.

Montoya went on to make 21 saves on 21 shots to preserve the shutout for his teammate.   The Canes had only managed 11 shots on goal when Luongo went down, 30:22 into the game.  The visitors were outshot 15-6 in the first period, but ended up outshooting the Cats, 33-28 for the game.

The loss is the third straight for the Hurricanes, who now have a record of 1-6-0 in their last seven games.  Next up will be the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh on Friday night, the first of a home-and-home sequence against the Pens.

Game Notes:

• Once again, Bill Peters tried the one-time dominating first line of Semin, Staal, and Tlusty, to no avail.  He ended up breaking the line up and mixing lines in the third.
• The Panthers sat back and the Canes applied pressure in the third period, while out-shooting the home team 17-5, but could not get one past Montoya.  Faulk led the way with six shots with Skinner right behind him with five.
• The team won just 42% of the game's draws.
• Gleason had a team high five hits while Staal was next with four.  The Canes were credited with 29 after notching just six hits against the Avs.
• event summary stat sheet
• Peters is starting to sound like a broken record because it's the same story game after game.  "You need to play for 60 minutes."  Bill Peters post game presser

Take a break from all that Black Friday shopping and tune in for a Metro match-up as the Canes and Pens meet for their first of two this weekend.

Carolina Hurricanes at Pittsburgh Penguins
November 28, 2014 - 7:00 pm ET
CONSOL Energy Center - Pittsburgh, PA
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 FM The Fan
SB Nation Rival Blog - Pensburgh

Fancy Stats

Game Notes

• After starting November on a positive note, and despite having a relatively healthy roster, the Carolina Hurricanes have lost three in a row and six out of their last ten. They've been held to one goal twice and shut out twice in that span. They are on pace for 59 points. Seems like a perfect time to play back-to-back games against one of the best teams in the NHL.
• The Pittsburgh Penguins trail the Ducks and Canadiens by one point, but they have played two fewer games that the NHL points leaders, and they have the best points percentage in the games they have played. They rank first in total goals scored, goals per game, and power play percentage (33.3%). Three out of the top 10 points leaders in the NHL are on the roster, and Sidney Crosby, who just earned his 800th career NHL point Wednesday night, occupies the top spot. Just one game prior, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury celebrated his milestone 300th career NHL win.
• This will be the first time the Hurricanes will face former general manager Jim Rutherford, who up until six months ago was the only general manager ever known to this franchise. The fellow who replaced him, Ron Francis, won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins.
• The Canes traveled to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night after their shutout loss to the Florida Panthers. They held an afternoon practice yesterday prior to a team Thanksgiving dinner. The only practice report indicated a flip flop at right wing. Elias Lindholm skated with Eric Staal and Jiri Tlusty, and Alexander Semin skated with Riley Nash and Nathan Gerbe.
• Jay Harrison was a healthy scratch on Wednesday, and head coach Bill Peters had indicated earlier in the week that he would be in the line-up against the Penguins, but there was no update from practice as to who he would replace. [UPDATED 3:45 pm: Canes will dress 7 D, Boychuk and Malone are the healthy extras at forward. Also here is Bill Peters audio after this morning's skate].
• Peters also intends to split the goaltending duties between Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin over the weekend. Though not confirmed, Peters said he was leaning to starting Ward tonight, which would be his fifth consecutive start.
• The Penguins didn't practice on Thursday after their 4-3 home win in overtime against the Maple Leafs Wednesday night. Blake Comeau was the overtime hero with his second career hat trick, and Evgeni Malkin had a three point night (1g, 2a) and has points in his last six games.
• Winger Beau Bennett won't be in the line-up after suffering a lower body injury in a game Monday. He'll be replaced by Jayson Megna, who was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. If Megna's name sounds familiar, last season he earned first star honors with a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win against the Canes in his second career game.
• The Canes might want to consider showing up on time for this match. The Penguins are 12-3-2 this season when they score first.

Projected line-ups

Hurricanes (from Friday's pre-game skate)

Jay Harrison

Injuries and Scratches: Jordan Staal (IR broken fibula), Brett Bellemore (IR lower body), Brad Malone (healthy), Zach Boychuk (healthy)

Injuries and Scratches: Pascal Dupuis (blood clot), Beau Bennett (lower body), Robert Bortuzzo (healthy)

Carolina puts forth complete, consistent effort to end losing streak

The Carolina Hurricanes played one of their best games of the season as they defeated one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, the Pittsburgh Penguins, by a score of 4-2 on Friday night at the  CONSOL Energy Center.

The win broke up a three game losing streak for the Canes and now gives them two wins in their last eight games.

Jiri Tlusty scored two goals for the visitors and now leads Carolina with 10 goals for the season.

Tlusty lit the lamp first at 15:47 into the first period when he sent a puck toward the net which hit someone and ended up getting past Marc-Andre Fleury.  The lead was short-lived though as Sidney Crosby set up camp in front of Cam Ward, blocking the goalie from stopping a Kris Letang shot, just 43 seconds later.

The Canes outshot the Pens 17-9 in the first period and ended up out-shooting them in every period, (17-9, 11-7, 7-6).

In the second period, Justin Faulk would create a turnover and Tlusty fed the puck to Patrick Dwyer, who was breaking into the clear.   Dwyer made no mistake and put the Canes up 2-1, but the Pens would strike back once again.

Crosby and Patric Hornqvist crisscrossed while skating into the Carolina zone and Hornquist beat Ward to tie the game with four minutes and change left in the period.

The Hurricanes did not fade in the third period in this game though and Nathan Gerbe would score the game-winner with a pretty powerplay goal, 3:10 into the final period.  Lindholm set up the open shot with a perfect pass from the opposite slot.

Tlusty would close things out with an empty-netter with just 13 seconds left.  Crosby was called for a 10 minute misconduct at this time as well. (edit)  The Pittsburgh captain clipped Riley Nash with a head shot, blindsiding the unsuspecting Nash just a bit earlier.

Both these teams will meet again in Raleigh at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.

• This was really a complete team effort as even the much maligned Alexander Semin was cited as playing a good game.  Nate Gerbe wore the fireman's helmet after the game as the team's most valuable player in this one.
• Cam Ward made 20 saves on 22 shots but none better than a sprawling stick save made in the opening period.  Fleury had 31 saves on 34 shots.  Staal and Gerbe each had six shots on goal for Carolina.
• Faulk played a very solid game on defense and teamed up with Andrej Sekera for over 24 minutes of ice time.  Peters played seven defensemen and noted before the game that a couple of his guys were banged up and he didn't want to chance falling to five players on the blueline.
• Event summary stat sheet
• Bill Peters postgame presser

The Pittsburgh Penguins never seem to wake up or quite catch up with the Carolina Hurricanes tonight and lose 4-2.

The Pittsburgh Penguins never seemed to kick their game into gear tonight and couldn't quite catch up with a Carolina Hurricanes team that you would never tell just by watching this game has struggled this season.

The story of the game may have come early in it. Evgeni Malkin made a nice pass to Blake Comeau - the resurgent new-found top six winger who's been productive and coming off of a hat trick last game. Comeau has plenty of ice and time, dekes to his back-hand and had Cam Ward dead to rights. The same Cam Ward who has struggled mightily this season. Comeau had the whole net- less Ward's stick which he desperately held out. Comeau's shot hit the stick.

That set the tone. Shots in the first were 17-9 in favor of Carolina, a trend that would continue for the rest of the game. Jiri Tlusty struck deep into the first but the Pens matched it the next shift out when Sidney Crosby crashed to the net and at least helped screen out the goalie for an easy put back rebound goal past Ward. Elias Lindholm, who was defending against Crosby also helped create the traffic, which wasn't quite enough to call goaltender interference but certainly was close.

Early in the second the Canes again took the lead when Patrick Dwyer blew past a hapless Zach Sill (but then again, what other kind of Sill is there) and rocketed a shot over Marc-Andre Fleury 's shoulder to make it 2-1. The Pens would again respond and tie the game again when Patric Hornqvist received a Crosby pass and shot a laser of a bad angle shot from the outside of the circle to tie the game at 2.

Carolina would score the eventual game winner early in the third with a Nathan Gerbe goal on the power play (the first of 3 PP's for Carolina in the 3rd period). The Pens again frustrated could never quite get back on the right track and wouldn't be able to equal the score. Tlusty capped the scoring with a "power play" empty net goal with the Pens gunning for an equalizer.

A few more thoughts on the game:

• Marcel Goc left the game after blocking a shot with his foot in the first period. Coach Mike Johnston said after the game that he thinks Goc will be OK going forward, but if he couldn't return, what are the odds his foot won't swell up and he'll be able to go tomorrow? Something to keep an eye on- the Pens only have 12 total forwards now, so if Goc can't go they'll need to call a player up tomorrow or they will be playing 11 forwards and dressing 7 defensemen (meaning scratch Robert Bortuzzo would get into the lineup).
• Down a man the Pens had to shuffle up some lines and they seemed to unite Crosby, Hornqvist and Evgeni Malkin for a super line more often than not. Being as they were trailing the game for most of the 2nd and 3rd periods, it wasn't a bad idea. Crosby and Malkin had a weird ebb and flow of really great shifts, and then very low-key ones throughout the contest.
• The Pens only mustered 22 shots on goal for the night. A rather uninspiring effort. Also, take out Comeau and Hornqvist and the other 16 players on the team only got 12 shots on goal. 7 Pens were shot-less. Only 4 had more than 1 SOG (the aforementioned Comeau and Hornqvist plus Crosby and Brandon Sutter).
• Speaking of, Chris Kunitz made a really nice pass to Crosby to start the Hornqvist goal but then the rest of his stat-line is a big goose egg. 0 shots on goal, 0 of his shots blocked, 0 shots missed, 0 giveaways, 0 takeaways, 0 hits, 0 shots blocked, 0 faceoffs in 18:42 played. And, in the bigger pictures this is 0 goals in 11 games for Kunitz. It's nice to see Hornqvist blossom, but seemingly Kunitz has shrank into the background a little more.
  
• The Pens seemingly couldn't make good decisions with the puck all night long. Giveaways were officially 6-1 Pittsburgh. Could have added another dozen, really. Credit Carolina for some good transition play and just wanting to get to the pucks more.

Not a good outing, but good news is on the horizon- same two teams get at it tomorrow in Raleigh for some instant revenge. Hopefully it goes better than last weekend where the Pens again blew their chance to get back to the good.

Everybody, whatever you did or didn't do yesterday, just keep doing or not doing it again today, okay?

Carolina Hurricanes vs Pittsburgh Penguins
November 29, 2014 - 7:00 pm ET
PNC Arena - Raleigh, NC
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 FM The Fan
SB Nation Rival Blog - Pensburgh

Fancy Stats

Game Notes

[Editorial comment... In an effort not to upset the mojo, I'm going to re-post what I wrote yesterday since it appears to have worked, and just add relevant updates. After all, the forms must be obeyed]

• The Carolina Hurricanes have lost three in a row and six out of their last ten. They've been held to one goal twice and shut out twice in that span. They are on pace for 59 points. Seems like a perfect time to play back-to-back games against one of the best teams in the NHL. Update: And it was! And the Canes are now on pace for 63 points.
• The Penguins rank first in total goals scored, goals per game, and power play percentage (33.3%). Three out of the top 10 points leaders in the NHL are on their roster, and Sidney Crosby, who just earned his 800th career NHL point Wednesday night, occupies the top spot. Just one game prior, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury celebrated his milestone 300th career NHL win. Update: The Pens still lead in those categories, just not by as much. And they are now tied for worst in the league in PIMS/game, thanks to 12 penalty minutes incurred last night by their captain.
• This will be the first time the Hurricanes will face former general manager Jim Rutherford, who up until six months ago was the only general manager ever known to this franchise. The fellow who replaced him, Ron Francis, won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins. Update: I purposefully didn't say a lot yesterday about JR, because the Canes were going to their building. But today JR returns to the building where he raised the sport of hockey from a shovel in the ground to a shiny silver chalice. I expect the return will be emotional for him. It will be interesting to see if there is an acknowledgement during the game (I hope there is). There's been a lot of talk about it in the press and here are a few interesting news links: [Post-Gazette] [Pittsburgh Tribune] [Penguins.com]
• The Canes traveled to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night after their shutout loss to the Florida Panthers, and practiced on Thursday. Elias Lindholm skated with Eric Staal and Jiri Tlusty, and Alexander Semin skated with Riley Nash and Nathan Gerbe. Update: With three goals, three assists, and what was called Sasha's best game of the season even though he was kept off the scoresheet, I'd call this a success. Fingers crossed that Riley Nash will be good to go after being clipped in the face by Sidney Crosby in the waning moments of the game.
• Jay Harrison was a healthy scratch on Wednesday, and head coach Bill Peters had indicated earlier in the week that he would be in the line-up against the Penguins. The Canes will dress seven defensemen, and Zach Boychuk and Brad Malone are the healthy extras at forward. Update: The Canes won't practice this morning so no news as to whether the 11 forwards/seven defensemen line-up will continue, or if either Zach Boychuk or Brad Malone will be back in the line-up.
• Peters also intends to split the goaltending duties between Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin over the weekend. Though not confirmed, Peters said he was leaning to starting Ward tonight, which would be his fifth consecutive start. Update: Dobby is confirmed to get the start tonight.
• The Penguins didn't practice on Thursday after their 4-3 home win in overtime against the Maple Leafs Wednesday night. Blake Comeau was the overtime hero with his second career hat trick, and Evgeni Malkin had a three point night (1g, 2a) and has points in his last six games. Update: Malkin's point streak was snapped last night. Also, streaking in a bad way is Chris Kunitz, who has gone 11 games without scoring a goal. In other words, book it.
• Winger Beau Bennett won't be in the line-up again after suffering a lower body injury in a game Monday. He'll be replaced by Jayson Megna, who was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. If Megna's name sounds familiar, last season he earned first star honors with a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win against the Canes in his second career game. Update: The Penguins won't skate prior to today's game either. They have recalled forward Andrew Ebbett, presumably to replace or as insurance for Marcel Goc, who left last night's game early after being hit in the foot with a puck. Robert Bortuzzo, a healthy scratch last night, could draw in on defense. Thomas Greiss is probable to start in net tonight.
• The Canes might want to show up ready to play from puck drop in this match. The Penguins are 12-3-2 this season when they score first. Update: The Canes are 5-2-1 when they score first. They are also 15-9-4 at home against the Penguins since moving to PNC Arena in 1999.

Projected line-ups

Hurricanes (from yesterday's game)

Injuries and Scratches: Jordan Staal (IR broken fibula), Brett Bellemore (IR lower body), Brad Malone (healthy), Zach Boychuk (healthy)

Injuries and Scratches: Pascal Dupuis (blood clot), Beau Bennett (lower body), Robert Bortuzzo (healthy)

Good seats are still available. See you at the rink.

Forward Louis LeBlanc put up four points this week, Yann Danis got a shutout, and the Norfolk Admirals strung together two wins for just the second time this season after suffering a brutal 7-1 loss last Saturday.

1Yann Danis got his first shutout of the season against the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers) Friday night.  Danis has now played in six games, going 3-3-0-0 with a 2.66 GAA and a .919 Save Percentage.  Danis leads all goaltending categories for the Admirals and his shutout is the first for the Admirals this season.

2Max Friberg put up two points against Hartford, assisting on Norfolk's first goal and putting in the insurance goal, his first of the season, in the 2-0 win.  Friberg returned to the Norfolk lineup Wednesday against the Charlotte Checkers (Carolina Hurricanes) after being knocked out of Game 1 on his first shift and missing 16 games with an elbow injury.

3 Louis LeBlanc scored three goals and one assist this week, bringing his season goal total to seven goals and points total to 12 (7G, 5A), taking over the lead from Chris Wagner (8G+3A=12Pts).  LeBlanc scored two on Wednesday against Charlotte in a 4-1 win that broke a three game losing streak, then added another Friday night in a 2-0 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack

4 Wednesday's win over Charlotte marked just the fourth time this season the Admirals reached the four goal mark.  When scoring four or more goals, the Admirals are 3-1. 

5 The Admirals made some headway with their special teams this week, scoring five power play goals in three games and giving up just one on the penalty kill.  For the week, Norfolk's power play and penalty kill performed well above the curve at 36% and 90% respectively.

6 Figuring out that it's better to play with the lead rather than come from behind, the Admirals scored first in consecutive games on Wednesday and Friday and made those leads count.  Norfolk has scored first just six times in 19 games going 4-2-0-0.

7 Norfolk sunk to a new low last Saturday losing 7-1 against the Portland Pirates (Arizona Coyotes), their worst loss of the season.  Yann Danis allowed four goals on 27 shots, Igor Bobkov three on seven shots.  Right wing Matthew Pistilli, currently signed to a PTO contract, scored the lone goal for Norfolk, his first of the season.

8 Chris Wagner continues to find time to score goals for Norfolk between trips to Anaheim.  Wagner scored his eighth of the season Wednesday night, his second game winner, and leads the Admirals in goals and is tied with LeBlanc in game-winning goals.

9 Defenseman Brendan Bell has been the Admirals' best offensive producer from the blue line through the first 19 games.  Bell assisted on two goals Wednesday night against Charlotte and now has nine points in 19 games (1G, 8A).

10 Nic Kerdiles picked up his tenth point of the season Wednesday night against the Checkers, assisting on Norfolk's second of the game, Chris Wagner's eighth goal of the season, and the eventual game winner, the first of two power play goals for the Admirals in that game.

--Admirals fans looking forward to the post-game skate with the players last Saturday were probably just as emotionally let down as the players they were going to skate with.  The Admirals had just dropped a disgusting 7-1 loss to the Portland Pirates, their second defeat for the weekend, and had no explanation to give the fans.  Coach Skalde was clearly frustrated after the game with talk of "re-evaluation."  I can't help but wonder what was going through his mind--three straight losses, just four wins in the team's last ten, and just 23 goals scored to his opponents' 36, including the seven that night.

Alternate Captain John Kurtz was very clearly frustrated, very angry after the game.  He spoke of players who wouldn't get in to the game, who had no emotion, who refused to recognize the effort and sacrifice of their teammates.  It was clear from talking with Coach Kurtz and David Steckel a few weeks earlier that there was something very wrong in the locker room.  I have to admit, in my years of playing, watching, and covering hockey, I don't think I've ever heard team leadership calling out players for essentially not giving a damn, but that's exactly what they were saying.  I realize that I'm not paid by the team and other than wearing a press pass with the logo on it and buying the occasional hat, I'm not part of the Norfolk Admirals team in any way, but I have to say even I was affected by the feeling of hopelessness emanating  from the ice and the locker room.  And oh yeah, the players had to face the fans, up close and personal, on the very ice they had just gotten their asses handed to them.  Not sure I could have done that.

--Chris Wagner continues to solidify his role as a leader for the Admirals.  Not only is he scoring goals, but he's also taken on the responsibility of momentum shifter.  Saturday night, with the Admirals down by two goals in the second period, Wagner dropped the gloves with Pirates' defenseman Dylan Reese.  Coach Skalde talked about the fight in the post gamer, how as a leader Wagner recognized the team needed some energy, needed a momentum change.  Kurtz would also talk about Wagner, being a guy who's role is to provide offense and not fight.  Kurtz gave Wagner credit, then brought the conversation back down to earth, citing that instance of Wagner fighting for his team, but his team not fighting for him.

--Emerson Etem and William Karlsson were sent to Norfolk in time for Wednesday's game.  Fans were excited to see them, and Coach Skalde was quick to point out the luxury he'd been afforded with the extra depth.  "It's not hard to count the 16 forwards on the ice at practice and to recognize guys are going to have to fight for ice time."  Of course, if I'm Etem, I'm asking my agent why he hasn't arranged to get me traded out of Anaheim.  The message the Ducks are sending Etem is "Yeah kid, we want you to hang out in the AHL, because we just brought in this 33-year-old over-the-hill fringe NHL player that we think will help the team more than you can."

I was initially surprised the Ducks kept Rakell and sent down Karlsson, but then I realized the Ducks wouldn't want to damage their image by sending down a first round draft pick.  Karlsson is the better of the two in my opinion, and Norfolk got the better end of that "controversy." For as long as Etem and Karlsson are able to stay, the Admirals are a better team.  To their credit, they are on the ice and playing hard every shift.

--Yann Danis was finally rewarded for his patience last night with a shut-out.  He's on a PTO yet he's clearly established himself as the Number One.  He's gotten better with every game and the Admirals are lucky to have him.  I'm sure there are other options out there, but there are definitely worse as well (see Igor Bobkov).  There are defining moments in a sports' career, those instances where a player is given an opportunity to prove what he can do, to seize control over his destiny.  Bobkov had that as the de-facto starter and "played" his way right out of that moment.

--Norfolk's wins this week, while certainly helped by Etem and Karlsson, can be attributed to players who have been with the Admirals' all season.  LeBlanc, Wagner, Bell, Kerdiles, and Friberg put up the points that pushed the Admirals' to their wins.  Friberg aside, these players have been the engine behind whatever meager offense Norfolk has been able to muster, and with the assignment of Etem and Karlsson, these same players will see time and space open up and hopefully will continue to be rewarded for their perseverance.

Follow me on Twitter: @VAPuckhead

The Pittsburgh Penguins get goals from Robert Bortuzzo and Christian Ehrhoff and 32 saves from Thomas Greiss to help beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were able to bounce back and rebound from a loss to the Carolina Hurricanes last night, with a win over them tonight. They owed the win largely to a couple of fringe occurrences; two goals from defensemen and a solid outing from a backup goalie stopping shots on the penalty kill.

Either way, after a bad night out last night, they’ll take it. The game didn’t start well, just three minutes in Robert Bortuzzo took a penalty and then Justin Faulk scored for Carolina on the ensuing PP. Luckily the Pens would bounce back quickly, Evgeni Malkin circled the net with the puck and found Chris Kunitz in a shooting position. Kunitz would score his first goal in 12 games to tie the game at 1.

Then, just a few minutes later Bortuzzo redeemed himself, skating with the puck from his own blueline all the way into the Hurricanes zone and beating Anton Khudobin for a goal. Terrible effort for the Carolina defenders, who basically parted like the red sea for Bortuzzo, but hey, he had to make the play and he made it with confidence for what ended up putting the Pens up for good 5:32 into the game.

From there, Thomas Greiss took over, the Pens would go on to kill 4 more Carolina power plays and put the game on lockdown. Christian Ehrhoff (finally) scored his first goal in a Penguin uniform when he gathered his own rebound that Khudobin kindly kicked back to him and put it by him to make it 3-1. Good thing- Carolina got another PP late after a pretty questionable goaltender interference call. With 11 seconds left Eric Staal deflected in a Victor Rask shot to bring it to 3-2, but they would get no further.

A few more thoughts on the game:

• Kris Letang was a scratch, after a Carolina player fell on his leg last game, opening up the spot in the lineup for Bortuzzo. Obviously it’s never a good thing for a team to be down their #1 defenseman, but on this night, Pittsburgh made do. Ideally, they won’t have to be in a similar situation for much longer.
• Sidney Crosby got worked all night in the faceoff circle by Staal (who ended up winning 15 of 20 draws on the night). The Pens in general won just 35% of all faceoffs tonight, without Marcel Goc (foot injury).
• The Pens had to play short-handed 10:48 tonight. Bortuzzo played a grand total of 0:00 and Simon Despres only was tasked with 0:30 while down a man. The top 4 PK’ing guys (Ehrhoff, Paul Martin, Olli Maatta, Rob Scuderi) had to carry a heavy burden tonight.
• Those aforementioned four combined to block 8 shots on the night. Carolina’s whole team only blocked 10.
• Appropros of nothing, Malkin (1 assist) was on the ice for every Penguins goal for tonight.
• Greiss may have stolen the show by stopping 15/17 while the Pens were short-handed, but he was also a perfect 17 for 17 while at even strength. Greiss was very, very good in this game. 0 for 3 night for the Pens PP, without Letang didn’t look so hot (with Maatta replacing him). It’s seemed like a while since the PP unit has gotten enough chances to click, and they’re not in sync right now. Insert boy band joke here.
• Nick Spaling on the first line status: not fun anymore. The need for reinforcements and a better option for Crosby’s wing is becoming more obvious by the shift. And, even though Comeau’s been productive, the same could be said to a lesser extent on Malkin’s line. The Pens need more scoring depth, and they need it stat. Can’t count on 2 goals from the defense every game.

Back-to-back complete and it ended a lot better than it began. Pens go again on Tuesday against the dreadful Devils. Hopefully by then we’ll have good news on Letang.

The Penguins avenged their Friday loss to the Hurricanes with a 3-2 victory in the back half of the home-and-home series Saturday night at PNC.

A night after the Carolina Hurricanes played maybe their most dominant game of the season, they crashed right back to earth on Saturday as the Pittsburgh Penguins took a split of their home-and-home series, winning 3-2 in front of 16,225 at PNC Arena on Saturday night.

For Canes coach Bill Peters, the reason was simple: too many big-name passengers on the home bench. "We've got guys that we need to be on the scoresheet consistently. When they're not, we're in trouble," he told the media. "We have secondary scoring, but we need primary scoring. We need some guys to get up there and be there on a consistent basis."

The game started with a similar script to Friday's Canes victory in Pittsburgh. Justin Faulk gave the Canes the lead on the power play at 3:39, bombing a one-timer past Penguins goaltender Thomas Greiss, but then the Canes gave the lead right back when Chris Kunitz deflected an Evgeni Malkin shot behind Anton Khudobin just 17 seconds later.

Things started going off script when Robert Bortuzzo, who took the penalty that led to Faulk's goal, took a stretch pass from Paul Martin and skated right between John-Michael Liles and Jay Harrison, wristing a shot past a surprised Khudobin at 5:32. Harrison and Liles seemed to each lose track of where the other was, and as a result they both looked rather clueless as Bortuzzo undressed them.

Later in the period, Nathan Gerbe shoved an off-balance Simon Despres into the boards on a clean play, earning a roughing penalty for defending his honor against Jayson Megna but earning a loud ovation from the crowd. Gerbe, ever the showman, even cracked a wry smile for the camera after taking a seat in the penalty box.

Nathan Gerbe politely introduces himself to Simon Despres.

Early on the resulting power play, Michal Jordan hit the post on a wide-open shot as the Penguins looked reminiscent of the early-October Hurricanes penalty kill. Jordan, playing his second game since his callup from Charlotte earlier in the week, contributed at his own end of the ice as well, shoving Blake Comeau out of the way on what would have been a tap-in goal with a couple of minutes left in the period.

The second period saw no scoring, but plenty of chances for both teams. Eric Staal came the closest of anyone, Greiss denying him on a backhander on a 2-on-1 after Khudobin did likewise a few seconds earlier at the other end of the ice. Khudobin then stopped a wide-open Christian Ehrhoff with two minutes to go in the period, following a no-look backhand pass from Sidney Crosby who was held pointless on the night.

The third period was rather uneventful to start, but at 10:09 both the crowd and the goal light operator were fooled by a Victor Rask shot that lodged itself in the back of the net. The Canes, though, looked to be feeling the weight of back-to-back games, and their lackadaisicalness caught up with them at 15:27 when Ehrhoff took advantage of a lazy Carolina line change and atoned for his earlier near-miss by cleaning up his own rebound at the near post.

A Nick Spaling goalie-interference penalty with 1:13 to go gave the Canes life, and Elias Lindholm pulled the home team to within one at 19:48 with Khudobin on the bench, but there wasn't enough time for a miracle and the Penguins exacted a small bit of revenge, splitting the home-and-home and giving general manager Jim Rutherford a win on his first return to Raleigh as Penguins boss.

Peters said after the game that Khudobin, who despite some excellent performances this season remains winless, deserves more than his team gave him tonight. "He's been fine. I'm sure it's been frustrating for him," said Peters. "We haven't scored when he's been in the net. We haven't given him enough support offensively. We need to score, and we didn't score 5-on-5 tonight."

As the Canes enter an important homestand that could set a significant tone for the rest of the year, Faulk said that the schedule works in the team's favor. "You want to be hard to play against at home," he said. "Knowing that we have those home games, it's nice to get back here, but we want to try to win as many as we can and carry that over to when we go on the road next."

Game Notes

• Ehrhoff's goal was his first as a Penguin. He had not scored a goal in his previous 45 games. His most recent goal before tonight? Against the Canes last February, when he was a member of the Buffalo Sabres.
• Lindholm's goal at the end of the third period was his team-high seventh in November, snapping a four-game goalless drought. Only Tlusty, with ten goals, is ahead of Lindholm in the season stats.
• Faulk's goal and Staal's assist on Lindholm's goal pulled the two into a three-way tie with Riley Nash atop the Canes scoring chart with 15 points apiece. Calgary's Mark Giordano is the only defenseman in the league who has more points in November than Faulk's 13.
• Postgame audio: , , .

Canes Country Three Stars

3. Nathan Gerbe: If only for that one shining moment that will surely be on the season-recap highlight film. Even without that, though, Gerbe was everywhere. It's really sort of surprising there aren't more #14 jerseys in the crowd night after night, because the bang for the buck that Gerbe provides is unmatched on the Canes' roster.

2. Justin Faulk: That slow start is a distant memory now, and he is right back to being the engine that drives the Canes' defense. His goal was a deserved reward for helping to shut Crosby down after the Penguins' captain assisted on both Pittsburgh goals last night.

1. Evgeni Malkin: Unfortunately, shutting Crosby down is only half the battle, and Malkin was dominant largely facing Victor Rask's unit tonight. He was on the ice for all three Penguins goals, although he only figured into the scoring for Kunitz's redirection, and the Canes simply had no answer for him defensively.

Next up: Peter Laviolette's Nashville Predators make their only appearance in Raleigh this season on Tuesday night at 7:00 on FS Carolinas and 99.9 The Fan.

The Canes kick off their December schedule tonight against one of the toughest opponents in the league. Time to play hockey strong.

Carolina Hurricanes vs Nashville Predators
December 2, 2014 - 7:00 pm ET
PNC Arena - Raleigh, NC
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 FM The Fan
SB Nation Rival Blog - On The Forecheck

Fancy Stats

Stats via NHL.com and War on Ice

Game Notes

• The Hurricanes start December with four home games over the span of the next week.  They'll need to take advantage of home ice in the win column if they stand a glimmer of hope to move up in the standings.
• Their first December opponent certainly won't make that chore easy. The Canes swept their two-game series with the Nashville Predators last season, but the 2014-15 version of the Predators sits at the top of the Western Conference, and tied with the Penguins for the best record in the league per games played. They come into tonight's game on a four-game winning streak, with two players awarded league honors in November. Goaltender Pekka Rinne was the NHL's Third Star for the month of November, with six straight wins, and Filip Forsberg was named NHL's Rookie of the Month.
• If you compare the Canes and Predators head-to-head, the Preds are strong where the Canes are weak. They lead the league in five-on-five goal differential and giving up a league best 1.96 goals per game. Contrast that with the Canes who rank 27th at even strength and 24th in total goal scoring. Where the Preds are weak is in their special teams, ranking 26th on the power play and 24th on the penalty kill. That said, they compensate by logging the fewest penalty minutes in the NHL, so any man advantage will be brief.
• Not only do the Predators have two beasts on the back end with the tandem of Shea Weber and Roman Josi, but the duo is creating offense, with Weber logging nine points (2g, 7a) in his last eight games, while Josi has nine points (2g, 7a) in his last eleven games.
• Forsberg leads the Predators in scoring with 23 points (10g, 13a). The Preds have a number of veteran forwards who have fared well against the Canes over the years, including Olli Jokinen (59 points in 61 games), Derek Roy (30 points in 29 games) and James Neal (13 points in 13 games). Roy and former Hurricane Matt Cullen have been in and out of the line-up recently due to injuries. Cullen reentered the line-up Saturday, but Roy was out and is listed as day-to-day.
• There are familiar faces behind the Predators bench this season. With the departure of Barry Trotz over the summer after 15 years as head coach, former Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette has stepped in bringing a successful up-tempo style that has him in the early lead for the Jack Adams trophy. He's assisted by Kevin McCarthy who has been at Laviolette's side since 2003, including their tenures here with the Canes as well as behind the bench for the Flyers.
• The Canes practiced yesterday but if there were any major shake-ups in the forward lines or defensive pairings they weren't directly reported and should be more clearly understood after the morning skate. Bill Peters spoke in his post-practice audio about getting closer to a team identity, and mentioned several forward pairs that he felt had begun to work well together. He also talked about the need for players to be "hockey strong" (great phrase), to play big regardless of size and to be dialed in for a more complete 60-minute effort.
• Brett Bellemore remains out of the line-up with a lower body injury and did not practice yesterday. Fans received a bit of an update on Jordan Staal's recovery from a broken fibula. Jordan is now out of a boot and should be starting off-ice workouts this week. If all goes well (swelling, pain, etc.) he can begin on-ice workouts shortly, and from there can begin to join team practices.
• The Hurricanes player to watch tonight might be Jeff Skinner, a Preds killer last season with five points (4g, 1a) in two games, and eight points (4g, 4a) in five career games. I was reminded via twitter that last season, Skinner started the month of December with four goals, and ended the season with 33 goals.
• Justin Faulk, Victor Rask, Nathan Gerbe, Elias Lindholm, and Eric Staal all have points in their last two games.
• Neither team has declared a starting goaltender for tonight, but Cam Ward is expected to be in net to square off against Pekka Rinne.
• Happy Birthday to Elias Lindholm, who turns 20 today.

Projected line-ups

Hurricanes (from yesterday's practice)

Injuries: Jordan Staal (IR broken fibula), Brett Bellemore (IR lower body)

Injuries: Viktor Stalberg (IR lower body), Derek Roy (DTD upper body)

The Hurricanes white away jerseys will be making a rare appearance on home ice tonight. Good seats are still available. See you at the rink.

The Preds journey south east to the land of pines, scorin' their way into North Caroline.

The Nashville Predators take a quick break from their home dominance to visit the Carolina Hurricanes, and grab some ribs whiles they're at it. All time, the Preds are 16-9-1-1 against the Canes, which is the fourth-best winning percentage of any team they've ever faced. This also marks the third game in a row against the one of the worst teams in the league, so rosebuds need to be gathered while ye may, so to speak.

The Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes are not having a very good season. No sir. They started the season with eight straight losses, meaning they didn't pick up a win in the month of October. Yee-ouch. Remarkably, the Canes rattled off four wins after that, but then fell right back into the Connor McSweepstakes. With only 17 points to their name, Carolina is doing worse than every team except Columbus and Edmonton. That's right, Carolina is worse than Buffalo.

Statistically, other than their bottom-10 goals for/against numbers, they aren't that bad. Somehow they are the 10th best team at even-strength FF%, (11th best if adjust for within one goal), allow the 9th fewest shots in the league, and boast the 8th best power play. So what gives?

Well, the duo of Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin haven't exactly been great.

Time out, though. I swear Cam Ward is like 50 years old and has been around the league forever, but he's only 30! How is that even possible?

Time in. Ward has a .907 SV% while Khudobin is just a .900, and winless in seven starts this season. Ward isn't far off his career average (.910) and his GAA is actually better than it's been in years. It just isn't a good game plan for a mediocre (yeah, I said it) goalie to be expected to make key saves when your offense is only scoring slightly more than two goals a game.

It also hasn't helped them that they started the season without Justin BieberJeff Skinner, who suffered a concussion during the preseason. Skinner had been relatively slow to get back to form, but now has 11 points in 19 games. (Though he is scoreless in his last three.) Carolina has also been without the help of Jordan Staal, who was also lost in the preseason after a freak (and gruesome) collision that broke his leg. A ray of hope, though, is that Staal is finally out of his cast and set to start off ice workouts soon.

Until then, they have Eric Staal, Justin Faulk, and Edmonton castoff Riley Nash leading the way. Still no word on if Alex Semin has been found, yet.

The Nashville Predators

Nashvember ended with a four-game winning streak and Pekka Rinne and Filip Forsberg taking home some pretty arbitrary (but still awesome) honors for the month. The Predators did a great job of stocking up on points they absolutely needed to have (sorry Columbus and Edmonton) and can do the same thing tonight. (Not sorry, Carolina.)

Listen, Nashville is doing great right now, and I don't want to harsh anyone's mellow with more words about things and stuff. So instead, I present you one my favorite GIFs of all time as an offering:

Obligatory "Jeff Skinner Throwing a Tantrum" GIF

Reasons to Watch

• *Knocks on front door* Hi, do you have a moment to talk about Filip Forsberg? Praise be.
• Considering how high your blood pressure is going to get for the rest of the week's games, you should really try to enjoy and savor this one.

Sights and Sounds

Be at your posts early, as this is a 6 p.m. CST east coast start. Your normal television and radio stations have you covered.

Pre-Game Pump Up Jam

You'd think with the subhead I'd launch into some OCMS. But given our local, between the karaoke joints and the bachelorette parties that decide to stop off at your favorite bar, I think we've heard it enough. Usually, I never pass up on an opportunity to bust out The Scorpions, but I mean, c'mon. Obvious song is obvious.

Nah, you get something way more badass in honor of Carolina's monicker. Strap on your leather and grab your battle axe for Immortal meets Motorhead. Black N Roll, ladies and gentlemen.

Canes prevail in a tightly checked game at the PNC

The Carolina Hurricanes played the Nashville Predators about as evenly as you could ask and also took advantage of two goals which both goal scorers said were a bit lucky, as they defeated the Preds, 2-1 in front of an announced crowd of 9,161 at the PNC Arena on Tuesday night.

But the old saying is, "you make your own luck", and that could be said for Carolina this night.

At the end of a very tightly checked first period, Andrej Nestrasil made a nice play along the boards and back-handed the puck toward the net as Jeff Skinner was skating in.  Skinner was able to get his stick on it and the puck got past goalie, Pekka Rinne to give the Canes a 1-0 lead with just 1:01 left in the period.

Skinner said after the game that some goals are like that.  "Sometimes the best scoring chances don't work out, but then a puck gets chipped in and you will take it."  He admitted he was just trying to get a stick on the puck, but that was all it took this time around.

After a scoreless second period during which almost every shot was contested, Victor Rask would score early in the third to make it 2-0 on a shot that got deflected as he shot it.  The shot fooled Rinne, who currently has one of the best records in the NHL.

The score came just 55 seconds into the third and the Preds came gunning for Cam Ward the rest of the way as they outshot the Canes, 15-6 in that final stanza.

Carolina got two chances on the powerplay in that period but were unable to capitalize and finally, Nashville got a break. With 4:46 left in the game, the Canes failed to clear the puck and it came to Mike Ribeiro, who had set up camp all alone in front of Ward.  Ribeiro made a nifty move to make it, 2-1 and the Preds had life.

The Hurricanes buckled down though and even though Riley Nash got called for tripping with about a minute left, they were able to hold off the Preds.  Andrej Sekera blocked a key shot near the end to help Ward earn the win.

Ward continued to play a solid game in net and made 32 saves on 33 shots overall.

Sekera wore the fireman's helmet after the game and was the team's player of the game.

Skinner continues his hot scoring against Nashville and now has 10 points, (5G 5A) in six career games against the franchise.

The Hurricanes are now 1-1 in this important five game homestand.  Next up will be the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

Game Notes:

• After being close most of the game, the Canes were outshot, 33-25 for the game.  Eric Staal led the home team with five shots followed by Gerbe with four.
• The team had a tough night in the faceoff circle and won just 38% for the game.  Staal was high man at 58%.
• Michal Jordan had a team high three blocked shots.
• After it seemed he was moving forward in recent games, Alexander Semin perhaps took a step back in this one and did not have a shot on goal while leading the team with three giveaways.
  
• Justin Faulk had a team high 22:10 of ice time.

What's plaguing the Bruins and a pair of very talkative, snow-fearing women who damaged my ear-drums tonight? Why, it might just be a severe case of bad luck.

I spent last night in a dive bar. I sat next to a gentleman I went to high school with, watched the Bruins try their damnedest to get a puck by an NHL goaltender and listened as a pair of women,  each presumably single and in their mid-to-late-30's, discussed their desperate need for a companion so they wouldn't need to shovel the driveway this winter.

After several attempts to woo the bartender, a man whose personality rivaled a cardboard box, our shoveling-impaired-duo closed their respective tabs, announced their intentions to "buy some fucking cigarettes because its been that kind of day", slouched their way past a man singing (just sort of drunkenly mumbling, actually) Rammstein's Du Hast and out onto the bar's scenic patio deck (which is actually a slab of concrete and a fire pit that sits across from an empty field and an apartment complex where there are more shootings per year than there are parking spots.)  And before you ask it, no, this is not a tourism ad for Manchester, Connecticut - New England's most forgettable town.

I feel confident stating these women left the bar much like the Bruins exited the Staples Center tonight; down on their luck, frustrated and in need of a pick me up before the grueling grind of winter kicks in. Like the Bruins, who appear to be well-off on the surface and whose struggles are somewhat of a head-scratcher, perhaps it's just a case of bad luck that has our extroverted bar-gals down in the dumps. After all, being single in a town where the main export is masturbating perverts with a failed-athlete-complex is a phenomenon that even statistics can't explain.

However, in the Bruins case, statistics can provide us with some insight.

Without looking into the numbers, it's obvious the Bruins main area of weakness is lies within their middle-of-the-road, inconsistent offense. Take some time out of your personal life, sit down and watch a handful of Bruins games. It's going to become painfully clear this team has a very difficult time getting the rubber disc, or puck as it's called nowadays, past the scary masked man wearing snazzy padding; a key component when one aims to win a competitive sporting match of hockey.

With just 61 goals in 26 games, Boston's 2.35  goals-per-game average is good enough for 23rd in the NHL, sandwiching them between the re-branded and not-very-good Arizona Coyotes (22nd - 2.38) and the basement-dwelling Carolina Hurricanes (24th - 2.33). From Carolina down, there are no teams poised to make a playoff push - unless of course Cory Schneider channels Vladisav Tretiak over the next four months and Jaromir Jagr suddenly becomes 25 again, but I digress.

What kills Boston offensively is their 7.84 shooting percentage, checking in at 26th among NHL teams that, according to general knowledge, both exist and have played in 2014-2015. At even strength, Boston jumps to 22nd (7.12%) and if you're looking to get more specific and nerdy, at 5-on-5 close the B's move to 17th (7.08%).

Basically, as the table above indicates, the Bruins have little trouble generating the offensive chances their rivals are typically able to put out in a game. The issue, and what sparks my theory of just piss-poor luck, is that their shooting percentages are woefully lower than everyone else. And I say woefully because teams like Columbus, San Jose and Winnipeg enjoy dragging the league down with their spine-chilling, Stephen-King-gas-station-clearance-horror-novel shooting percentages.

When looking to answer how Boston will improve on their less-than-stellar shooting ways, we'll put it in God's hands that Lord Carl Soderberg will improve on his lowly 5.13% during 5-on-5 play, as well as hoping someone insists that Loui Eriksson shoot more. Considering the latter of the Swede's 5-on-5 corsi is humping 60%, and his shots-per-60 checks in at just 4.68, it's painfully obvious that Eriksson is far too passive. For a guy who's scored 30 goals in the NHL before, which essentially guarantees his shot is capable of beating top-of-the-line goalies, it drives me nuts to see someone pass up so many opportunities to get the puck on net. Personally, I'd sit him down in a room with David Pastrnak and have the kid explain how much fun it can be to shoot the puck. Crazy, yes, but at this point I'd try anything if I was in Claude's shoes.

Speaking of Pastrnak, he's going to help matters if he continues to play as well as he has since being recalled last week. (See nifty pass below as validation.)

But back to my point, the pieces are there for the Bruins to improve offensively. Soderberg, if statistics and averages and all that fun math stuff prove their worth, will increase to about a 7% shooter. Not out of reach by any means for a player of his caliber. Eriksson, god willing he shoots more, will add tallies. The number of which is largely dependent on just how drastically he increases his SF/60. At 7.41%, he's one of their stronger statistical trigger-men, so forgive me for having some optimism surrounding the guy who will always be unjustifiably compared to Tyler Seguin.

Given how strong they are at preventing goals from being scored, the Bruins are going to be fine - and by fine I mean in the playoffs but probably not a top seed - regardless of how much the offense improves from this point moving forward. Opponents have a .922 save percentage against the B's, which is the sixth best in the NHL, and have been forced to make 716 saves against our hometown heroes, placing them fifth in that category. Again, one has to imagine pucks will start going in a bit more often. But who knows, this team feels like 2009-2010 all over again, so maybe they'll be snake-bitten all year.

God that'd suck, eh?

The Hurricanes bounced back from a home loss to Pittsburgh by knocking off one of the NHL’s other top teams, beating Nashville 2-1 at PNC Arena Tuesday.

Jeff Skinner and Victor Rask scored to push Carolina past Nashville, 2-1, at PNC Arena on Tuesday.

Three Observations

1. With the Predators being an average-at-best special teams squad and ferocious 5-on-5 team, one would have figured Carolina would need to win the special teams battle in order to upset them. Instead, Carolina scored first (on Skinner’s redirection of an Andrej Nestrasil pass) and never really looked back. Most of the Canes’ scoring struggles can be sourced at their even-strength play, so getting two five-a-side goals against one the league’s stingiest defenses and goalies has to help in the confidence department.

2. Michal Jordan continues to play well, if unspectactularly, since his recall, raising more questions about the future of Carolina’s defense. The Hurricanes would love to keep Andrej Sekera, who will be tough not to shop at the deadline if the Canes are out of the playoff hunt due to the nice return he should command. But beyond Justin Faulk, anything is possible on the Carolina D. Ron Hainsey continues to look shaky with anyone not named Brett Bellemore. John-Michael Liles has performed well in recent games, but the team would love to get out from under his inflated contract. Jay Harrison has spent time in the press box of late, while Tim Gleason— who has been much improved this year — is on just a one-year deal. Could Jordan fit into the team’s plans for next year and beyond? When will Ryan Murphy and Haydn Fleury be ready to fill major roles? Tuesday everyone pitched in to insulate Cam Ward, who didn't have to stand on his head to earn a win. Competition is always good, but Ron Francis has some big decisions coming regarding his blue line.

3. Good lord, Olli Jokinen.

Number To Know

2 — Points for Skinner in the first game of December. Skinner has had rough Decemebers throughout his career due to both injuries and struggles. That is until last year, when he registered 12 goals and four assists in 15 games, including five power play tallies. He and the team are hoping his two-point start to the month will put Skinner on a similar path to last December.

Plus

Jeff Skinner — Skinner was Carolina’s most dangerous player, taking advantage of the opportunities he had against Nashville’s bottom two pairings though not backing down from the top duo of Shea Weber and Roman Josi when facing them. His sixth goals and seventh assist on the season were his first points since Nov. 22, and continued his career-long success against the Predators. Also, see above.

Minus

Alexander Semin— Semin still isn't producing. After spending extra time in the warm-ups shooting on Anton Khudobin— the duo were the last two off the ice — Semin reverted to the dangle or pass-first mentality that has marked much of his early season slump. It's no doubt good to see Semin putting in the work before the game, and his one shot attempt on the night, which was blocked, came on his first shift of the game. Now Semin needs to dedicate himself to sticking to that shoot-first mentality for an entire game. Getting some power play time, which coach Bill Peters has stripped Semin of, would probably help, too.

Sasha, have mercy on me. You're the only one, but these are strange times, and this same old thing has become a bullet in the brain. You're sinking faster than a little black submarine. It's giving me a fever. I'm going to turn blue holding my breath. It's up to you now. Find your touch. Your magic potion. Be the go getter. Tighten up, attack and release, and throw a little gold on the ceiling. Time for you to have a hell of a season so I can keep howlin' for you.

Carolina Hurricanes vs Washington Capitals
December 4, 2014 - 7:00 pm ET
PNC Arena - Raleigh, NC
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 FM The Fan
SB Nation Rival Blog - Japers' Rink

Fancy Stats

Stats via NHL.com and War on Ice

Game Notes

• The Hurricanes started out their week playing a team that used to be coached by Barry Trotz. Tonight they'll face his current team as the Washington Capitals come to town.
• This is the second of four games this season between the Metro rivals and the first at PNC Arena, where the Caps have won the last four in a row here. They also took the first match-up in DC with a 4-3 overtime win on November 8th with old pal and ex-Cane Justin Peters in net.
• The Caps are an up and down team, with bright spots yet troubling inconsistency. They've lost their last two games and four out of their last five. They are 9-1-1 when scoring first, but in the last four losses they failed to lead at any point in the game. They are lethal on the power play (second in the league at 28.4%) yet anemic on the penalty kill (next to last at 74.7%), and they've given up six power play goals in the last two games. The Canes would be wise to limit their penalties tonight, and they need to capitalize (pun intended) when they get the man advantage.
• Andrej Sekera did not practice yesterday, after making a hell of a shot block in the waning seconds of Tuesday night's game against the Predators. Coach Bill Peters said he expected Reggie to be in tonight's line-up, but was not 100% certain. He'll be evaluated today.
• Peters intends to go with the hot goalie in net again tonight, but Cam Ward didn't practice yesterday after saying he felt a little soreness, which may mean it's time to turn to Anton Khudobin.
• On November 10th, Jeff Skinner became the fourth youngest player in Hurricanes history to reach 100 goals. He's now two points shy of 200 NHL career points coming into tonight's game.
• And then there's Alexander Semin, who faces his former team with no goals for the season and pointless in his last seven, showing flashes of his brilliance but more often than not, hesitant and indecisive play. So the conundrum of what to do about Sasha wages on: bench him, waive him, trade him, give him a heart transplant, buy him out. In an ESPN Insider article that made the rounds yesterday, Rob Vollman offered an excellent in-depth analysis of what Semin brings to the table for a team that might be interested in pursuing his talents. The article is behind a paywall, but some of the key points were 1) He's a puck-possession monster, and even when he isn't scoring his line will see an uptick in points, 2) he's a calculated risk for a number of teams, ideally the team would have a center capable of maximizing his scoring potential, 3) his former team would be better with him on the roster, 4) he could likely make an immediate impact in Columbus or San Jose, but most importantly 5) no one needs Alex Semin more than the Hurricanes do. He's stuck at 499 career points. It would be nice to see number 500 (and then some) tonight against his former team.
• The Capitals will start their three-game road trip with Mike Green present with the team, but he didn't practice with the team yesterday and won't be in the line-up tonight, after suffering an upper body injury that has kept him out since November 22.
• John Carlson had a career high three point (two goal) game in Tuesday's 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Carlson is riding a three-game point streak, leads Washington in time on ice and ranks second in assists (14), and is tied for sixth in the NHL among defensemen in points (18) and assists.
• In terms of jinxes, streaks, milestones, and whatnot... Alex Ovechkin is one game-winning goal away from breaking Peter Bondra's Caps record (73). Brooks Laich is one point shy of 300 NHL points, and Joel Ward is one point shy of 200. Noted Canes killer Nicklas Backstrom (he of the overtime game winner on November 8) has assists in six straight games.

Projected line-ups

Hurricanes (from yesterday's practice)

Injuries: Jordan Staal (IR broken fibula), Brett Bellemore (IR lower body)

Good seats are still available for tonight's game. If you can't be there in person, be a digital witness and join our game thread at 6:30 pm.

Checkers goalie recalled on emergency basis to fill in for Cam Ward

The Carolina Hurricanes are reporting this morning that they have recalled Checkers goalie, Drew MacIntyre, on an emergency basis to be available for tonight's game against the Washington Capitals.

MacIntyre will fill in for Cam Ward, who missed yesterday's practice because of "soreness".  According to reports on Twitter, Ward was also not at the team's morning skate.

That means Anton Khudobin will be looked upon to start tonight.  After beating out Ward for the starting spot last season, Khudobin has not played quite as well so far this year and has yet to win a game this season.

They are calling Ward's injury a "lower body concern".  Ward has suffered a plethora of injuries over his career and missed much of last season due to suspected groin issues.

The team's official presser follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Dec. 4, 2014

‘CANES RECALL DREW MacINTYRE FROM CHARLOTTE

Goaltender will join Carolina on emergency recall for Cam Ward

RALEIGH, NC – Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has recalled goaltender Drew MacIntyre from the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League (AHL). MacIntyre is being recalled on emergency for Cam Ward who will miss tonight’s game at PNC Arena against the Washington Capitals with a lower-body injury.

MacIntyre, 31, has posted a 6-8-1 record, a 2.82 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage in 15 games with Charlotte this season. The Charlottetown, P.E.I., native owns a 0-2-0 record, a 2.41 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage in six career NHL games with Vancouver, Buffalo and Toronto. MacIntyre (6’1", 190 lbs.) has appeared in 368 career AHL games, going 198-125-22 with a 2.45 goals-against average, and was named to the AHL’s Second All-Star Team in 2008-09 and 2007-08. Originally selected by Detroit in the fourth round, 121^st overall, in the 2001 NHL Draft, MacIntyre signed with the Hurricanes as a free agent on July 1, 2014.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Devils know a thing or two about fire.

Tonight's game will likely be watched with hands over our eyes, peeking between the fingers. Tonight marks the Blues debut of some guy named Mark ... no, that's not right ... Mason..... no, not quite.... MARTIN ... yes, that's it, Martin Brodeur.

That's the ticket.

There's no easing into it, either. Martin will be thrust into the net tonight to face a Central Divsion-leading Nashville Predators team that has been one of the surprise stories of the season (thus far). We said on the podcast that they would be good this year, but I don't think even we were expecting this kind of start for Smashville. After winning 4 in a row to close out November, they dropped a game Tuesday to the Hurricanes. Nashville will be looking to rebound off of that right away.

What is NOT a surprise, however, is that the success has been built largely on the back of the goaltender Pekka Rinne - Best Goaltender In The World (tm). He's started all but 3 games so far for the Preds, and has put up a 16-4-1 record and a stat line of 1.83 GAA and .932 save percentage. They are top 5 in the league in allowing the fewest shots on goal, and the ones that do get that far, Rinne stops. Sometimes overlooked by being in Nashville, but if you were in, say, New York with those numbers, the praise you would hear would never stop.

Add to this some offensive punch, and you start to see why they lead the Central. The #Perds are led in both goals and points by young phenom Filip Forsberg (10 goals, 13 assists). Second in points is Mike Ribeiro with 7 goals and 12 assists. Captain  Shea Weber is right behind with 15 points (6g, 9a), followed by their big trade acquisition this past offseason, James Neal (9g, 5a) and then Craig Smith (7g, 7a) with 14 points each. They don't much in the way of special teams, though, so are least we won't have to deal with those particular demons.

The Central Division lead is up for grabs, gents. Right here, right now. Go Take It.

Further Reading:

On the Forecheck

The Predatorial

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Final Verse: Ahhhh... back to the home broadcasters. The puck drops at 7:00 St Louis time, and the GDT should drop shortly before that. The TV broadcast will be on FoxSports MW, and the radio call will be on KMOX 1120 AM. Do tune in, and please join us in the GDT - after all, we'll be witnessing history tonight. Until then, listen to the latest Beyond Checkerdome (shameless plug) and get ready for the big moment.

LGB !!!

The Caps kick off a three-game road trip with a visit to their Division rivals in Raleigh

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A late goal by Eric Fehr lifts the Caps over the 'Canes, 2-1

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It's not the first time we've said "it wasn't pretty, but it didn't have to be"... and let's face it, it probably won't be the last. Regardless, an ugly win still counts as a win in the standings, and that's what matters. Thanks to an early goal by Jay Beagle, and a late goal by Eric Fehr, the Caps kicked off their road trip with a 2-1 victory on enemy ice in Raleigh.

Look for our full recap later, but first, Thursday night's Plus/Minus:

Plus/Minus:

• Plus: The fourth line. The trio of Jason Chimera, Jay Beagle and Michael Latta was the Caps' best line all night, generating energy, scoring chances and one of the team's two goals on the night. Together they put seven shots on or towards the net along with a combined seven hits, and put their stamp on a hard-fought win for the Caps.
• Minus: This. Come on... there was no way Alexander Semin, perched on the edge of 500 career points and without a goal this season, was going to leave the building tonight without scoring on his former 'mates. You just knew it was going to happen, and happen it did. Hell of a goal, though.

And now, this...

Game highlights:

The Capitals shook off a third period Hurricanes goal to win the game in regulation 2 to 1 thanks to Eric Fehr's late tally and Braden Holtby's stellar play.

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The Capitals fought through a relatively slow road game in Carolina and ended up capitalizing late to capture the win over their Metropolitan rival Hurricanes. Eric Fehr bagged the game winner with less than four minutes to play and Braden Holtby stopped 29 shots - your number one and two stars, respectively. The two points pushes Washington into a tie with the New York Rangers with another division matchup against the Devils up next.

Eleven more notes on tonight's game:

• Jay Beagle got the Capitals on the board first 139 seconds into the contest. A hard wrist shot (at full speed) from Jason Chimera hit Anton Khudobin's glove and the rebound flopped to the slot, where Beagle found the biscuit before Khudobin could. A backhanded tip pushed the puck into the net and Washington was up by one.
• I think we were all happy to see Alexander Semin's needless stick penalty in the first period since he was wearing the red of the opposition tonight. And right in the neutral zone too -some things never change.
• That same Semin stick work would also tie the game at one in the third period and notch his 500th career NHL point. Semin received a pass from Jay Harrison in the slot and made a deke to his backhand before roofing a shot off the crossbar and in.
• At one point or another, all of us fell in love with his handiwork during his 469 games with Washington. Enjoy this vintage snipe in celebration of the personal milestone (and be thankful for Brooks Orpik's block later in the game with 60 seconds left).
• Chimera and Semin led all skaters with five shots each tonight. When was the last time those two had an equal number of shots in an NHL contest? Anyone?
• Really unfortunate incident for Alex Ovechkin with five minutes to play - an illegal draw nullified what would've been the go ahead goal. NHL referees have been whistling a lot more illegal face offs this year but none have stung as much as tonight's. However, our disappointment wouldn't last long...
• Because a little over a minute later Fehr put the Capitals ahead after stealing the puck from Riley Nash's stick and driving in alone on Khudobin. Fehr shuffled the puck to his forehand at the top of the crease and roofed a shot to give Washington a lead they would not relinquish.
• A big reason for the Hurricanes' demise tonight were their 17 giveaways, the most egregious of which gave Fehr the opportunity to win the game in regulation. Washington, on the other hand, only committed three. As a result, Holtby managed his workload well and the Capitals only needed two goals to win away from home.
• For a team that has allowed six power play goals against in their past two games the Capitals didn't afford Carolina a single man advantage opportunity. Chimera was the only Washington skater with a minor penalty but the teams skated at four aside because of Semin's matching minor.
• Andre Burakovsky saw another night of limited duty - tonight was his fifth straight game with less than eleven minutes of ice time. He was only on for the Semin goal against and continues to struggle for minutes under Barry Trotz's seasoned guidance.
• Evgeny Kuznetsov sat in the press box for the first time since November 7th against Chicago. He has only produced two points since that scratching (a one goal one assist game against the Islanders) and Trotz opted to sit the import tonight.

The Capitals may have a chance to secure third place for themselves in the Metropolitan Division Saturday night in New Jersey. If they repeat their road game tonight they will have a good chance to build off of their solid performance tonight.

Game highlights:

Two costly turnovers lead to another one goal loss for Carolina

The Carolina Hurricanes allowed another goal in the opening minutes, fought to tie it up, then fell behind again due to a late turnover as they lost to the Washington Capitals, 2-1 on Thursday night in front of 10,791 at the PNC.

Alexander Semin tied the game 4:02 into the third period on his first goal of the season, a pretty rising backhander, but that would be the only puck to get past Braden Holtby this night.  The goal was Semin's 500th career point.

The Caps scored just 2:19 into the game when Michal Jordan lost the puck near center ice. Jason Chimera skated it into the Carolina zone and both Jordan and Ron Hainsey chased after him.  That left Jay Beagle all alone for the easy put back of the rebound and the Canes found themselves quickly behind, like they have several times this season.

It was a pretty evenly played game after that, even if the second period was a little slow.  Coach Bill Peters said he liked his team's play for the most part, but the second period could have been better.  It seemed though that Holtby had little traffic in front of him most of the night.

Semin had one of his better games of the season.  Not only did he score Carolina's only goal, he led the team with five shots on goal and also had a team high four takeaways.  Peters has liked his game for the past week or so and said that he has been working harder.

Later in the third period the Canes turned the puck over again, something that just cannot happen in such a tight contest.  Riley Nash lost it and Eric Fehr beat Anton Khudobin high glove side with the eventual game-winner.

The hard luck goalie was obviously unhappy after the game.  "Two turnovers is why we lost", he said.  "If we score more than two goals, we win", he also chipped in.  Khudobin is yet to win a game this season, (0-6-2) but has deserved better.

The Canes went with six attackers with about three minutes left, but they were unable to score the tying goal and dropped their second game out of three so far in this most recent homestand.  They are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games.

When asked about his team's personnel after the game and if they needed changing, Peters bristled.  "Our personnel is fine, we need to coach them up and dig in.  This is a young team, right? They need to learn."

The Hurricanes did not have a powerplay this game and Peters made a comment about that as well.  (There was one penalty called on Washington, but it was for a 4-on-4 chance).  Carolina killed off two powerplays by the Caps.

In the meantime, the team could be running out of time this season as they fall further out of a playoff spot.  Things don't get easier as they face the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

Game Notes:

• Justin Faulk of course led the team with 24:26 of ice time.  Next up was Hainsey with 22:00 and Eric Staal with 21:40.
• The Canes had 24 blocked shots led by Gleason, Rask, and Hainsey with three each.  The Caps had 28 blocks.  Orpik had seven.
• Semin's four takeaways led both teams. He did not have an official giveaway this game but Riley Nash had three. 
  
• The team had 33 hits led by Gleason with five.