If you had asked anyone in the Carolina Hurricanes organization at the beginning of the season if they would be happy to be holding the Southeastern Division lead and the third slot in the Eastern Conference in the middle of December, you would have received a resounding yes. So, why weren’t there more smiles in Raleigh on the eve of the Christmas break?
The Hurricanes could have been holding a substantially larger lead than five points on second-place Tampa Bay in the division. And third place in the Eastern Conference was a mere five points removed from the eighth and final playoff spot.
"If you look at the standings," says Hurricanes left winger Ray Whitney, "it’s getting pretty tight, so teams who get on a winning streak can get some separation."
The problem was, the Hurricanes had not managed back-to-back wins in more than a month until Dec. 15, when they beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-5 and followed up with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory in Toronto three days later. |
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Eric Staal (12) and Mike Commodore (22) help off Bret Hedican (6) of the Carolina Hurricanes after Hedican was injured during the second period against the Boston Bruins at RBC Center December 28, 2007 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Carolina defeated Boston 4-3. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) |
The fact that both contests were extended into overtime is indicative of the trouble Carolina was having dominating the competition the way it did to open the season. As the year wound down, they were fighting to get points until they could get things back together.
That can lead to both exciting hockey and injuries. In Toronto, David Tanabe and Chad LaRose suffered concussions. Furthermore, Craig Adams garnered a two-game suspension for high sticking. A week earlier, Scott Walker was suspended for a game for head-butting Ottawa’s Mike Fisher during a fight.
While the Hurricanes were leading the league in goals scored, they also were giving up a lot, including eight in loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 1 and six in a shutout by the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 12.
"We can’t go around the room and say our system isn’t working," captain Rod Brind’Amour said. "It all comes down to us not putting up enough fight. When everyone is off, we don’t do anything offensively and we give up too many good scoring chances. Each guy has to look it the mirror and give a little more."
"We need to get back to the basics, go work hard, play hard, skate and have fun," said Cory Stillman, the Hurricanes’ leading scorer. "When you’re coming to the rink with smiles on your faces and you’re winning hockey games, it’s easy. We’re digging holes for ourselves and trying to come back. It would be nice to score two goals, have a lead after one [period] and see what happens."
On the plus side, the Hurricanes won three of their four games immediately prior to the Christmas break.
"This December hasn’t been great for us," Ray Whitney said. "You can see how everybody’s caught up to us and it’s pretty clustered on the leader board right now. The loss to Florida the other night was tough for us. That really upset us. We have to win our division the way things are going. Going into the break we didn’t want to sit on losing back-to-back."
The Hurricanes would be tested early in 2008, as well, facing the Atlanta Thrashers, in second place in the Southeastern Division, in a home-and-home series the first week in January.
Hurricanes Lose Williams To Injury
Just when the ‘Canes looked liked they had dodged a bullet when Cory Stillman returned three days after what appeared to be a serious knee injury, they got hit from another direction.
On Dec. 21, Jim Rutherford, the Hurricanes president and general manager announced that forward Justin Williams would have reconstructive knee surgery after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a game against the Florida Panthers the night before.
Williams, who was scheduled for surgery at the end of December, is expected to be out of action for four to six months, ending his streak of 205 consecutives games played and placing the remainder of his season in question.
Second on the Hurricanes with 21 assists, Williams also tore his ACL during the 2002-03 season while playing for the Philadelphia Flyers and missed 36 games.
"There are a lot of things that go out of the lineup with this injury -- power play, penalty-kill, a player that can play against other teams’ top lines, a right-handed shot," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's not going to be easy to replace that."
In the short term, the Hurricanes have called up forward Brandon Nolan from Albany (AHL) to make his NHL debut. Nolan, the son of New York Islanders coach Ted Nolan, will play on a line with Andrew Ladd and Matt Cullen.
Barrasso Keeps Pace With Francis
On Dec. 11, Rutherford announced that Tom Barrasso would replace Greg Stefan as the team’s full time goaltending coach. Stefan will become the coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth (Mich.) Whalers. The Whalers are owned by Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr.
Barrasso will continue to serve in his role as director of goaltender development, but will shift his primary focus from the Hurricanes’ young talent to current NHL goaltenders Cam Ward and John Grahame. That bodes well for Ward and Grahame. Carolina’s prospects are currently at the top of the AHL and ECHL statistical leaders.
"We don’t want to lose that," Rutherford said, "It’s no coincidence those four guys (the goaltending prospects in the ’Canes system) are playing as well as they are."
Barrasso will have to adapt to his expanded role. "I’ll still try and keep an eye on the entire goaltending situation throughout the organization," Barrasso said. "We’ve had really good success with all our guys in the minors, and I’d like to try to keep that going by maintaining contact with them and catching their games on DVD, and if I get the opportunity to see them live, that would be great as well. Obviously, the big club is now the primary responsibility."
Barrasso hopes his 18 years of experience as an NHL goaltender with the Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Senators, Hurricanes, Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues will benefit both Ward and Grahame.
"I have a pretty good idea of what’s going through their mind most of the time," Barrasso said, "and I know the difficulties that they face on a daily basis. It’s a very stressful job being the goaltender; you’re the last person back there. I think I relate well to that feeling, and my job is to make sure they feel good about themselves and they’re ready to play and give the team the best chance to win every night."
Other than training camp, Barrasso hasn’t had much contact with either Hurricanes goaltender.
"Really my job now is to start collecting information on them," Barrasso says. "I’ll go back and probably watch the last six games or so to start and build a database for what I see for each player. My philosophy is very simple: We want to take what you do well and make sure you continue to excel at that, but then find out what you’re not as good at and really work on those things to make you a better player."
Says Ward, "One of his top skills was puck-handling, and if you look at my game, that’s one of the areas I’d like to improve on."
They Said It ...
"It wasn’t pretty sitting in there. There is Roddy and I talking to each other and I said, ‘What are we doing in here?’ We had kind of a chuckle in there." – Glen Wesley on having two of the Hurricanes least likely offenders in the penalty box at the same time.
"They came out with a jump. They just kept coming at us and coming at us. Anytime you let eight goals in, you’re not doing something right." — goaltender Cam Ward on the Hurricanes 8-0 loss to the Sabres.
"We’re shooting ourselves in the foot too many times, turning the puck over, guys are standing in front of our net and nobody is getting knocked down." – coach Peter Laviolette.
HURRICANES STATS LEADERS
All stats are current through Jan. 1
POINTS
Stillman 38
Whitney 36
Cullen 36
Brind’Amour 34
GOALS
Stillman 18
Whitney 18
Staal 17
Brind‘Amour 14
ASSITS
Cullen 28
Williams 21
Brind‘Amour 20
Stillman 20 |
