CANES SMACK DOWN EVIL EMPIRE
Carolina
The Carolina Hurricanes hosted the evil Empire on Monday night in a game full of anticipation for the Canes. Coming off of back to back shutout performances by newcomer Patrick Lalime, the confident squad took to the rink of battle.
With a firm recollection of the previous two games against the Isles in place, both of which left the Canes without a goal, the hometown squad prepared for a possible war.
“We went into this one knowing we had played poorly against them before,” said head coach Joel Quenneville. “I could feel that they wanted to prove something and we came out hard.”
The Canes notched in the first goal of the game off of a powerful slap shot by rookie defenseman Dion Phaneuf, his 7th of the year. The Isles, however, in typical fashion, stormed back with two of their own and the Canes found themselves down by one in the first intermission.
That was before newly designated team captain Brad Stuart stood up in the room.
“Stu was not happy,” said center Mike Fisher. “He basically called out some of our stars and said we are not going down like punks again to this team. We are as good as them, if not better, and we were tired of getting thrown around. I for one agree. I hate losing and I hate losing to this team over and over. Stuart said he’d do it himself if he had to, and man, did he come out with a vengeance in the second.”
Stuart wasted little time on the Canes first power play, off of a minor call to former Cane Scott Parker. The big blueliner rifled a shot at the net, tipped in front by Henrik Zetterberg and batted in by Tim Connolly. The Canes had tied it up.
20 seconds late, Dainius Zubrus picked up the puck in the offensive zone and drove hard to the net, finding the twine and putting the Canes in the lead.
3 minutes later, captain Stuart picked up the puck and passed over to the corner to Tim Connolly who one timed a pass cross crease to Zetterberg who put the Canes up by two. Rick Nash then buried his first of the game on the power play by doing what he does best, crashing and banging. The Canes had now successfully chased netminder David Aebischer out of this contest and instilled a bit more confidence. This juggernaut was not going to get the best of them on this night.
The Isles found a bit of momentum after the goalie swap and pulled themselves within 2 but the Canes stormed back in the third when Rick Nash picked up his second of the contest. Dany Heatley finished off the scoring by notching his 21st goal of the season with assists from friends Mike Fisher and Rick Nash, who had 4 points in the contest.
“This was a statement game for us,” said Rick Nash. “I have not been here long enough to know the frustrations of this team we played, but I will tell you the room was never so alive as it was tonight. We wanted this one badly.”
The Canes celebrated their fifth point in 3 games and seemed to be quite proud of their netminder, Patrick Lalime, who stood strong throughout the contest.
“After the first, I really felt like we let him down,” said Brad Stuart. “Lalime has been the guy for us since he got here and we spent most of the time in the first watching him battle while we looked like deer caught in headlights. We turned it around though. Its our time now, beware of the Canes.”
The Carolina Hurricanes hosted the evil Empire on Monday night in a game full of anticipation for the Canes. Coming off of back to back shutout performances by newcomer Patrick Lalime, the confident squad took to the rink of battle.
With a firm recollection of the previous two games against the Isles in place, both of which left the Canes without a goal, the hometown squad prepared for a possible war.
“We went into this one knowing we had played poorly against them before,” said head coach Joel Quenneville. “I could feel that they wanted to prove something and we came out hard.”
The Canes notched in the first goal of the game off of a powerful slap shot by rookie defenseman Dion Phaneuf, his 7th of the year. The Isles, however, in typical fashion, stormed back with two of their own and the Canes found themselves down by one in the first intermission.
That was before newly designated team captain Brad Stuart stood up in the room.
“Stu was not happy,” said center Mike Fisher. “He basically called out some of our stars and said we are not going down like punks again to this team. We are as good as them, if not better, and we were tired of getting thrown around. I for one agree. I hate losing and I hate losing to this team over and over. Stuart said he’d do it himself if he had to, and man, did he come out with a vengeance in the second.”
Stuart wasted little time on the Canes first power play, off of a minor call to former Cane Scott Parker. The big blueliner rifled a shot at the net, tipped in front by Henrik Zetterberg and batted in by Tim Connolly. The Canes had tied it up.
20 seconds late, Dainius Zubrus picked up the puck in the offensive zone and drove hard to the net, finding the twine and putting the Canes in the lead.
3 minutes later, captain Stuart picked up the puck and passed over to the corner to Tim Connolly who one timed a pass cross crease to Zetterberg who put the Canes up by two. Rick Nash then buried his first of the game on the power play by doing what he does best, crashing and banging. The Canes had now successfully chased netminder David Aebischer out of this contest and instilled a bit more confidence. This juggernaut was not going to get the best of them on this night.
The Isles found a bit of momentum after the goalie swap and pulled themselves within 2 but the Canes stormed back in the third when Rick Nash picked up his second of the contest. Dany Heatley finished off the scoring by notching his 21st goal of the season with assists from friends Mike Fisher and Rick Nash, who had 4 points in the contest.
“This was a statement game for us,” said Rick Nash. “I have not been here long enough to know the frustrations of this team we played, but I will tell you the room was never so alive as it was tonight. We wanted this one badly.”
The Canes celebrated their fifth point in 3 games and seemed to be quite proud of their netminder, Patrick Lalime, who stood strong throughout the contest.
“After the first, I really felt like we let him down,” said Brad Stuart. “Lalime has been the guy for us since he got here and we spent most of the time in the first watching him battle while we looked like deer caught in headlights. We turned it around though. Its our time now, beware of the Canes.”
posted by Lohaus at 10:47 AM
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