Down 3-1 in the series and on the road in Colorado, the Blues were down 3-0 last night in the 2nd period and ended up forcing OT at a score of 4-4. They then beat the Avalanche 5-4 in OT to make the series 3-2 Colorado and force a game 6 tomorrow night in St. Louis. Quite a comeback.
Bunch of jerks make it 3-2 tonight...
"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
Great touch on the Stahl assist for the first goal. Jarvis likely be on a liquid diet for a few days.
Well, the Rangers are leaving no doubt that they are the better team. Tough way to end the season.
Let's Go Rangers!
Not a hockey expert but it seemed like the Canes were outplaying the Rangers for most of the series, even in games that the Rangers won. But tonight the Rangers really dominated - the penalties and loss of the Canes goalie also had an impact, but the Rangers were just controlling the game.
It seemed like at least a quarter of the crowd was Rangers fans.
Without Andersen, this was always an uphill fight for the Canes. Raanta was brought to Raleigh to be a complement to Andersen, Robin to his Batman, Tonto to his Lone Ranger. Asking him to start 11 games in a row in the playoffs was a bridge too far. And they didn't have a credible Plan C, which is okay, because who has an elite third goalie?
The Canes seem to have been transitioning through a lot of goalkeepers over the last few years. At the end of last year it seemed as if the Canes had three capable tenders any of whom could potentially be on the roster for 21-22. Nope, all three gone. If the recent trend holds we won't see Andersen or Raanta next year. I don't know the reasons, other than it appears that, A) it's generally hard to find and retain playoff caliber goaltenders and B) injuries at critical times have hampered the Canes in goal. Whatever the reason the Canes have been unable to secure a goalie of superior quality like a Lundqvist, Fuhr, Vasilevskiy, Fleury etc and they languished with Cam Ward in goal for far too long. Not a great goalie tradition with this franchise.
I'll admit I was skeptical when the front office revamped the goalie situation last summer. But I have to say it worked. Anderson was an All-Star and Raanta was a serviceable backup, and the pair combined to lead the league in goals against. It's unfortunate that Anderson missed the entire playoffs with an injury. Winning 7 playoff games with your 2nd/3rd goalies is pretty good, in my opinion, even though the ending was disappointing. Both goalies are under contract for next year, so I don't expect to see any changes in that department.
Ultimately, it was a really fun season. Just like with the NCAA Tournament, I have to remind myself that the NHL playoffs are a lottery. I thought the Canes were good enough to win this round, but they got out-goalied and the PK fell apart. The Canes have a nice young core and should be good again next year.
Totally agree.
The Canes were one of the best 5 best teams in the league this year, and put themselves in the lottery. Hockey is like that-they had injuries, goal scorers went cold (where are you Svech?), and they didn't get bounces in this series. And they still almost pulled it out. The D is very strong and they have capable scorers, though it might be nice to get another sniper. They should still be good the next few years. Every year you don't win it is a missed opportunity, but the team is relatively young, so I'm optimistic for the future.
Also, what is with this franchise and goalie injuries? This is the franchise that had to start David Ayres...