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GDT: Canes v. Devils 2/10 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
It’s Whalers night at PNC.

Thr Canes dismantled the Avs on Thursday behind a Marty Necas 1st period hat trick and 4 assists from Teravainen. Both goalies saw action with Kochetkov playing the 1st and 3rd and Raanta in between. He played long enough to get hurt again though. Martin will be dressed, it remains to be seen if he backs up or starts. Oh, yeah, Svech should be back.

After contending for the division up to the last week of last season, the Devils have to be one of the more disappointing teams in the league. They’re 6th in the division, 7 points out of 3rd and 5 points out in the wild card. They’re 4-6 in their last 10. They’ve been decimated by injury. Jack Hughes returned on Thursday after missing 11 games. Hischier, Haula, Meier and Palat have all missed time, Hamilton is out for the season. McLeod and Foote are on leaves of absence. Jesper Bratt leads with 20 goals and 35 assists, but Jack Hughes has averaged 1.36 points per game in the 33 games he’s been able to play. The Devils have also been let down by their goalies. Vitek Vanacek has started 28 games and is at 3.26/.887, both much worse than last year. He’s backed up by Nico Daws who is at 3.43/.895 in 8 games. We saw both on January 25th, chasing Daws after allowing 3 goals on 12 shots in 23 minutes. That’s the last game he played. Vanacek didn’t allow a goal on 11 shots. The Devils can score, 8th in goals per game, but they’re 29th in goals against. Their PP is potent, 8th in the league but they’re converting at a paltry 7.7% in their last 11 games with Hughes missing. The PK is 18th.

White Whaler jerseys tonight, with Cooperalls for warmups. Bally Sports South for TV.
 
Now that Brunette isn't around to keep their system tweaked, the Devils have turned into a bit of a funhouse mirror image of their team last season. They still do most of the stuff they did last year, but with less conviction and they have reverted to trying to trap their way through games when they have the lead. That's not how this roster was built. It was built to be driven hard and to wear other teams down with their transition game. Yeah, their goaltending is a huge problem ... but Lindy Ruff is their biggest problem. Not sure what goods he's got on Tom Fitzgerald, but they're gonna need to make a change if they ever want to get going again.
 
Lines from the skate. SAT is back, Jarvis is back with Staal.

Svechnikov - Aho - Teräväinen
Bunting - Drury - Necas
Martinook - Staal - Jarvis
Noesen - Kotkaniemi - Fast

PP1: Aho, Bunting, Jarvis, and Svechnikov with Burns
PP2: Drury, Necas, Noesen, and Teravainen with Skjei

Pesce skated with Lemieux so he’s probably out again. Kochetkov was in the starter’s crease, Martin backing up. RBA said that Raanta is out at least a couple of weeks.
 
Staal's line badly needs Jarvis or somebody like him to direct play towards the net. No idea why three veteran players like Staal, Martinook and Fast need a kid to remind them that they're getting paid to score as well, but here we are.

If I had to guess on Raanta, it's the groin again. He had that really big, quick splits save fairly early in the 2nd the other night and started looking uncomfortable pretty much immediately after.
 
Just prior to him doing the splits I was chatting with a friend about the team/game and mentioned the canes being in dire straits because of the goalie situation
freddie gone
Raanta one split away from a groin pull
koochie can’t stop a beach ball
Martin echl untested
 
dwind said:
Just prior to him doing the splits I was chatting with a friend about the team/game and mentioned the canes being in dire straits because of the goalie situation
freddie gone
Raanta one split away from a groin pull
koochie can’t stop a beach ball
Martin echl untested
Click to expand...
Martin has played 52 NHL games and nearly 200 games in the AHL. He’s hardly untested.
 
I think this franchise has been the Carolina Hurricanes longer than they were the Hartford Whalers, by now. The Whalers came into the WHA in 1972 until '79, they were in the NHL from then until they moved here in 1997. That's 25 years. (I'm a C math student, so somebody please check that for me) They became the Hurricanes in 1997 and we are now in 2024. That's over 26 years. I respect and appreciate the Whalers years, but let's give it a rest and stop with the cash grab of wearing Whale gear. How come the Devils aren't wearing Colorado Rockies gear tonight? How come the Avalanche doesn't break our Nordique threads?, Etc., etc.,etc..

Jim
 
Avs wore Nordiques jerseys, they were all over PNC Thursday night too.

Whalers jerseys go way beyond what the Canes do with them once a year. They are far from a Hartford/Canes only thing. If you don't like them being sold or worn just don't partake.
 
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