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GDT: Canes v. Islanders 12/17 7:30

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
The Canes close out the homestand with a national TV game against the floundering Islanders.

The Canes got a good enough performance against the Jackets and a solid performance in goal from Dustin Tokarski in his first NHL game in nearly 2 years. The PK got things rolling with an Aho shorty, Staal’s line chipped in with 2 goals and KK finished it with a snipe that we see far too infrequently. Aside from Kochetkov in goal, there shouldn’t be any other changes.

The Islanders are locked in a 3 way tie for 5th in the division, with 31 points in 32 games. They’re coming off a 5-3 loss to Chicago on Sunday. The bottom of the division is bunched up with the Flyers in 4th with 32 points, Rangers, Pens and Isles at 31 and Jackets at 29. Anders Lee leads with 13 goals, Kyle Palmieri and Brock Nelson are right behind. Bo Horvat and Noah Dobson are tied with 14 assists. Horvat missed Sunday’s loss to the Blackhawks and is day to day. Mathew Barzal returned from injury on Sunday, playing in his first game since 10/30. He’s only played 11 games this season. The goalie tandem is Ilya Sorokin at 2.71/.906 and Semyon Varlamov at 2.89/.889. Varlamov hasn’t played since 11/29, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him tonight. The Isles are 25th in goals per game and 17th in goals against. Their special teams are bad, DFL on both the PP and PK.

Black jerseys tonight. Late start due to National TV on ESPN+/Hulu.
 
FWIW, the Metro has turned into a big old pile of angst. Washington is really the only team riding what you could call good vibes with a straight face. The Devils are kind of bubbling along but are still inflated by the 3 or 4 games they've had in hand since their early start to the season, so their confidence seems over-blown to all but Devils fans. Carolina's been a hot mess for a couple of weeks, while Philly is still in the wild card picture but are rocking a 13 goal deficit on the season, and Pittsburgh has been decent for a stretch but are also way under water in goal diff. Both New York teams are doing existential dread like some sort of Arthur Miller revival, while Columbus hit a wall after rallying together early. If you were doing a divisional vibe check the sound you'd get in return would be frightening to children. This December is turning into the December of our Decembers.
 
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jeffbear said:
FWIW, the Metro has turned into a big old pile of angst. Washington is really the only team riding what you could call good vibes with a straight face. The Devils are kind of bubbling along but are still inflated by the 3 or 4 games they've had in hand since their early start to the season, so their confidence seems over-blown to all but Devils fans. Carolina's been a hot mess for a couple of weeks, while Philly is still in the wild card picture but are rocking a 13 goal deficit on the season, and Pittsburgh has been decent for a stretch but are also way under water in goal diff. Both New York teams are doing existential dread like some sort of Arthur Miller revival, while Montreal and Buffalo have abandoned all hope ... in completely different ways. Columbus hit a wall after rallying together early and Detroit fans are finally in the early stages of questioning the Yzer-plan after their low and slow rebuild got stuck on slow for yet another season. If you were doing a divisional vibe check the sound you'd get in return would be frightening to children.
Click to expand...
When did Montreal, Buffalo and Detroit move from the Atlantic to the Metro? ;)
 
And now, the game ...

Carolina has a chance to salvage the four game homestretch in the least convincing way possible by clearing a very low bar and beating another terrible team tonight. One assumes that Kochetkov will return to the crease and that the forward line jumble will stick on the last seen combinations. They played solid if hardly overwhelming hockey against Columbus on Sunday so wash, rinse, repeat is probably the order of the day. NYI is yet another trapping zone team, so at least they won't be shaking off the ghosts of easy zone exits.

The Isles will be coming in having split with a woeful Chicago team, and having allowed a shocking 9 goals in the process. Roy is under fire, and there are rumors flying about which veteran forwards will be moved to try and shake things up. While the Canes probably don't feel great about themselves right now, the Isles are probably just happy to be on the road and away from their fans.

Fun.
andyt said:
When did Montreal, Buffalo and Detroit move from the Atlantic to the Metro? ;)
Click to expand...
I'll edit it ... my flight of fancy got out of hand and I'm listening to truly terrible hold music.
Done. And I threw in a Community reference to make up for it.
 
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No changes to the lines or pairings at the skate, Kochetkov in the starter’s crease.

Robinson - Aho - Jarvis
Svechnikov - Kotkaniemi - Necas
Carrier - Staal - Martinook
Roslovic - Jost - Blake

Slavin - Burns
Orlov - Chatfield
Gostisbehere - Walker
Stillman
 
Per Ethan Spears of the NY Post, Horvat is a game time decision. Duclair is out even though he skated this morning.

Romanov-Dobson
Pelech-Pulock
Cholowski-Mayfield
Lee-Barzal-Duclair
Tsyplakov-Nelson-Palmieri
Holmstrom-Horvat-Pageau
Engvall-Cizikas-Fasching
 
Today’s officials:

Referees:
Francois St. Laurent #8, Garrett Rank #7

Linesmen:
David Brisbois #96, Julien Fournier #56

The Canes haven’t had either ref this year, and St. Laurent must have been injured, he’s only worked 11 games this year. Over the last 2 seasons, the Canes are 9-0-1 with him and 8-3 with Rank.
 
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