After a long 5-day layoff, the Carolina Hurricanes are back in action Friday night at home against Washington. When we last had Canes hockey, the team was mostly muddling through a 4-game West Coast road trip before pulling out a decisive win in Phoenix to next a successful 1-1-2 record on the trip especially after win 3 straight in the previous week. Coming off Saturday's win, the Canes were in 3rd place and a playoff spot in the topsy-turvy Metro Division. The Canes fell to 4th place behind the Flyers during the layoff, but not much has really changed. The Canes use their game in hand tonight which could vault them back into 3rd place and the 3rd through 7th place is separated by a mere 4 points (and Washington is only 3 higher in 2nd place).
The Carolina Hurricanes are getting healthier. Elias Lindholm will be away playing for the Swedish team at WJC which will enable him to get more all-situation minutes and hopefully build some confidence. More than anything, the Canes have too many at the NHL level right now and that is a good way to free up a spot in a positive way. Mike Komisarek and Anton Khudobin are still on injured reserve, but both are practicing and either nearly ready or maybe even ready but just with no room for them right now. Brett Bellemore is expected to make his return from injury, and Cam Ward will get the start in net.
Today launches the next "stretch" of hockey after the layoff. This stretch over the Christmas and New Year's holidays is always a disjointed 1 that inevitably sees a game or 2 with "holiday legs." With some off days, back and forth to home travel, an occasional odd start time and all of the same holiday stuff that we non-NHL players have this time of year, it is challenging to put together a string of consistent hockey. But that is the goal.
The Canes get a quick burst of 3 games in 4 days with a 1-day road trip in the middle of 2 Metro Division games at home. Then the team gets another burst of 3 games with a roadie again sandwiched between 2 home games after Christmas and before New Year's Day. The challenge is for the Canes to find the legs and the intensity level and pick up where they left off last week.
Specifically for Friday's tilt against Washington, my keys to the game are:
1) Cam Ward. Last we saw him, he looked real shaky against Edmonton especially early. Even in games that the Canes are winning, the mojo tends to be a slow or at best mediocre start and then building from there. As I noted in a recent blog, I think 1 key difference between Peters and Ward is that they are flipsides in terms of charting their games in terms of quality of play. Peters has been his best early, and it is not like he is playing bad after that, but I think he fades just a bit. Ward is the opposite. He has struggled getting his feet under him in games but tends to get better as the game goes on. The issue is how this maps to the Canes recent play. If the Canes start slow and Ward does too, it is a recipe for big early deficits. That is exactly what we saw against Edmonton in Ward's last start. It took a big surge and also a ton of help from a porous defense to turn that 1st period debacle into a 5-4 OTL point. Ward needs to start better and just in general play better for the Canes to win Friday.
2) The after-the-layoff start and game in general. This goes hand in hand with #1. After 5 days off, it is hard to say how the Canes will come out. With a layoff to rest and heal any bumps and bruises, do the Canes come out fresh and energized? Or do they come out lethargic and slow? There is always a chance in these 1st games back that the it is hard to find the intensity level and speed until it is too late. Key to getting into the game is usually playing real simple, skating hard and banging bodies early until the rhythm comes. An ideal start would feature the Canes getting the puck deep, easing Ward into the game, rolling 4 lines and banging bodies/battling for pucks in the corners of the Washington defensive zone.
3) Best against best. I hear that Ovechkin guy is playing fairly well again. I would guess that Ovechkin will see a heavy dose of Sekera/Faulk with Gerbe/JStaal/Semin which gets Skinner away from that matchup defensively and also some of the hits Ovechkin will throw. Ideal would also be to play this matchup at even strength not on special teams where Washington probably has the advantage. Winning or at least breaking even on this matchup goes a long way toward winning a hockey game.
Canes are already 2-0 against Washington, so here is hoping that the streak continues. A win pushes the Canes ahead of Philadephia and into 3rd place and within 2 points of Washington for 2nd place.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
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