SB Nation - Manny Legace

Kovalev and Spezza power Senators to 4-2 win over Hurricanes

PeterR — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 05:14:27 -0000

I didn't get to see the Ottawa Senators' Saturday night 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, but I did get to see the in-game reaction from the best commenters in all the land, and also got to watch the highlights of the game. And it sounds like Alex Kovalev scored some overdue and perhaps lucky goals, and Jason Spezza put on in off Manny Legace's pads. Whatever the case, it's the same measure in the standings: A full, and very important, two points.

Sens heroes: Alex Kovalev, Jason Spezza, Nick Foligno
Memo to Sens fans: This is what it's like when you have to lines that can score. I'd forgotten what it was like, but now I know. Some might say Kovalev's goal weren't of the difficult variety, and he definitely benefited from his linemates' hard work, a lucky bounce, and the fact that there was no goalie. But on his first goal, he drove to the net hard against a check, potting Foligno's centring pass, and he finally shot the puck for the second.

Spezza scored his fourth of the season, but perhaps more importantly had six shots on net--a welcome change. He's a set up man, of that there is no doubt, but there's also no denying that he can shoot the puck, too. There's a balance he'll get to, between passing and shooting and defensive and offensive presence. He's just finding it now.

As for Foligno, second very strong game in a row, and he's getting the points to show for it: Another two assists tonight. On his way to those two helpers, Foligno had five shots and was rewarded with plenty of powerplay time. He's traditionally been a streaky scorer, and the benching no doubt woke him up, but hopefully he can find some measure of consistency through to the end of this season.

Silver Seven Heroes: Mark Parisi, Dany Hea-Traitor
These guys just brought it. Bomb doors open. They kept the GameThread going for the better part of the game. Anyone else who wasn't able to watch it, you can read their thoughts on the game as it happened, without the benefit of retrospect.

(Sens zeroes, Sens killers, Hopefully back on track, There when needed, In our hearts, Mysterious injury update of the night, and game highlights after the jump... )

Sens zeroes: Alex Picard
According to the in-game testament of Mark Parisi, Picard was a non-factor tonight. He was one of few Senators on the minus side of the ledger tonight, was tagged with two giveaways (but that's a pretty subjective stat, to be honest), and only had the one shot. He also brutally lost a race for the puck against Eric Staal on Carolina's second goal, let Staal pass the puck to the slot, and stood there and watched as Ray Whitney scored to tie the game. All of which might combine to be a good omen for Chris Campoli, who was scratched tonight in favour of Picard.

Sens killers: Ray Whitney
Again, Parisi said Whitney was on his game tonight, and could easily have had even more than the two goals he did score tonight. He heeled a strong chance on a 2-on-1 in the second, and had five shots and four hits before the night was out. Sounds like a strong game for one of the Hurricanes' prime deadline-day fire sale assets.

Hopefully back on track: Senators powerplay
Ottawa was a better-than-respectable 2-for-3 on the powerplay tonight, with Kovalev and Spezza each getting goals with the man advantage. Some keys, looking at the highlights: Net presence, as was the case with Milan Michalek pissing people off in front of the net for Spezza's goal, but was also noted from Nick Foligno and Mike Fisher; better puck movement at the points, including from Erik Karlsson, whose cross-ice feed to Kovalev set him up for the game-winner; and getting the puck on the net, as Ottawa had nine shots on their three powerplays.

There when needed: Brian Elliott
Elliott may wish he could get a mulligan for the goals he did allow, but his play when the Hurricanes were really getting their chances in the third period--in which he stopped all 12 shots he faced--made a strong statement for his ability to brush off weak goals and play well when the team really needs him. Highlight of that third period was a sick left-pad save on Ray Whitney, but there were a couple of other strong chances, too.

Not on the scoresheet, but still in our hearts: Chris Kelly
I'm usually one of the first people to rag on Kelly for his stone hands, but there's no doubting his value to this team as the go-to penalty killer and the anchor of Ottawa's fourth line. He had more penalty-killing time than anyone on the night, defencemen included, and is keeping it real. He does have to get his faceoff skills back up, though, although he was 5-for-10 tonight.

Mysterious injury update of the night: Alex Kovalev's previously unreported injury
In a Team 1200 post-game interview, Kovalev mentioned that--although he didn't want to blame injuries for his lacking production--he did have something nagging him that was keeping him from shooting the puck as much as he normally would. As a result, he was passing a lot more. Maybe if he's over it, we'll see an increased shot total from Kovalev (note to poolies) and the increased production that one assumes would follow from that.

Game highlights:

Hurricanes at Senators: Game Day Preview

Bob Harwood Waeghe — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:00:24 -0000

More photos » by Alex Brandon - AP

All five Canes battle near the crease, helping goalie Cam Ward in a game against the Washington Capitals on Friday, December 11, 2009.

Browse more photos »

The Carolina Hurricanes, (7-18-6) are in Canada's Capital City to play the Ottawa Senators, (15-11-4) tonight in the final game of Carolina's four game road trip.

This will be a short preview since I am traveling today. It would not be surprising if the Canes skipped the normal pregame skate and rested up for this game. The lineup should be pretty much the same as Friday night in Washington, if Tim Gleason can go again.

Also, Paul Maurice said that he was going to start Manny Legace and give Cam Ward a break. The team does not want to over-work Ward after just coming back from injury, plus Maurice said that Legace had played well of late.

The Sens are coming off a 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers but have lost five of their last seven games. Brian Elliott (unconfirmed) will probably be in net for them.

	GP	MIN	W	L	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Manny Legace	10	585	4	4		30	3.08	295	265	.898	0

	GP	MIN	W	L	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Brian Elliott	16	916	7	6		43	2.82	435	392	.901	1

Ottawa is led by Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher.

The Canes still have the worst road record in the NHL, (1-11-4) and have yet to win the back end of a back to back this year, (0-5-1). To their credit, they have been playing entertaining hockey the past several games and are still trying, even though they remain at the bottom of the league.

The game will start at 7 p.m. and once again will be televised by FS Carolinas. The Open Game Thread will start at 6:30.

For more information about the Senators, check out Silver Seven.

Tuesday Links: In favor of 82 road games edition

averagejoe — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:00:58 -0000

It's game's like Monday when I'm glad I work nights so I don't have to watch that putrid display.

Blues news

Some dude named Chris Stewart scored twice to help down the Blues. [The Denver Post]
The Blues flat-out stink at home. [Belleville News-Democrat]
Dan O'Neill has a pretty solid lede here. Gotta love Tiger Woods' jokes. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
Alex Steen nose he can be better, and the Blues hope he gets up to snuff and lives up to his potential. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Hockey news

Monday results. [Yahoo! Sports]
Tuesday's schedule. [Yahoo! Sports]
The Hurricane have decided to keep Manny Legace to be Cam Ward's backup. [Canes Country]
Martin Brodeur ties Terry Sawchuk with his 103rd career shutout. [In Lou We Trust]
I don't care if he plays dirty, Alex Ovechkin is a monster who any team would be lucky to have. [ESPN]
John Stevens, the dismissed Flyers' coach, talks about getting the boot. [ESPN]
Darren McCarty, who is up there with Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper on the list of Wings I hate, is hanging them up. [ESPN]
Brian Burke may have the U.S. Olympic roster finalized soon. [CTV Olympics]

Other links

Well this settles it, if I have kids they are never going to visit the mall Santa. [sketchy santas]
This dog is fucking awesome and the health department needs to let him stay. [Buzzfeed]
In college, our WiFi name was "The Jetsons." I have no idea why. Here are 25 other ones that are better than that. [Holy Taco]

Video

If you've ever worked in broadcasting, you'll find this funny. If you don't know what B roll is, it's stock footage. Enjoy.

That's it from me. Gametimelinks(at)gmail.com if you like sharing.

Pens comeback falls short, lose to Carolina 3-2

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:22:34 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Did you know these guys are.......both sponsored by Bauer?

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Hurricanes vs Penguins coverage - Canes Country

For the opening goal, Andrew Alberts (he of 2 goals in his 291 NHL game career before tonight) walked in and had a lot of room when BFF's Erik Cole and Brooks Orpik were tied up right out in front. The Canes would extend the lead to 2-0 when Jussi Jokinen took a great pass by Joni Pitkanen and drove right past Jay McKee and Mark Eaton. Carolina would take a three goal lead when notorious Penguin-killer Ray Whitney dangled around in the offensive zone while no fewer than three Penguins (Ruslan Fedotenko, Kris Letang and Max Talbot) remained stationary.

The tide would turn though, Letang made an excellent pass up to Bill Guerin, who flipped it over for Sidney Crosby. Crosby made one of those unique plays where he kinda chopped at the puck and it winded up in the net. The next shift the Noted One buried it to make the deficit just one.

And just like that, there would be no more scoring. The Penguins pressed and pressed but Carolina goalie Manny Legace was up to the task and wouldn't allow any more. Almost unbelievably, two months into the season this is the Hurricanes first win away from the RBC Center.

Guerin did a good job waking the Pens up with a fight against Gleason. Gleason's hands must be sore after ringing a lot of punches of Guerin's helmet.
The difference of the game turned out to be the power-plays. The Pens anemic PP went another "0 fer" night, this time 0 for 3. Carolina was 1-5. Also the fact that the Canes were able to earn two more PP's by their hard work and puck possession helps too.
Marc-Andre Fleury had an odd night. Didn't seem like he was seeing the puck too well. His defense wasn't helping him out much either in the early going. The whole team was in something of a funk or haze for a while there, it was strange.
If you didn't know Sidney Crosby missed last game with a sore groin, you'd never know based on his play. A solid 26:32 of icetime, he fired 4 shots on goal, a hit, a blocked shot, a takeaway, a giveaway and a 55% winner on 22 faceoffs.
In fact, every member of the Pens (except Jay McKee) was credited with at least a shot on goal. It wasn't for a lack of throwing rubber at Legace that Pittsburgh didn't win.
Credit Carolina for blocking shots; 17 in all. They knocked down six of Letang's efforts. They may be in last place, but they certainly didn't roll over and die.
Not many signs of life (again) from guys like Max Talbot and Ruslan Fedotenko. The wingers have to come through and these guys aren't having much luck.
0-1-1 since waiving Chris Bourque, is the glue of the team gone? (Kidding, kidding).

Being the defending Stanley Cup champs means you catch efforts like this. Doesn't matter if the team across the ice is in first place or last, they're looking to take down the Pens. Luckily for Pittsburgh they have a few days to figure things out and get ready to go to Montreal; where guys like Crosby, Letang and Pascal Dupuis always love to play. Hopefully that shot in the arm can carry through.

McKenzie Report: Michael Leighton put on Waivers

Bob Harwood Waeghe — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:05:10 -0000

The Carolina Hurricanes placed Michael Leighton on waivers today. (photo by LTD)

View full size photo »

In a move that did not surprise many here at Canes Country, according to Bob McKenzie of TSN, the Carolina Hurricanes placed Michael Leighton on waivers today. Apparently, the team didn't mind spending the extra money to keep the goalie with the better stats. Manny Legace leads the team with three wins and has been a real battler so far this season. When asked in a previous article, 76% of you voted to keep Legace in the fold.

Leighton's future is still up in the air as he could be picked up by another team, reassigned to Albany, loaned out to another franchise in need of goaltending, or kept.

Legace is slated to start the game in Pittsburgh tonight as well.

We will have the game day preview posted shortly.

Monday Links: Getting good at shootouts edition

averagejoe — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:00:27 -0000

Monday is here again. Back to the grind.

Blues news

The Note take on the Colorado Avalanche tonight. Unfortunately, it's at home. [CBS Sports]
The Blues are getting confident in shootouts. That's nice, but how 'bout the team wins in regulation. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Hockey news

Red Wings and Senators won on Sunday. [Yahoo! Sports]
Lots of games on a Monday night. Way to go up against the NFL, Gary. [Yahoo! Sports]
Your standings for Monday. Although the Blues are still last in the Central, they have played two fewer games than just about everyone else. [NHL.com]
The NHL is considering renaming the post-season awards. That's a big fail. [Puck Daddy]
From CCR comes this article about Brendan Shanahan. Dude can hold a grudge. Do you think Craig Janney does? [NJ.com]
Teemu Selanne has a broken hand. [TSN]
Dan Carcillo will get four days to think about what he has done. [TSN]
Rick DiPietro allowed three goals in first action of the season in a rehab start. [ESPN]
The Thrashers future is now — and by that Scott Burnside means if they don't sign Ilya Kovalchuk, they have no future. [ESPN]
With Cam Ward coming back from injury, what happens to Manny Legace? [Canes Country]
A look at how the media views the same play. [Japers' Rink]

Other links

This is just funny. [Pic]
A year in Jesus sightings. [Buzzfeed]
If you take public transportation, you might appreciate this. [Holy Taco]

Video

It's always good when people fall down. And mess up. And are just morons.

Gametimelinks(at)gmail.com GDT tonight. Don't forget.

Manny Legace or Michael Leighton? Who Stays?

Bob Harwood Waeghe — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:41:12 -0000

Has Manny Legace played his last game at the RBC for the Carolina Hurricanes? (photo by LTD)

View full size photo »

The Carolina Hurricanes have a tough decision to make within the next day or two. Franchise goaltender, Cam Ward, is expected to return to action Wednesday for the game against the Devils. When he is reactivated, it will give the team a total of three goalies on the roster, one too many.

So, who stays and who goes. Michael Leighton or Manny Legace?

It could be argued that Legace has been the better of the two. He certainly has the best stats. Not only is his GAA and SV% better, he has three of the team's six wins for the season, one more than even Ward has.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Manny Legace	9	525	3	4			28	3.20	263	235	.894	0

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Michael Leighton	7	350	1	4			25	4.29	164	139	.848	0

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Cam Ward	15	829	2	9			41	2.97	406	365	.899	0

Legace ended up playing much more than Leighton did since coming to Raleigh. The coaching staff never did seem to have much confidence in Leighton and played him sparingly over the past two seasons while he has been Ward's backup.

When Ward was first injured the Hurricanes immediately went outside of the organization, then signed and played Legace the very first chance they could as they apparently assumed the newcomer, who had a losing record in the AHL at the time, would be better than their seldom used backup.

In Leighton's defense, he started to play better when he was given a chance and was getting into a groove before suffering a groin injury at Montreal. He's a bigger goalie and takes up more room in the net.

But there is more to this decision than stats, size of the goalie, or wins and losses. This could come down to money.

Michael Leighton has a guaranteed one way contract which pays him a total of $600,000 this year, whether he is assigned to Albany or stays in Raleigh. Manny Legace has a two-way deal which pays him $550,000 at the NHL level and $105,000 otherwise.

If the team tries to waive Leighton and send him to Albany, they still have to pay his current salary. Keep in mind, they are already paying Tim Conboy his one way deal of $500,000, which is major league money to perform for a minor league team.

If you think a bit more about this, it gets even more complicated. The plan was for Mike Murphy and Justin Peters to share the load for the River Rats, with the better goalie perhaps getting the lion's share of the work. If either Leighton or Legace get sent to Albany, Murphy would probably get shuffled to Florida, possibly altering his development.

Or, either goalie might be claimed on the waiver wire, never making it to Albany. There are teams in the league pretty desperate for affordable goaltending. Again based upon statistics and contract status, Legace would appear to be more attractive on waivers and might be more apt to be claimed, then Leighton.

Maybe the Canes want one of the goalies to be picked up on waivers and will make their decision based upon that criteria?

People seem split about what might happen. Some, like John Forlsund, think the decision is a no-brainer because of the contract differences. Forslund said on 99.9 The Fan's Aftermath with Mike Maniscalco that he felt Legace would be waived because of his contract.

Dave Droschak has a different opinion. He thinks the team has more confidence in Legace and they might keep the more experienced netminder. At this stage of the season, the Canes would only be saving about $300,000 in salary anyway. Plus, you never know how Ward will do when he returns.

Could he aggravate the injury? Could he be rusty after missing a month of game action? The team should certainly not over-play him, they should try to ease him back into the swing of things, meaning they will need the more reliable backup.

It's not an easy decision, what do you think? Should the Canes keep Michael Leighton or Manny Legace? Should they keep the tandem of Murphy and Peters in Albany or move one of them to Florida? Do you think Legace or Leighton will get picked up on waivers?

Poll

Who should the Hurricanes keep as their back up?

Erik Cole Breaks Through with Hat Trick: Hurricanes 5, Canucks 3

Bob Harwood Waeghe — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:32:16 -0000

More photos » by Karl B DeBlaker - AP

9 days ago: Carolina Hurricanes' Erik Cole (26) looks up at the replay following his third goal of the game during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. Cole notch his sixth hat trick of his career in the 5-3 Hurricanes win.(AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Browse more photos »

The Carolina Hurricanes, (6-17-5) put an end to their five game losing streak with a 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks, (16-13-0) on Saturday afternoon at the RBC. Erik Cole netted the first hat trick of the season for the last place club. It was Cole's sixth hat trick of his career and his first in two seasons.

Manny Legace earned the victory and now leads all Carolina goalies with three wins.

The Canes had a lot of jump and for the most part played a very good game as they surged to a 4-1 lead after two periods, but fans got nervous as the Canucks would pull within a goal later on. With the score 4-3 and visions of another meltdown on many minds, the Canes killed an incorrectly called penalty, added an empty net goal, and hung on for just their third regulation win of the season.

The first period seemed to be a fairly even one, although the 'Nucks outshot the Canes 14-7. Keep in mind the home team had to kill two penalties during that time frame as well. Vancouver started the scoring off when Jannik Hansen would squeeze one by Manny Legace.

It looked like a softie, but Legace said afterward that the puck ticked Joni Pitkanen's stick and just got by him. He called it "bad luck".

It didn't matter though as Ray Whitney roofed a backhander past Andrew Raycroft just 20 seconds later to tie the score. Whitney had a great game, chipped in with two more assists, and was a pest all over the ice.

Eric Staal had a beautiful point blank chance during the period, but tried to over-fake and ended up too close to the crease as Raycroft stopped him easily. Staal had a very good game, but that was a move which seemed to indicate that he has little confidence in his shot. Normally, he would try a wrister in that situation from 10 to 15 feet out.

Steve Yzerman and a couple of others from Team Canada's brain trust were in the press box monitoring Staal's game. They could not have been too disappointed as the Carolina center finished with two assists, four shots on goal, and a +1.

The Hurricanes came out with a vengeance in the second period and jumped out to a 4-1 lead. At one point, they were out-shooting the visitors by an 8-1 margin.

Erik Cole started things off with his first goal, a perfectly placed wrist shot on an odd man rush. He had a similar chance in the first period as well, but just missed. Ray Whitney and Tim Gleason had the assists.

Sergei Samsonov then found himself all alone with the puck in front of Raycroft. He faked the goalie and also roofed his shot to make the score 3-1. Tuomo Ruutu and Matt Cullen worked to get a turnover at the blue line and created the opportunity.

Cole would get his second goal of the night on a strange play as the Canucks lost track of the puck in the crease and ended up putting it into their own net. It looked like defenseman Willie Mitchell might have kicked the puck in, but it was hard to tell. Raycroft might have put it in himself.

Number 26 joked afterward that while he took his buddy out to dinner the night before, "it was not that expensive of a dinner."

The third period started out all too familiar for the home team. The last time they took a 4-1 lead into the third period eight days ago against Atlanta, the Thrashers lit the lamp five straight times and won the game 6-4.

Once again, the Canes appeared to go into defensive mode and the Canucks were able to hold the puck in the Carolina zone for what seemed to be minutes at a time. Ten minutes into the third they scored their first goal of the period, then would score again less than five minutes later.

The Hurricanes called timeout to re-group, but faced real adversity as Sergei Samsonov was called for high sticking on a freak play as a Vancouver player was hit in the face with the puck. Samsonov tried to hit the puck in the air but missed and replays showed that he never touched the Canuck. But the ref didn't see it that way and the winger went to the penalty box with just 2:57 left in the game.

Last month or even last week, the team might have allowed the adversity to overcome them and submit to a tying goal, but not so on Saturday. They killed the penalty and as Vancouver pulled their goalie to keep the pressure on, Cole would score the empty netter to seal the deal.

The Canes now go on a very rough four game road trip as they will visit Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Washington, and Ottawa before returning home for a rematch against the Dallas Stars on December 16.

Game Notes:

Carolina is now 5-2-2 when they score three goals or more. The problem? They have scored two goals or less 19 times this season and have a record of 1-15-3 when that happens.
Matt Cullen has now scored in five consecutive games. He displayed a couple of breathtaking moves and played another overall solid game.
Legace made several tough stops as Vancouver would periodically put heavy pressure on him. Coach Paul Maurice was happy with his game and said that the goalie is a real battler. "But, he has to be", the coach added. The Canes will need to make a big decision this coming week concerning their goalies when Cam Ward returns. Let me just say that opinions were mixed in press row on what will happen. More about this soon.
The team didn't have many chances with the man advantage but converted one of two opportunities. They remain at 29th in the league at that important statistic.
Carolina was given credit for 41 hits although it did not seem to be that physical of a game. The 'Nucks only had 20. Tom Kostopoulos led the way with seven and Scott Walker looked no worse for wear with five.
The fourth line of Brind'Amour, Yelle, and Walker looked good although that might be the oldest line in the NHL. (someone said the average age is 36).
Joni Pitkanen led the way with very reasonable 24:43 of ice time. Low ice time for the team was just over 10 minutes for Walker. Maurice will probably need to continue to spread the ice time and play four lines as the games come up fast and furious next week.
Jussi Jokinen was scratched although Maurice said that the Finn wanted to play. The coach held him out because he was not 100% and probably the worst injured of the forwards. But while Chad LaRose had good jump this game, the coach might want to switch places between these two.

Here is some post-game video of Manny Legace meeting with the press.

Hurricanes 5 Canucks 3: Sloppy Seconds

Sean Zandberg — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:04:59 -0000

I said in the game preview: Should be an automatic win, right? Nope. That depends on how lightly the Canucks take these guys. They have to go out there and pretend those guys are wearing Devils jerseys.

Didn't happen.

A so-so first..outshooting the Canes 14-6 but not capitalizing on 2 power play chances, and bagging one past Manny Legace (Jannik Hansen).

An atrocious 2nd period..getting outshot 13-6, coughing the puck up, hanging Andrew Raycroft out to dry (which Alain Vigneault alluded to after the game), and surrendering 3 goals. Yeah, the refs should have blown the play dead on that Mitchell-Raycroft fiasco, but really, the score could have been 6-1 at that point anyways.

The 3rd period was all Canucks,

as they put the heat on Carolina, who have had a terrible time in 3rd periods this year. It almost worked. The Canucks almost erased a 4-1 deficit and pulled within a goal, but Erik Cole, who, thanks to us, has awoken from his slumber and bagged his hat trick goal into the open net to seal it.

Final shots: Canucks 36 Canes 27.

8 points combined for Erik Cole, Eric Staal and Ryan Whitney.

Can you believe that Christian Ehrhoff finished a +3?

I thought Kyle Wellwood looked alright out there today. He was rewarded with over 15:00 of ice time. His line kickstarted the Canucks in the 3rd, and I thought dominated that period.

You almost can't fault Andrew Raycroft on any of those goals. But then...as myself and others have said many times before: he goes down into the butterfly position so quickly all the time. The Canes picked corners on him. Maybe a tremendous save or 2 were in order. I think it's fair to say that. None came.

BOXSCORE (bring barf bag)

HIGHLIGHTS (stab your eyes out first)

My 3 Stars:

1. Erik Cole. (Rise from your grave)

2. Ray Whitney (1 goal and 2 assists)

3. Manny Legace (Yeah, yeah, 3 goals against but I'm going to throw him a bone for giving his team a chance to win it especially in the first)

Canucks at Hurricanes: Game Day Preview - (UPDATE)

Bob Harwood Waeghe — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:00:16 -0000

The hot Vancouver Canucks, (16-12-0) are in town to take on the slumping Carolina Hurricanes, (5-17-5), for a matinee game on Saturday afternoon at the RBC. The Canucks have played well lately. They have won two in a row and four of their last five, while the Canes have lost five in a row.

The last place Hurricanes have 15 points, eight points behind their closest rival Toronto, and 14 points out of a playoff spot.

((UPDATE)) Of course you had to know that if I put Luongo's info up here, Andrew Raycroft would get the start.

~~The Canucks are led by the only goalie captain in the league, Roberto Luongo~~. Luongo will get the day off and Andrew Raycroft will face Manny Legace, who will be making his seventh start for the Canes.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Andrew Raycroft	8	357	4	2			13	2.18	154	141	.916	1

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Manny Legace	8	465	2	4			25	3.23	227	202	.890	0

Vancouver is led in scoring by Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Henrik Sedin	28	14	18	32	9	20	3	1	3	0	59	23.7

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Ryan Kesler	28	5	20	25	1	26	2	0	1	0	74	6.8

Carolina is led by Jussi Jokinen, Tuomo Ruutu, Matt Cullen, and Ray Whitney. Cullen has a four game point streak. Jokinen has been hurt and will be a game time decision.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Jussi Jokinen	27	6	10	16	-2	12	1	0	2	0	46	13.0

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Tuomo Ruutu	23	6	10	16	-2	23	2	0	0	0	57	10.5

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Matt Cullen	27	7	8	15	-4	12	1	1	0	0	62	11.3

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Ray Whitney	25	6	9	15	-8	6	1	0	0	0	47	12.8

Vancouver just played two straight games on Wednesday and Thursday nights in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Carolina has had a few days off and has not played since their loss to Washington at home Monday night. The team will go on a four game road trip after this game.

For more information about the current lines and defensive pairings, check out the post-practice thread put up on Friday.

Nucks Misconduct has the latest and greatest about the Canucks and apparently they are none too pleased about this early start.

The puck drops at 1:30 Eastern time and the game will be telecast locally by FS Carolinas. We will have the open game thread starting up at 1. Can the Canes get off the slide?