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GDT: Canes v. Habs 2/16 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
The Canes try to avoid a classic trap game on a night when Cam Ward is honored.

After a miserable 3rd period against the Rangers on Saturday, the Canes beat an injury ravaged Caps team also missing Alex Ovechkin. They never trailed and gutted out a 3-2 win in a night that they didn’t have their A game. And maybe not even their B game. Another PP goal, Stef Noesen had his team leading 7th PP goal, tipping a Skjei skjot from the point. BTW, since Skjei started running one of the PP units in mid-December, the Canes are 9th in the league. The PK was perfect on 3 chances.

The Habs are mired in last in the Atlantic, but they’ve won 3 in a row and are 5-4-1 in their last 10. Cole Caufield has 26 goals, 3 more than he had all of last season. Nick Suzuki has 25 assists and is headed to a career high in goals, with 17 so far, he had 21 last season. Jake Allen has started 31 games in goal, he’s at 3.42/.895. He’s backed up by Sam Montembeault who is at 3.17/.909 in 23 games. As you’d expect for a team as low in the standings as the Habs, their team stats are bad, in the bottom third in everything; 28th in goals per game, 26th in goals against, 28th on the PP, 29th on the PK.

Cam Ward will be inducted into the Canes Hall of Fame tonight and his jersey will be retired. The ceremony starts at 7. In a classy move, the Habs will be on their bench for it. Really, it’s appropriate that Ward is inducted before a Habs game; he saved the Canes 2006 playoffs in the first round against Montreal, relieving Gerber in a game 2 loss and then starting game 3 and winning the next 4. Scott Burnside has a great story on the Canes website if you’re so inclined. In Ward’s honor, I’ll be tailgating with a most excellent bottle of Vineyard 36 Five Bands Cabernet Sauvignon, signed by the man himself.

Red jerseys tonight. Bally Sports South for TV
 
As seems to happen a lot with lower third teams, a little less than half of Montreal's wins on the season have come against teams currently in the playoff picture. Carolina played one of their worst games of the season against Washington the other night, which backed up one of their worst individual periods of the season in the previous game. So, we're not talking about a Canes team that's in great form. The extended break absolutely factors into that, and the swirl of preparations for the Stadium Series game are certainly not helping team focus either. From a mile away, all looks good in Canesville ... from any closer, not so much.

So ... is this one of those nights when a good team shows up distracted an uninspired to notch an ugly L, or does Carolina take the opportunity to build on the combination of emotion from Hall of Fame Night and a weaker opponent to get right? I honestly don't know, but this would be a really, really good time for a goalie to have a great night. A Canes goalie, of course.
 
Cole Caufield is out for the season with right shoulder surgery. He hasn't played since the end of January.
 
There have been warnings that traffic for tonight might be messy with preparations for the Stadium Series game. They are closing the Edwards Mill Rd. exits off of Wade Avenue 'early'. I have no idea what 'early' actually means, but my go to get to the game is Edwards Mill Rd. to East 2000 lot (mostly because that gives me easy access to the side Wade Ave. exit to get me back to 440/1 South or to drop off my kids at NC State.

Anyhow, sounds like they are going to be messing with normal traffic flows tonight. Plan accordingly.
 
cmaleski2 said:
Anyhow, sounds like they are going to be messing with normal traffic flows tonight. Plan accordingly.
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My version of planning accordingly is gonna be watching from home. Other than the Hall of Fame stuff, it's a really good night to have had a scheduling conflict. Plus, I got my inflated asking price on the TM re-sale sight which took a slight dent out of Saturday night's tickets.
 
Habs are beat up…no Caufield, no Monahan, no Gallagher, I believe xejaxxxxx or whatever the hell is name is out too. Gotta win this game for Wardo and set the tone for the weekend.
 
The East 1000 lot will be closed today, that’s where the league is setting up their Saturday shindig.

Hopefully the entrance to parking off Edwards Mill remains open, that’s how I get into the lots.
 
andyt said:
The East 1000 lot will be closed today, that’s where the league is setting up their Saturday shindig.

Hopefully the entrance to parking off Edwards Mill remains open, that’s how I get into the lots.
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I honestly have no idea why they would need to shut the Edwards Mill entrance early ... or at least not until those lots are full. That will obviously be earlier than normal, but they have worded that statement so weirdly that it makes me wonder what the heck else is going on.
 
Most people entering the Edwards Mill Rd. entrance are not parking in East 1000. East 2000 is where they pretty much end your journey if you have passed on the other lots along that route. So this whole 'Edwards Mill Rd. entrance will be closing early today' deal doesn't yet make any sense to me.
 
Yeah, it would make more sense if they had said that the Edwards Mill entrance will be closing earlier than normal ... because it eventually closes for sold out games anyway ... but this is just odd. Worth pointing out that a LOT of the messaging about traffic and parking from the arena is odd, so ... might be nothing more than a warning. But it also leaves the door open for them to do something dumb and shut that entrance much earlier than required and thus tipping the entire process into chaos. And it does occasionally seem like they LIKE creating chaos with traffic patterns for bigger events. Tonight would qualify thanks to the Hall of Fame stuff.
 
cmaleski2 said:
Most people entering the Edwards Mill Rd. entrance are not parking in East 1000. East 2000 is where they pretty much end your journey if you have passed on the other lots along that route. So this whole 'Edwards Mill Rd. entrance will be closing early today' deal doesn't yet make any sense to me.
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Yeah, we drive all the way around to East 2000. But occasionally, they get people who drive all the away around and want to park in East 1000. The handicapped parking overflow from East 2000 is also directed to what used to be the bus lot in front of East 1000 Premier. That’s happened to us a couple of times and getting out of that lot SUCKS.
 
Holy crap am I excited for tonight. Hoping to catch up with folks and I’ll be cheering my arse off. Meeting up with one group (fellow podcasters) around 4… hoping to find everyone… I’ve got stuff for you all to sign…
 
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