Saturday night, the Lightning bounced back from a tough loss to the Nashville Predators by shutting out the Winnipeg Jets 1-0.
Dwayne Roloson was excellent putting together his best game of the season, by far. Roli has a nice little shutout streak going, as he was flawless in relief duty during the 5-3 loss to the Preds as well. Roloson’s strong play couldn’t have come at a better time as there was far too much talk of a goalie controversy brewing. Don’t get me wrong, Mathieu Garon’s play so far this season has been for the most part great, but he has never fared well when expected to carry the load.
That lone goal by the way? Vincent Lecavalier’s. That gives him five on the year so far, which would pace him for a possible return to the 40-goal club. I think we all would enjoy that.
Coming up after the break; Cam Ward is awesome, no one in this division can beat Ottawa apparently, Jets-Flyers insanity, and more from the week that was in the Southeast.
Carolina Hurricanes: Seems like the Hurricanes can’t figure out if they want to be good or not. After losing to the Ottawa Senators, they dominated a great Chicago Blackhawks team, and then got obliterated by a Philadelphia Flyers team that is not that great at home.
That domination of the Blackhawks was Cam Ward’s 17th career shutout. Ya know what sucks? He’s only 27. That really sucks.
Here’s a look at the Hurricanes season, prior to the Chicago and Philadelphia games.
If the Canes are going to succeed this season, some changes to their lines are going to need to happen.
Carolina’s power play has not been very good.
Still, all things considered, Carolina is currently only one point out of a playoff spot.
Florida Panthers: The Panthers had a pretty good week; winning two of three, including a late come-from-behind victory against the Buffalo Sabres on the road Saturday. What better way to bounce back from losing to Ottawa (seems to be a theme this week) than beating Ryan Miller?
A look at the Cats after ten games.
Scary. Prospect Yaroslav Koskov was in a car accident. Don’t know about you, but I think the universe has given us enough reminders that hockey players aren’t invincible this year.
Jose Theodore has had kind of a strange career. Apparently, that has made him quite the mentor. I bet Jose ends up being a pretty good coach when his career is over. Just a hunch.
Speaking of Panthers goalies, what happens when Scott Clemmensen gets healthy?
By the way, the Panthers currently occupy a playoff spot. One spot ahead of the Lightning in fact.
Washington Capitals: Not a good week for the Caps. After only putting up one goal against a surprising Edmonton Oilers team, they were then completely dismantled by the Vancouver Canucks. It’s probably a good thing that everyone said the litmus test was their game against the Detroit Red Wings last week instead of against the reigning Western Conference champs, eh?
Back down to Earth. Just as an aside, wouldn’t this headline have been great if it had been the Jets, and not the Canucks?
Speaking of the Oilers, are they the Caps of the future?
If you were looking for some replacement reading for the encyclopedia or the Bible, Alex Ovechkin should stay in the slot on the power play.
Like the Panthers, the Capitals also have a pretty good leader in net.
After being thought of as invincible, the Caps no longer are the class of the Eastern Conference. However, they are still the division leaders.
Winnipeg Jets: Kind of a strange week for the Airplanes. After winning the highest scoring NHL game in years, the Jets couldn’t score a goal against the Lightning. They often talk in baseball about teams “using up all their runs in one game” after high scoring affairs. Who knew it happened in hockey too?
A rather humorous look at the Philly mayhem.
A more in-depth look at the carnage.
Chris Mason is hurt again. Peter Mannino is up for now.
Those Evander Kane trade demand rumors are not true. Shame they’re not true and he won’t end up somewhere say like Philadelphia where he could dominate Matt Cooke a few more times a year. Oh well.
Things are looking a little better for Winnipeg, but they still sit 14th in the conference. Not good.
Important matchups this week: Lightning at Hurricanes (11/1), Blackhawks at Panthers (11/3), Blackhawks at Lightning (11/4), Hurricanes at Capitals (11/4).
