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GDT: Canes v. Slugs 3/16 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
After being done in by the Ides of March, the Canes host the Slugs. Black jerseys tonight too.

I didn’t see a second of last night’s game, don’t know if there were any injury concerns, but McElhinney will be in goal.

The Slugs were riding high for a bit, at one point they had the best record in the league. Then they remembered who,they were and tha they can’t have nice things. Skinner has gone from +21 before Christmas to -1. He’s also riding a 13 game goalless streak. Eichel is back after a 2 game suspension, Reinhardt is back on the top line after being moved off to try to create another scoring line.

Fox Sports Carolinas for TV.
 
Coming on the heels of that loss in Columbus, the Canes really need to put their foot on Buffalo's collective neck tonight. Go ... win.

Playoff picture ... Carolina still clings to W1 by virtue of a game in hand on Columbus, since they are both on 83 points. They now trail Pittsburgh (in Metro 3) by 4 points, although they have a game in hand on the Pens as well. Montreal lurks only 2 points back of the Canes and BJs, but have been fading. The Habs have the worst 10 game record of any of the contenders. Both Pittsburgh and Columbus also play today, so Carolina will maintain that game in hand through the weekend. It's also worth noting that Carolina's schedule levels out ofter tonight, as they won't have another back to back set until the end of the 30th and 31st. They can take a maintenance day Sunday and then settle into a nice, stable every other night sequence for 2 solid weeks.
 
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Started last game on perimeter than started crashing the net only to be thwarted by hot goal tending.

I believe this team has learned, finally, to get to the net and be expecting a pass from the corners or from behind the net for pretty and dirty goals. Secondly, start on time. Do that and W's stack up.

FORE CHECKING!

Go Canes.
 
Pens and Islanders have both lost in regulation already today. Habs are home to the Hawks, who’ve won 4 straight. And the Jackets visit the scuffling but dangerous Bruins.

Take care of biz tonight and we’ll make at least some headway.


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Scoreboard watch...

Decent amount of help tonight as Pittsburgh and Montreal both lose, while the Jackets only snag a point.

Islanders and Caps too, but the Division lead is a pipe dream.
 
Love seeing the win despite playing a less than stellar game. The Buffaloons had little to cheer about, although the Slugs played better than the score indicated. Mac was terrific after letting that first goal in. Keep rollin' Canes!
 
perfectstormhits said:
Another slow start.
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Kind of. I thought the Canes were OK early on, but Buffalo came out going 100 mph with guns blazing. It was clear that the Sabres REALLY wanted to play spoiler and were going after it hard. Carolina started to tilt the ice a bit immediately after the Skinner goal and eventually played their way to level terms. From there they simply converted while Buffalo largely flailed around. The Sabres are a darned good offensive team. They're going to produce shifts that make you look bad when they're out there working that hard.

And I don't know about everyone's experience in the arena, but the Buffaholes in my section got quiet after Svech's goal and then completely STFU after Ferland handed Nelson his lunch with one punch. They couldn't even be bothered to sarcastically mock Canes fans after that. Worth noting that Nelson's VERY poor decision to throw down with Ferland was in reaction to yet another clean hit. I honestly think teams need to start teaching their young guys how to take a hit without acting like the other guy somehow did something worthy of retribution. This trend towards childish overreaction in response to fairly pedestrian physical play has gotten well out of hand.
 
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I'm starting to wonder if guys are targeting Ferland partly in retaliation for the hits, and partly because they think they can take him out of the game due to his own questionable durability. He won the fight in Boston but left the game, and he won pretty easily again against Buffalo.

There is some strategy to the old "Our goon will sit in the penalty box for five along with your power forward who has scoring ability" tactic, and Ferland has brought a lot of intangibles to the Canes game this season.
 
Punzil said:
I'm starting to wonder if guys are targeting Ferland partly in retaliation for the hits, and partly because they think they can take him out of the game due to his own questionable durability. He won the fight in Boston but left the game, and he won pretty easily again against Buffalo.

There is some strategy to the old "Our goon will sit in the penalty box for five along with your power forward who has scoring ability" tactic, and Ferland has brought a lot of intangibles to the Canes game this season.
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I'd buy that in the most recent example except that it was Nelson both on the receiving end of the hit and doing the calling out. He's a middleweight at BEST and was absolutely mis-matched against a slugger like Ferland. That was pure red mist, IMO. Now, I do feel like the Boston incident might have been a bit more calculated. Yeah, they retaliated for a hit but sent out an appropriate opponent to do it. We'll see if it continues. You can't de-claw Ferland's game by telling him to back off the hits, but you CAN instruct him to ignore challenges unless absolutely necessary. It would help if we had Kegger or Foegele or even Maenalanen on his line to stand in as proxy when the gloves come off. But again ... it's a fine line and you do NOT want to risk sailing back Ferland's snarl. That's a big chunk of why they kept him around at the deadline. You don't want to throw that out in the name of caution.
 
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