Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Canes knew coming into this game that it would a tough match for several reasons. The Canes traveled to New York this morning and will travel back home tonight after the game, which means they are scheduled to spend approximately 12 hours in New York. The Hurricanes currently have three players, two with concussions and one with a leg injury, out for the foreseeable future. The Rangers have recently had some problems of their own. New York is 2-6-2 in their last ten games, a slide that began when the Hurricanes won 4-0 at Madison Square Garden on December 3rd. Jaromir Jagr has not scored a goal in ten games, and he has only scored seven goals the entire season. That is not good for a winger who makes $8,360,000 per year. Of course with Jagr, you have to remember he is capable of exploding and taking over a game at any time. Cam Ward and Henrik Lundqvist were scheduled to be in net so the game was expected to be interesting.

The Canes started the game as flat as you would expect. They were able to hold on and play well enough to hold the Rangers scoreless for the first period. In the second period the game began to change for the good and then for the bad for the Canes. Jagr broke his scoring drought and scored only 2:28 into the second period. While the Canes were on the penalty kill on a Cory Stillman hooking call, Scott Walker scored a shorthanded goal, which was the first for the Canes this season at 4:38. Matt Cullen was taken down in the offensive zone by Colton Orr with a fierce hit that knocked Cullen out briefly. Orr was ejected from the game with a game misconduct penalty, and the Canes got a 5:00 power play even though they were unable to score. Eric Staal scored a power play goal at 16:19 into the second period giving the Canes a 2-1 lead.

The third period was not a good one for the Canes as the Ranger blitz began. Chris Drury scored only 1:38 in the period, Daniel Girardi scored at 7:06 (both of which were power play goals) and Jagr scored again at 9:55 in the period. The Canes appeared to be in the defensive mode to try and survive. They pulled Cam Ward at the end as the Canes went on the power play on a Chris Drury hooking penalty at 18:33 and Brendan Shanahan for boarding at 19:08. The Canes ended with a six on three power play and they were still unable to get anything by Henrik Lundqvist to the delight of everyone in attendance at Madison Square Garden.

The Canes were outshot in this game 35-22. The Canes collapse in third caused their demise as they appeared to become overwhelmed after the Rangers scored and eventually took the lead. The Hurricanes were outhit 27-19 in this game. Cam Ward should get a star of the game due to his stopping 31 shots in this game particularly when you consider the defensive breakdowns that occurred in front of him. The key question now is to determine how seriously Matt Cullen is injured (supposedly a broken noise and mild concussion) and how long will he be unavailable to this team. With Tanabe, LaRose, and Williams out, the Canes are definitely in trouble as the manpower numbers continue to decrease.

GAME STATS

Shots on Goal: Canes 22 Rangers 35

Hits: Canes 19 Rangers 27

Face-Offs Won: Canes 31 Rangers 29

Power Play: Canes 1-7 Rangers 2-6

 Arena: Madison Square Garden A-18,200