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GDT: Canes v. Rangers 5/16 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
Can the Canes win a 3rd straight elimination game and force a winner take all game 7?

The Canes came roaring back from a 1-0 deficit with 3 goals, 3 minutes apart in the 3rd. Staal abused Schneider and tucked in a backhand, Kuzy beat a lollygagging Panarin to a rebound and Drury scared Trouba off the puck, got it to Necas who fed an open Martinook at the hashmarks. Bang, bang, bang, good night, don’t miss your train. Necas capped it off with a dead center clapper from 144 feet away. Pesce skated in a regular jersey yesterday but on the 4th pair with Coghlan, so he remains doubtful.

The Canes have held the big boys in check over the last 2 games. Lafreniere has a goal, Zibanejad has an assist but Panarin, Trocheck and Kreider have been held off the scoresheet. Panarin is a stunning -5 in the last 2 games.

TNT for TV
 
If nothing else, the Canes have forced a pretty significant adjustment to the Rangers defense out of Lavy. Late in the season, the Rangers changed the D pairings and broke up the long time Trouba/Miller pair, pushing Trouba down to 3rd pair duty with Erik Gustafsson. I'm not sure this is a move to do anything other than get back to the old familiar, because this essentially swaps out one defenseman who has struggled in space in Schneider with another defenseman who has also been a problem when isolated in Trouba. One assumes that Trouba/Miller will be the shutdown pairing and the othr two will get sheltered minutes as the 3rd pair. One thing that move does accomplish is that it gives Trouba less coverage responsibility and frees him up to go head hunting, as Miller can cover his back far more effectively than Gustafsson.

Either way, I think this gives Carolina a chance to gang up on the 3rd pairing a bit. Both Schneider and Gustafsson can be a bit iffy when asked to play in space, although they're both really good on the wall. With Carolina concentrating in Game 5 on shifting possession more to the middle of the ice, this has the potential to backfire on the Rangers. We'll see, but it's something to watch
 
Well, if you're not nervous for an elimination game then you just don't get nervous at all. From my personal perspective the Canes are playing with found money at this point. They climbed out of the humiliation pit in games 4 and 5. From here, go see what happens.
 
Tonight’s officials:

Referees:
Francis Charron #6, Steve Kozari #40

Linesmen:
Devin Berg #87, Ryan Daisy #81

Standby officials: Frederick L’Ecuyer #17, Brandon Gawreyletz #64

This is the first time Charron and Kozari have worked together this post season. We had Kozari with Kyle Rehman for Rangers game 1. Neither team has had Charron in the post season but the Canes went 0-1-2 in the regular season and the Rangers were 6-0 with him.
 
jeffbear said:
Well, if you're not nervous for an elimination game then you just don't get nervous at all. From my personal perspective the Canes are playing with found money at this point. They climbed out of the humiliation pit in games 4 and 5. From here, go see what happens.
Click to expand...
100% how I feel. I’m nervous about any playoff again but barring a stinker tonight, this has been an even battle of two of the best teams in the league.
 
I expect the loudest house to do their part tonight and the team to hopefully use that energy to force a game 7. Score first, use the home ice advantage to get your line matchups and hell...do something crazy like score a power play a goal or three...
 
andyt said:
Tonight’s officials:

Referees:
Francis Charron #6, Steve Kozari #40

Linesmen:
Devin Berg #87, Ryan Daisy #81

Standby officials: Frederick L’Ecuyer #17, Brandon Gawreyletz #64

This is the first time Charron and Kozari have worked together this post season. We had Kozari with Kyle Rehman for Rangers game 1. Neither team has had Charron in the post season but the Canes went 0-1-2 in the regular season and the Rangers were 6-0 with him.
Click to expand...
Charron is a giant homer in the regular season, so I'm guessing NYR mostly saw him in the Garden. I can't recall having him in the playoffs in this recent stretch, so who knows what to expect. Kozari is an old dog who would prefer to swallow the whistle but he's been in some of the fiestier games of the post season and may have PTSD by this point.
 
Shifting through the pre game crap and saw that Kreider is banged up. He's gonna play but they're hedging on him. Chytil skating this morning, but they practiced with Brodzinski yesterday. Lavi still keeping Rempe away from road ice matchups, which is probably wise. I think he got 9 or 10 shifts the other night and it's dumb to mess with that on the road. Wheeler is well enough to be a placeholder in practice, but he's been out so long there's probably little chance they insert him at this stage. If we get to Game 7, it's gonna be katie bar the door on the walking wounded though.
 
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