Thursday 27 November 2014

Canes End Skid, Skinner Earns Shutout

Stuart Skinner made a triumphant return to the Lethbridge Hurricanes line-up, stopping 37 shots to earn his first-ever Western Hockey League shutout in a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Giants Wednesday night at the ENMAX Centre.

Skinner was away at the U-17's for two weeks and then suffered an injury in Hurricanes practice when he got back, sidelining him for two weeks. He made his presence felt, helping his team end what was a long nine game losing streak.

The game winner in this hockey game actually came just 60 seconds into the contest when Captain Jamal Watson scored his 11th goal of the season to put Lethbridge up 1-0 early. That turned out to be all the scoring in the first 20 minutes.

In the second, the Canes scored their second of the night late in the period, thanks to Andrew Neilsen's power play goal at 19:04. That gave the Canes a 2-0 lead through two periods of play.

In third period, Jamal Watson notched his second of the game and 12th of the season at 12:34 to put the Hurricanes ahead 3-0 and then with just over two minutes left in the game, Jaeger White scored his first of the season to ice the game for Lethbridge and the Hurricanes would go on to win 4-0.

Vancouver out shot Lethbridge 37-34. Skinner was perfect on the night turning away every puck directed his way. The Hurricanes improve to 6-15-3-1 on the season. It was their first win in just under a month.

The Canes now hit the road for a pair of games south of the border. They'll take on the Americans in Tri-City Friday (Nov. 28) and then in Spokane Saturday (Nov. 29). The Canes don't play again at home until next Saturday (Dec. 6) when they host Red Deer for their annual Teddy Bear & Toque Toss game.

Thanks,
Pat


5 comments:

  1. Have to think that they would have 8-10 wins with Skinner being healthy. Nice game boys, keep it up.

    Chris

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  2. Sheens' been good, and I agree with the 106 lads that this was his best game of the year (Maybe Robson promised him a trade if he improved his stock price??). Congrats to Moves-like-Jaeger on a great first dub goal.

    Good thing the Canes played hard for the win in this one, because if they let this one slip by, it could have been pretty easy to get to 14Losses in a row (again) considering the next 4 opponents they will face.

    You usually have to be a bit lucky to get a shutout (a tidy backhand by Tyler Benson could have gone past a heavily screened skinner, but although it missed his butterflied pad by a foot, it did not miss the post; shutout bid intact)

    I thought Skinner was excellent. It was no easy 37 saves. Robidoux has been ok, but keeping in mind that the horrible coaching is clearly the number one reason for the pathetic record, Robidoux has not been consistently good enough to make up for it. Entering the contest at 9W & 16L, You could argue the Giants are a weaker team, but from what Robidoux has shown me so far this year, and from the number of Canes giveaways resulting from the "Berehowsky system," this game is quite likely 2-2 or 3-3, likely headed for OT, or maybe even a regulation loss for the Canes if he started (Yes, I know the Canes scored 4 in regulation, but momentum changes everything).

    Skinner prevented some would'a-been chances from behind the net with some nice goal stick work, was positionally sound, he got the usual great D from a few guys, and he got probably the best defensive efforts of the year by a few other Canes.

    I see (hear) that DB's new coaching strategy is firmly anchored with now CONSTANTLY yelling, "D-side".... "D-side" ..... "D-side" .... And here I thought that he was actually yelling at the board members scattered around the rink to "DECIDE... how much longer they are going to wait before they fire his (getting bigger every day) *##."

    Ken Hardlewaite

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  3. Now you're personally insulting DB. Get a life *##." He likely doesn't care but I think it's pretty classless.

    Kirk

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  4. The team played a sound game . There was some terrific passing that resulted in goals ,were sound defensively ,the goal tending was super.
    One thing I noticed is when they had a good lead they did not go into a defensive shell and try to protect that lead . That strategy cost them a few wins lately . This time they moved the puck out of their zone and attacked . With a few nifty passes and good positioning they scored two more goals in the third period .
    A well earned win . Keep your heads up and keep going.

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  5. Ken...thanks for the laugh but I believe DB was yelling "weak side"

    Great game on Wed... the team has lately been setting up much better in the neutral zone, greatly lowering the number of scoring chances they give up... keep it up and the positive results will continue.

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