Hurricanes vs Flyers (10.25.03)

Game Night

Carolina Hurricanes
http://coolhockey.com/jersey/Hurricanes_home_replica.jpg

vs

Philadelphia Flyers
http://coolhockey.com/jersey/Flyers_away_replica.jpg

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Place: First Union Center
Time: 7:08 PM

Team Records:

Carolina: 1-2-3-0, 5 points
9 goals for, 10 goals against

Philadelphia: 2-1-2-1, 7 points
13 goals for, 15 goals against

Special Teams:

Carolina:
Penalty Kill: 85.2% (23/27)
Powerplay: 4.0% (1/25)

Philadelphia
Penalty Kill: 88.9% (32/36)
Powerplay: 17.6% (6/34)

Team Leaders:

Carolina:
Goals: Erik Cole (2)
Assists: Josef Vasicek (3)
Points: Erik Cole, Josef Vasicek (4)
Plus/Minus: Bret Hedican (+4)
Penalty Minutes: Erik Cole, Jesse Boulerice (12)
Shots on goal: Erik Cole, Radim Vrbata (21)
Average time on ice: Danny Markov (26:35)
Wins: Kevin Weekes (1)
Save Percentage: Kevin Weekes (92.4%)
Goals Against Average: Kevin Weekes (1.73)

Philadelphia:
Goals: Mark Recchi (3)
Assists: Mark Recchi (4)
Points: Mark Recchi (7)
Plus/Minus: Joni Pitkanen (+2)
Penalty Minutes: Keith Primeau (28)
Shots on goal: Kim Johnsson (19)
Average time on ice: Kim Johnsson (25:04)
Wins: Jeff Hackett (2)
Save Percentage: Jeff Hackett (91.3%)
Goals Against Average: Jeff Hackett (1.97)

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Let's hope the win in Boston can be a confidence builder.

I'm hoping the lines of Staal-Vasicek-O'Neill and Cole-Brind'Amour-Vrbata stick together for awhile to see if they can keep playing and producing results. I wasn't overly impressed with the Francis line last night. Perhaps removing Adams and dressing Svoboda up there would be a different look.

Any word down in NC as to when Storr will be able to hit the ice? Don't get me wrong, Weekes is playing great, but he'll need a break eventually.

This will more than likely be our first look at Jamie Storr. I know Weekes is coming off of a shutout and Mo usually likes to start a goalie after a shutout, but I think Shady 80 has played far too many games in a row to start the year. Let's give Storr his first action.

Nice gameday thread Koltsov :p

Should be a good game. I look forward to seeing Brind'amour play.

He'll always be a FLYER in my eyes!

Flyers26,

If you read this, what does the Flyers' lineup look like these days? Is Gagne still nursing that shoulder injury?

Flyers26,

If you read this, what does the Flyers' lineup look like these days? Is Gagne still nursing that shoulder injury?

Gagne probably will not play.
Brashear, Somik, and LeClair are all out.

Flyers lines

Recchi - Roenick - Amonte
Chouinard - Handzus - Williams
Kane - Primeau - Kapanen
White - Lapointe - Fedoruk

Ragnarsson - Desjardins
Pitkanen - Weinrich
Vandermeer - Johnsson

Two very strong defensive teams, I predict a 0-0 tie. I really enjoyed last years matchups, during the early part of last year, because the two teams were so closely matched. Since the teams have shared several of the same players they always seem to crank it up against each other.

Two very strong defensive teams, I predict a 0-0 tie. I really enjoyed last years matchups, during the early part of last year, because the two teams were so closely matched. Since the teams have shared several of the same players they always seem to crank it up against each other.


we already had one 0-0 tie this year, no need for another ...

Flyers 3
Canes 1

sounds about right :p

With Weekes in net... 2-1 Canes or more likely 1-1 (Weekes has yet to give up more then 2 goals in a game... as his GAA shows)

With Storr in net... not too sure 2-2 or 3-2 Flyers.

My money is on Weekes to get the start with Storr getting the next one.

With Weekes in net... 2-1 Canes or more likely 1-1 (Weekes has yet to give up more then 2 goals in a game... as his GAA shows)

With Storr in net... not too sure 2-2 or 3-2 Flyers.

My money is on Weekes to get the start with Storr getting the next one.

I would normally agree on the Weekes call, but i'm thinking that Storr will get the call tomorrow night. I'm pretty sure they had him on the schedule to go against Philly and i'm not sure if Weeksie's shutout will derail that or not.

Gagne probably will not play.
Brashear, Somik, and LeClair are all out.

Flyers lines

Recchi - Roenick - Amonte
Chouinard - Handzus - Williams
Kane - Primeau - Kapanen
White - Lapointe - Fedoruk

Ragnarsson - Desjardins
Pitkanen - Weinrich
Vandermeer - Johnsson

I thought Gagne was supposed to be back by saturday at the latest, has information changed this? Also, i thought it was possible that Leclair would return for the game, is that no longer possible? Either way, I expect a flyer win, though the first game at home after a roadtrip is always the hardest.

I'm thinking that Storr will get the call tomorrow night.

You are indeed right. This morning's N&O announced Storr as the starter for tonight's game.

My wish came true. The lines are staying intact:

E. Cole -- R. Brind'Amour -- R. Vrbata
J. Vasicek -- E. Staal -- J. O'Neill
R. Bayda -- R. Francis -- C. Adams
M. Murray -- K. Adams -- J. Boulerice

You are indeed right. This morning's N&O announced Storr as the starter for tonight's game.

My wish came true. The lines are staying intact:

E. Cole -- R. Brind'Amour -- R. Vrbata
J. Vasicek -- E. Staal -- J. O'Neill
R. Bayda -- R. Francis -- C. Adams
M. Murray -- K. Adams -- J. Boulerice

I'm hoping Maurice sticks with these lines for a while myself. I'll just dub these lines the "oh crap, Francis retires next year" lines. Jeff O'Neill and Eric Staal looked to have some bigtime chemistry against the B's and accounted for the only goals of the game. Bayda played well in limited action thursday night as well.

Murray and Kevyn Adams is a match made in heaven if you ask me. These guys play such a close game that putting them together wreaks havoc on the opposing team.

I'm looking forward to seeing Jamie Storr in his first action with the team. However, we've been spoiled by Weekes in the early going and i'm hoping he can compete.

3-2 Hurricanes at the end of the 2nd period.

Staal-Vasicek-O'Neill has looked amazing once again. Vrbata shot an absolute LASER by Hackett.

Goals by Wallin, Vrbata, and Markov. Staal has an assist.

Final Box Score

1st Period
Carolina 7:21, Niclas Wallin 1 (Eric Staal, Jeff O'Neill)
Carolina 18:02, Danny Markov 1 (Radim Vrbata, Erik Cole)

2nd Period
Philadelphia 15:50, Jeremy Roenick 3 (power play) (Mark Recchi, Tony Amonte)
Philadelphia 16:31, Michal Handzus 1 (Eric Desjardins, Justin Williams)
Carolina 17:41, Radim Vrbata 1 (unassisted)

3rd Period
Philadelphia 7:59, Eric Chouinard 2 (Claude Lapointe, Todd Fedoruk)
Carolina 10:16, Niclas Wallin 2 (Ryan Bayda, Ron Francis)
Philadelphia 16:50, Mark Recchi 4 (shorthanded) (Eric Desjardins)

OT Period
None

Any comments from those who got to see the game? I didn't get to listen to it tonight. Was watching the Penguins get butchered.

Just looking at the box score, I see some positives. The obvious one being that we scored four goals. I figured this one would be low scoring. Great to see Vrbata finally get on the board. Wallin with two goals? Yowza.

Storr listed as having 28 saves. How did he look?

I didn't get to see or listen to the game but some positives besides scoring 4 goals is actually getting goals from the defense. We out shot the opponent again but by a slimmer margin than in previous games. And Vrbata finally got some offense going by having a 2 point night.

Just thought you might like to know it's the Wachovia Center, not First Union, these days, Koltsov.

As for the game, it really didn't sound like the Flyers played well, credit to the 'canes for jumping straight back into the game after we tied it up though, they did well I think.

The one major thing that stuck out at me watching this game was the defense was being more active on pinches and that really generated some bigtime chances. Markov's goal was actually on a shot rebound and he was practically in the crease! I can't remember the last time I saw a Carolina defenseman score a goal from inside the circle unless it was on the powerplay or in overtime.

Nic Wallin ripped of some amazing shots and that accounted for his two goals. One was from the left side of the ice and one was from the right side. On the second goal, Eric Staal made an amazing no look pass. He was skating back towards the blueline up the left side and Wallin was camped on the right side of the ice. Staal drew like 3 defenders and just slid this beauty of a no-look pass over to Wallin, who stopped it with his skate and just ripped a low slap shot that went in clean past Hackett on his right side. He didn't even touch it.

The Markov goal came on a huge rush where Erik Cole just plowed into Hackett and a few defenders and they all just fell on Hackett. Danny Markov was in the right place at the right time and just stuck his stick out and tapped it in, the puck was sitting right on the line with no philly defender within range.

Jamie Storr played a better game than his 4 goals would indicate. He didn't have a chance on 3 of them and the one he did, the refs should have whistled dead in my opinion. There was a big scrum in front of the net and if the ref still saw that puck i'll eat my shoe. His positioning looked sound but he had a little problem with rebound control and playing the puck. He almost gave away a freebie in the first period before he settled down and stopped chasing the puck around so much. He came out really really far from the net a few times and almost drew some delay of game penalties. I'm not sure what all that was about but i'm sure he's going to be working on that before his next start.

As you can tell from the boxscore, Carolina gave up 3 leads in this game. We snatched a tie from the jaws of victory. But I guess i'll take it. Philly is tough and we're still unbeated in 5.