Last night, I posted a blog with Twitter poll results and my thoughts on where Tuomo Ruutu might best fit in the lineup if he returns. You can find that in the archives if you missed it.
IMPORTANT TV NOTE: For those local to Raleigh, the game is on SportSouth not the more common FOX Sports Carolinas, so for those going the DVR route, make sure you get the right channel.
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After a bit of a rude reality check in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, the Canes face their 2nd level 2 road challenge in Washington on Thursday night. With no rest for the weary defensively, the Canes go from Crosby and Malkin to Ovechkin and also face the hottest power play in the league. This is another momentum/points swing game like Sunday’s versus Philadelphia. If the Canes win, the team picks up a very respectable 2 points in 2 games against top-tier competition for their 1st short road trip. A loss puts the team at 1-2-1 and already a little bit off the pace needed to make the playoffs.
The morning skate has the potential to yield some lineup changes. Tuomo Ruutu is practicing with the team and a possibility to make his 1st appearance for 2013-14. The end of the Pittsburgh loss saw a bit of line juggling by Muller that with or without Ruutu in the lineup could continue Thursday night.
The scoring from Washington’s top players through 3 games is impressive. Ovechkin (4 G/2A), Grabovski (3 G/2 A), Backstrom (1 G/3 A) and Green (0 G/4 A) makes for a whopping 19 scoring points for only 4 players through 3 games. But when you back out the power play scoring, the total drops to a mere 2 goals and 1 assist in total for the group. The team has been outscored by 7 at even strength which explains their 1-2 record.
With that I get to the keys of the game/”what I’m watching”:
1) Stay out of the box. Per the stats above, the Caps are polar opposites dominating at special teams (mostly riding its power play less so because of its kill) and struggling mightily at even strength. Skate! Pay attention to details positioning-wise. And don’t be lazy moving the feet! And it is an even strength game that favors the Canes. Get sloppy and go to the box and the even the Canes decent penalty kill could be overwhelmed.
2) Hainsey-Sekera-Harrison. Those are the 3 Canes defensemen who will see the most of Ovechkin with him flying down the right wing. I think this matchup works well for the Canes with the biggest key being that Hainsey who can hold his own skating gets the bigger part of the assignment not Bellemore. Per my comments above, the Caps offense is not clicking at even strength. In this situation Ovechkin often takes it upon himself even more to force the issue, shoot a ton and try to make something happen. If the Canes can limit his ability to take control of the game, I like the way the rest of the lineup matches up.
3) It’s time. More than anything else, I think this is an Eric Staal game. It will take a top line firing on all cylinders for him to hit the 100-110 pace that he played at much of 2012-13. But that is not what I am looking for. I am looking more for the kind of game where he rides the small spark he found on Tuesday with a goal and more jump once Bowman joined his line and just dials it up in terms of effort. I am looking for a 60-minute heart and soul effort in which he plays a hungry 60 full minutes, looks like a force to be reckoned with every shift, leads the way in terms of effort and wills his way onto the score sheet.
4) I will also be curious to see what Muller does with the lineup. If Ruutu is available, someone will need to come out. It seems reasonably likely that Bowman will see time on the top line with EStaal after a decent stint there on Tuesday. Now 3 games deep into the season, might this be the time to finally audition Lindholm for the 3rd-line center slot that was thought to be his before training camp started?
If I were Muller and had Ruutu my lines would be something like
--Bowman/EStaal/Semin. Bowman seemed to help, but if they look sluggish to start again, I would not hesitate to see if Ruutu’s skating and banging can’t get them moving.
--Gerbe/JStaal/Dwyer. A single bad game is not enough for me to scrap what has looked good otherwise.
--Skinner/Lindholm/Ruutu. At some point Muller needs to see what Lindholm can do and if he can help provide secondary scoring; now is as good of a time as any.
--Tlusty/Nash or Sutter/Dvorak.
If I had to guess, my hunch is that Muller will be a little bit less aggressive with changes, but we will see.
When you net it all out, I really think this is the kind of game where a leader needs to lead and drive the team to a win. Crosby and Malkin did it on Tuesday when the Canes top players were pretty quiet. Thursday needs to be different. I think Eric Staal is the leading candidate, but Semin, JStaal and Skinner would be other options for someone to rise up and put forward a great individual effort to lead the way.
What say you Canes fans?
--Can the team stay out of the box mostly play the 5v5 game that is probably to their advantage?
--How aggressive does Muller get mixing up lines a bit after the first clunker on Tuesday?
--Is Hainsey the quiet star in this game who sees the most Ovechkin and proves he can skate with him? He is new to the team but a former division rival who has seen a lot of #8.
--Would you come back to Ward or given Khudobin another shot? At least that I have seen as of Wed night, Muller has not yet committed to a goalie.
--What else did I miss?
Big game! A win makes for a good first road trip. A loss doesn’t.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
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