All Entries in the "Matt Cullen" Category
Hard Times at the RBC - Ducks 4 Canes 1
For the moment, the Carolina Hurricanes seem to be a snake-bitten hockey team while competing at the RBC. After playing the Anaheim Ducks to a draw in the opening period last night, they completely dominated them in the second period, outshooting the Ducks 17-3.
They hit the post, they missed pointblank chances, they even had [...]
Quarter Pole Grades: Forwards
Here are some grades, analysis and projections for the everyday players on the Carolina roster after 22 games. Grades will be based on mostly expectations, rather than overall skill level and stats. Projections are based on the player’s current statistics and assume they remain healthy. We’ll look at the forwards today.
Ryan Bayda (22G, 3-4-7, plus-5, [...]
Turn The Page - Preds 5, Canes 2
The Nashville Predators dismantled the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center on Sunday afternoon by a score of 5-2. After winning three games in a row the Canes were due for a let down, and that is exactly what happened.
The Hurricanes had every opportunity to put this game out of reach in the first [...]
Familiar Foe: Olli Returns To RBC With Coyotes
Carolina will be looking for its first three-game winning streak of the season when the Phoenix Coyotes visit Raleigh tonight at 7 p.m. The game is the third of four straight home games for the Hurricanes, who won the first two games of the home stand, managing a 3-2 shootout win over Tampa Bay on Sunday [...]
Caps at Canes, Gameday Preview
The Washington Capitals visit the Carolina Hurricanes tonight for round two of the six round heavyweight bout between division rivals. Last week, the Caps stole two points from Carolina as one of the leading scorers in the NHL, Alexander Semin, lit the lamp twice in the final three minutes to give his club [...]
LaCouture Goes, Helminen and Dwyer Stay….For Now
Dan LaCouture was placed on waivers this afternoon as Scott Walker was activated from the injured reserve. LaCouture will report to Albany if he isn’t claimed by another team. Walker could be cleared to play in Toronto tomorrow night.
Most folk probably assumed that Pat Dwyer would be the player returned to Albany when [...]
Leafs at Canes, Preamble
The Toronto Maple Leafs will meet the Carolina Hurricanes today at 5PM at the RBC. The game is the second of a set of back-to-backs for each team, and the third in four days for the Canes. The Canes are sporting a record of 5-3-2 while the Leafs are 5-3-3.
Last night the Maple [...]
Canes Fall in Shootout, 3-2
The Hurricanes had some good moments and some bad last night. They ended up earning a point in a place where points are hard to come by, (for most teams), and lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 in a shootout.
It was a close game all the way. Carolina took the lead about mid-way [...]
Tidbits For Montreal Game
Some loose ends worth considering for tonight’s game:
• The Gazette in Montreal says Andrei Kostitsyn — who, like Brandon Sutter, was concussed on a big hit from Kurt Sauer Oct. 18 — is supposed to play. He’ll be back on the top line with Tomas Plekanec and Alexei Kovalev after missing just two games. Left winger [...]
Canes Fall to Young Kings, 4-3 OT
The Carolina Hurricanes fought from behind to take a 3-1 lead, but ended up losing to the Los Angeles Kings in over-time late last night, by a score of 4-3.
In what is becoming a trademark for the Canes, they fell behind early as Michal Handzus beat Cam Ward, less than a minute into the [...]
Hopefully Sweet-Tasting Start Doesn’t Go Sour
Carolina started its season with two big come-from-behind victories against division foes, leaving fans enamored with the exhilarating play, never-say-die attidude and — most of all — four points.
There’s no denying that there are many pleasing things we can take away from this first weekend of Hurricanes hockey. The play of defensemen Joni Pitkanen, Frank [...]
Wild Side - Canes 4, Lightning 3 OT
After falling behind 3-0, the Hurricanes eventually turned on the pressure and fought back to win a thrilling game with just 24 seconds left in OT. Eric Staal zipped in the game-winner on a perfect pass from Ray Whitney.
It was a game of two extremes. The Lightning controlled the first part of [...]
Carolina Outscores Florida 6-4
In a wild and wooley back and forth game, the Hurricanes were able to find the back of the net a couple more times than the Panthers were able to, and came away with a 6-4 victory Friday night at the RBC. The Canes had six different goal scorers and netted two [...]
Nashville Notes and Other News
Tonight the Hurricanes are on the road to play another exhibition game, this time in Nashville. There will be a few vets in the lineup trying to fine tune their timing, and there will be a few players in the contest still trying to make the team. CH.com is reporting that the lineup [...]
Carolina Injuries - Bad Training, Bad Skates, or Bad Luck?
Last week, the Carolina Hurricanes treatment room looked like a waiting line at a MASH unit. Ten players were nursing some type of injury. Things are looking better at the moment, but the injury bug is nothing new for the Canes and it’s starting to make fans as well as team management ask [...]
Leighton and Canes Hold on to 1-0 Win
The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Philadelphia Flyers at the RBC yesterday by a score of 1-0. The victory was the first for the Canes this preseason and gave them an overall record of 1-3, with two more games to play.
Sergei Samsonov was the number one star of the game. Not only did he score [...]
Back to Work - Caps 4, Canes 1
Last night, fans were grumbling as they left the RBC.
Even if several of the players on the ice were different, parts of last night’s game looked eerily similar to the worst of last season. Collapses on defense, sloppy passing, and in general, uninspired play was what stood out to many.
The good news is that [...]
Final Thoughts On Preseason Opener
I can say this for sure — no one in the Canes’ locker room was happy with the results tonight. The mood after the game was sullen at best. Here’s some news and thoughts:
• Coach Peter Laviolette was dumbfounded by the play tonight, saying the team “didn’t execute well at all.” Sloppy passing and a [...]
Goalie Rankings Peg Ward Near The Bottom
Maybe it’s for the best, because the last time Cam Ward had low expectations tagged to him, he turned around the Hurricanes’ first-round playoff series and eventually led Carolina to the Stanley Cup, along the way earning himself a Conn Smythe Trophy.
See, back then at the beginning of the 2005-06 season, Ward was a rookie [...]
TV Dinners - FSN Releases Broadcast Schedule
FSN South released their Carolina Hurricanes 65 game television broadcast package today, which will include the opening night contest at the RBC against the Florida Panthers. The network will broadcast 35 of the team’s 41 road games. John Forslund and Tripp Tracy will continue to work the booth for the [...]
Injury Status Report - Q&A With Pete Friesen
Several readers have been asking about the current status of some of the injured Canes who were either unable to play, or who were not skating at 100% when the season unceremoniously came to an end last April. I decided to attempt to get in touch with the organization, to see if [...]
I Will Buy You a New Life - Any Buyouts For The Canes?
Now is the time that many NHL teams will seriously think about buying out the contracts of some over-paid and under-performing players. Ottawa’s Ray Emery is at the top of the list of possibilities, as well as Boston’s Glen Murray and Atlanta’s Alexei Zhitnik.
There are also rumors that Andrew Raycroft and Darcy Tucker of [...]
Back For More - The Forwards
This is the final segment of our end of year “Back For More” feature. We have already analyzed the defense and goaltending, next we will take a look at the forward position.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in the enviable position of having 10 or 11 forwards (either signed or RFA status), with top nine skill. [...]
A Momentary Lapse of Reason - Panthers 4 Hurricanes 3
Hell officially froze over Friday night as the Hurricanes somehow blew their one time huge division lead and the Florida Panthers beat them 4-3. There are no excuses. The team had 9 powerplay opportunities to none for Florida, including two 5 on 3’s. They outshot the kittykats 46-17 and still couldn’t beat [...]
Whole Lotta’ Rosie - Hurricanes 6 Lightning 2
Chad LaRose scored his first NHL career hat-trick and the Carolina Hurricanes dominated the Tampa Bay Lightning last night, 6-2. The win puts Carolina on the threshold of the Division championship as they just need one more win (or Washington loss), to lock things up.
The Canes started this game much differently than the [...]
No More, No More - Lightning at Hurricanes Pre-Game
Momentum is a fragile thing in sports. One game you have it and nothing can go wrong, then the next game it seems like the complete opposite is true. After 6 weeks of being one of the hottest teams in the NHL and riding plenty of momentum, presently the Canes have been on [...]
Carolina News Bytes
Scanning through some sites around the internet, I came up with a few interesting tidbits. Check this out from Reuters News….
RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - The Carolina Hurricanes maintained one of the NHL’s top dynasties by signing 2007 first-round draft pick Brandon Sutter to a three-year contract, the team said on Wednesday.
One of the [...]
Same As It Ever Was - Hurricanes 2 Panthers 1, SO
The Carolina Hurricanes have pretty much owned the Florida Panthers in recent memory. The Canes have not lost a game to them in Raleigh since 2002. While they did lose a couple to “kitty kats” in Sunrise earlier this year, their overall record is something like 14-4 over the last 18 [...]
Only Worse - Senators at Hurricanes Pre-Game
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, it was announced today that Matt Cullen has been re-injured and is listed as day-to-day. He will not play in this afternoon’s game against the Sens. Cullen has been fighting concussion-like symptoms since late December’s hit by the Ranger’s Colton Orr. He [...]
The First Cut is the Deepest - Hurricanes 3 Blackhawks 0
The red hot Carolina Hurricanes scored 3 times in the first period, then relied upon their defense and goalie Cam Ward the rest of the way as they held on to beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-0. The win gives the Canes 5 wins in a row as well as a record of 8-1-1 in [...]
Sheer Heart Attack - Hurricanes 4 Sabres 3, OT
The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night by a score of 4-3 in a heart stopping, over-time thriller. For the second game in a row the Canes came right out in the 1st period and dominated play, eventually taking a 2-0 lead. You just had to know that Buffalo was not [...]
No Suspension for Voros
Friday afternoon, the NHL deemed that there would be no further disciplinary action on Aaron Voros for his boarding of Eric Staal on Thursday night. Apparently since Staal didn’t get seriously hurt, they are going by the “no harm no foul” mentality. The decision really is not surprising at all.
In a league where [...]
Brothers in Arms - Hurricanes 3 Wild 2
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Things got a bit out of hand last night at the RBC Center as the Carolina Hurricanes held on to beat the Minnesota Wild by a score of 3-2. The Canes came out of the dressingroom and took it to the surprised team from Minnesota right from the get-go. They looked like [...]
The Best of Me - Players Have Career Years in Carolina
The current talk of the town is that Carolina’s pick up from the waiver wire in January, Sergei Samsonov has had a re-birth of sorts here with the Hurricanes. The skilled Russian sniper went from having zero goals and 4 assists in 23 games for Chicago to scoring 11 goals and 10 assists in [...]
Back in the High Life Again - Hurricanes 5 Lightning 1
The Carolina Hurricanes took advantage of a tired and listless Tampa Bay Lightning squad Saturday night and beat them soundly by a score of 5 to 1. Although the Canes gave up the first goal of the game in somewhat typical fashion for them, they came on strong afterwards and didn’t let up [...]
Higher - Hurricanes 6 Capitals 3
The Carolina Hurricanes continued to stake their claim to first place in the Southeast Division with a convincing 6-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. While the Capitals started the game out with the most jump and took a 2-1 lead during the 1st period, the Hurricanes rallied for three goals in [...]
Against All Odds - Hurricanes 5 Panthers 4
The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Florida Panthers last night 5-4, overcoming adversity as well as bad odds. They were playing their first full game without their captain, Rod Brind’Amour. They were playing with 2 defensemen recovering from the flu. (Tim Gleason and Joe Corvo). They were playing with 5 skaters [...]
Groundhog Day - Hurricanes at Penguins
Happy Groundhog Day hockey fans! This Carolina groundhog must have seen his own shadow on this beautiful sunny day, so that means 6 more weeks of winter. While many people around the continent are celebrating the day, Caniacs are hoping that it’s not like Groundhog Day (the movie) for the Hurricanes when they [...]
Slow Friday
There’s not much to report this lunchtime, but I thought that I would throw a couple of tidbits out there.
Matt Cullen will not be making the trip to Pittsburgh. It seems that he is still suffering from vision problems. Luke DeCock covers that story here. That means “waiverdude”, Jeff Hamilton will [...]
Take the Money and Run - Canes 3 Leafs 2 (OT)
The Hurricanes beat the Maple Leafs in overtime last night by a score of 3-2. I’m betting that the Leafs and their fans probably feel that Carolina should take the two points and run. It seemed like most of the breaks went the Canes way as well as most of the calls, but [...]
