It's good to be a Hurricanes fan. And I mean, good. The underdog
Canes have come back from a first game loss in Greensboro to win
two straight, thanks to the Bruins jinx and (oh dear God...) a
power-play goal. See, the power play is our friend. A good
friend. Not good enough to invite over for bowling, but good
enough to push a rubber cylinder into a twine net on a steel cage
once in 60 minutes.
Now I'll go into some detail on what happened in each game, and
hopefully enlighten everyone on what should be a closely fought
series.
Because everyone loves judgement calls, I'll be giving the Canes
a grade. The only grades some of us are familiar with go up to C,
but I was told once by a Tibetan monk that there are these
mythical "B" and "A" things that come when you do something
called "work". It sounds crazy, but that's what I thought when I
heard that the Catholics are taking over the world in a massive
papal conspiracy. But how else do you explain that huge hat and
those threatening eyes? Evil...pure evil!
Well, since I'm lazy, all you get is a D or F, because that's all
I remember.
The first is forwards. This is not just scoring, it's effort,
backchecking, and everything that comes from playing on offense.
The second is a combination of defense and goaltending I call
detending. It's blocked shots, easy stops, slowing down the play,
and being smart at what you do on D.
The third is called trapping. This is when you slow down play and
make the neutral zone trap work. It also includes heavy hits and
other things to keep the Bruins out.
GAME 1: DAFOE IS GOOD AND STUFF
Final result: 2-0 Bruins
Highlights: Byron Dafoe
Problems for the Canes: Byron Dafoe
Good things for the Canes: Hard hits, an enthusiastic crowd, and
they gave away towels.
Forwards: F
Sorry, but I don't care how good you are, you gotta score. Yeah,
Dafoe was stopping pucks like they were Vezina trophies but if
you don't poke it in, you can't win. Jeff O'Neill was the
bonehead of the night when he gave the puck away to Rob Dimaio on
a sort of pirouette pansy fall, when Dimaio scored the first goal
for the Bs. The standout for forwards was Kevin Dineen, who
played like he was a rookie and dinged one off the post. So
close...
Detending: F
With such stalwart screw-ups as Malik and Karpa on the ice, the
Canes made several problem plays in their own zone that led to
scoring chances. Blocked pucks were many at the beginning but the
defense really wore itself down with so many hits. The standout
is Steve Chiasson, who is finally back and helped our power play
look sorta not so crappy.
Trapping: D
The Canes hit like a ton of...good hitters. The first 10 minutes
they worked the crowd up into such a frenzy that even Byron Dafoe
said it sounded like 25,000 people, not 11,000. The trap really
slowed down the game for the first two periods, but after the
momentum was lost in the third it kind of fell apart. Standout
here is our main man at LCS, Gary Roberts, who was hitting lots
of people and getting Bruins angry, which is good.
End Score: D
GAME 2: NOW THAT WAS A HOCKEY GAME...BUT WHERE'S MY CAR?
Final Result: 3-2 (OT) Hurricanes
Highlights: Ray Sheppard's game-winning goal was good but not
pretty. It's his first one I liked. Coffey passes it straight up
the middle to a speeding Gelinas, who drops it off for Sheppard
right in front of the blue line, who scores. Nice.
Problems for the Canes: Ron Francis is out injured and it's
unknown when he gets back. He probably won't play in Game 4 and
did not play in Game 3. Pratt and Mali are also injured in the
game.
Good things for the Canes: We won, for one. And we played with
four defenseman, including a really old guy (Paul Coffey). Two of
the defensemen, Glen Wesley and Coffey, recorded 35+ minutes in
the game.
Forwards: D
The Canes' lines played a good game, being stopped by a
nearly-invincible Byron Dafoe before Ray Sheppard cracked his
shield. Naturally, Sugar Ray is our standout for his two goals,
including the game-winner. The other goal was scored by Robert
Kron and was a bit of a fluke -- Battaglia fed it to Kron, who
didn't see the puck even after it careened off his skates into
the goal. We'll take it.
***IMPORTANT LCS ANNOUNCEMENT***
Henceforth, every time a player accidentally makes a play happen
without even knowing what he's doing, that will be referred to as
"pulling a Kron". This ends our announcement.
***OTHER GUY WRITES STUFF NOW***
Detending: D
The four-defensemen feat is almost impossible to pull off, but
the Canes did it and kept in the game. Of the remaining four, all
played 30+. Curtis Leschyshyn and Steve Chiasson didn't manage to
top 35 like Paul Coffey and Glen Wesley, however. They did a good
job of preserving the tie as the Canes kept coming back
throughout the game from one-goal deficits. Our standout is Paul
Coffey, who racked up another assist to extend his "most points
for a defenseman" lead against Ray Bourque. Irbe let in one soft
goal from Heinze, the second goal, but played solid hockey
otherwise.
Trapping: D
The Canes really paced themselves this game, as the Bruins
definitely looked worse for wear after the three regulation
periods. The trap was very efficient, and the hits kept coming at
ridiculous amounts. Our standout again is everyone's favorite
comeback player, Gary Roberts. Roberts again hit a bunch of
people and stuff, prompting the Bruins to question the number of
hits he was accredited (which I believe was 17).
End Score: D
GAME 3: IRBE WAVES TO THE CROWD AND GETS HIT BY BEER CUPS. OH
YEAH, WE WON TOO.
Final Result: 3-2 Hurricanes
Highlights: The first goal, made by none other than Gary "I'll
police the ice if you don't" Roberts which broke a franchise
record for fastest goal in a playoff game, I think. It came fast,
a poke-in on Dafoe who lost control of the puck amidst pressure.
Problems for the Canes: They were outhit the first time in the
series, but really stayed in control the whole game. The third
goal was a fluke too.
Good things for the Canes: Uh, we won on the road against Boston,
Irbe was solid, and the wave to the Boston crowd was pretty cool
(it'll be detailed below, hold onto your touchpads-if you can).
Irbe like wall.
Forwards: D
They didn't play the best game ever but they amazingly won
without Ron Francis, their veteran second-line center, and got
some production from guys who don't produce normally (read: ever)
in Robert Kron. Ray Sheppard scores again, the backchecking is
good, Primeau hits a bunch of people, and it's a good day to wear
red, black, and silver. The standout is Gary Roberts, who really
made several plays happen. Gary gets the job done, and he'll
argue with refs too. That's my kind of player.
Detending: F
The defense wasn't great, in fact, it fell apart several times on
the Boston power play. The Samsonov goal (Boston's first) should
not have happened -- it came from Dave Karpa, aka the Carp, going
after a puck he should've left for the smoother skating Coffey
and then getting it taken away from him. Chiasson made some
screwups but Halko played solid. Leschyshyn and Wesley made good
hits but again had some botches. Standout goes to Arturs Irbe for
playing decent and then waving to the Boston crowd sarcastically
at the end of the game, prompting tons of cups to be thrown on
the ice. That's our Archie.
Trapping: D
This was quality, but the hits weren't there. The Hurricanes
forced Boston to play their physical hearts-on-the-line game and
beat the Bruins at it. The Bruins outhit them however, mainly
because they played a great trap to counter our pretty good trap.
The problem was that we capitalized on their lapses while they
did no such thing. The standout goes to Keith Primeau who managed
to deliver some hard hits and divert attention from his
linemates, Ray Sheppard and Martin Gelinas, who played quality
hockey. The fourth line of Ranheim, Manderville, and Dineen, as
always, played with tons of grit, heart, and hits.
End Score: D
That's all for now. Good luck to the Hurricanes in Game 4, and to
everyone who picked the Bruins in 4 or 5, you lose! Good thing no
one picked the Canes in 4.
