The Canes got their brooms out last night and swept the Sabres in the three-game season series with a 5-2 win. Last night was exciting beyond the win for the Canes—it was Cam Ward’s 600th game and Jeff Skinner had a three-point night to register his 300th point. In addition, the Canes are now on a three-game winning streak and are 13-1-1 in their last 15-home games.
They are really starting to skate with some confidence and it is showing every night now. Jeff Skinner is coming out of his “slump” and registered his second consecutive three-point game and now has eight (4g, 4a) in his past five games. In fact, the Skinner-Rask-Ryan line as a whole is really starting to click and look dangerous. Both Ryan (4g, 2a) and Rask (3g, 3,a) are keeping pace with Skinner and have tallied six-points in the last five games.
Production wise, the only other line that is rivaling the first line is the McGinn-Staal-Lindholm line. Coach Peters combining Staal with McGinn appears to be paying off in spades, as the two appear to have some really good chemistry together. In the past five games, Staal has six-points (1g, 5a) and McGinn has five-points (3g, 2a). It was great to see McGinn get rewarded with a two-goal night, as he has been creating some great chances recently but not finding the twine.
The Aho-Teravainen-Stempniak line is also playing with some great chemistry. They have had some great possessions in the offensive zone by establishing a strong fore-check and forcing turnovers. While they have had some production, they aren’t getting rewarded as much as the first two lines as of late. Despite that, they have had some shifts where they absolutely dominate the opponent and create multiple chances.
As a whole, when the Canes have all three of their top lines rolling with confidence they are able to generate good offensive production. In the past five-games, the Canes have now tallied 19 goals—it is the first time this season that the Canes offense has been rolling this well. Most of the year, the Canes have relied on one or two hot hands for the offense and it comes inconsistently.
The most impressive aspect of the last three games is how well the Canes respond to early goals. In all three games the Canes allowed first period goals and entered the second period down 1-0—however, they rebound with gigantic second periods and found ways to win all three games. In those three games (Bruins, Blue Jackets and Sabres), the Canes have scored eight goals in the second period and come out looking like a new team.
It almost looks like Coach Peters wants the Canes to play a defensively oriented first period to “lure” the opponent into playing slower. Then, Coach Peters tells them to turn the jets on in the second period and catch the opponent off-guard. The difference in how the Canes have played the first and second in terms of mindset is very noticeable.
Tonight should be another good match-up for the Canes as the Islanders come to the PNC Arena for Star Wars Night. It will be the first time the two teams play each other this season. Despite not seeing each other yet, they will be very familiar with each other by the end of the year as they see each other five times.
The Islanders are also in their second game in a set of “back-to-backs.” They were able to drop their three-game losing streak with a 5-2 road win against the Panthers last night. The win tied them for last-place in the Eastern Conference with the Red Wings.
It will be interesting to see who both the Islanders and Canes have in net tonight. The Canes have been very lucky much of the season with drawing the opponent’s back-up goalie—the past three games the Canes have gotten the back-up. Fingers crossed the Canes face Jean-Francois Berube tonight, he has mediocre stats and is 0-2-1 with a 3.27 GAA and .901 SV%.
It would be great to see if the Canes can give Ward a night off, as he hasn’t gotten a night off since December 3rd. If he starts tonight, it will mark his 20th straight start—in that time frame, this would be the 6th set of “back-to-backs.” Given where the Canes are in the standings, I imagine Coach Peters will try to stick with Ward until the “All-Star” break though.
The one area that continues to struggle for the Canes is the PP—it would be great to see if they could get it going. Given that all the lines are rolling well now, if the PP becomes a threat the Canes will become even more dangerous. The Islanders may be the perfect team to ignite the PP, as they are 21st in the league only killing 79.7% of penalties.
A Flyers loss today and a Canes win would put them within one point of the final wildcard spot. If that isn’t enough motivation to get the team excited to play hard, I don’t know what is. Puck drop is at 7:00 and is on FSCR and MSG+. Go Canes!
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