Box Score

I think it was important for Carolina to start this road trip on a positive note AND get a win versus the Thrashers, who seemed to have had the Hurricanes number in the first two games of the season series, outscoring Carolina 14-2.

Unfortunately I didn't get to watch or listen to most of the game due to my Tuesday night bowling league. I was able to listen to the second half of the third period, and I thought I was going to get home in time to watch the overtime, but Carolina scored only 32 seconds in. I was only 2 minutes from my house. Oh well, no complaints here.

It didn't exactly start out well for Carolina, with Cam Ward giving up 2 early goals. Less than 4 minutes into the game and we're down 2 goals. But Ward settled down, and the Canes fought back and took the game to overtime for the 2 points. I wish they hadn't given up a point, since Atlanta is in our division, but 2 points is better than one or none, so it's all good.

Hard to believe that Kaberle led the team in shots with 5. Carolina only managed 23 shots on goal.

Now the team heads west for 5 games against the West - Dallas, Phoenix, Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose. In that order, amazingly enough. It's a pretty travel-friendly road trip except for the back to back with Dallas and Phoenix.

GO CANES!

Box Score

Someone forgot to tell the Atlanta Thrashers that we're better than they are.

Atlanta scored three times in the third to break a 2-2 tie (after the Canes battled back from a 2-0 deficit), including a late game empty-netter.

We're off to Atlanta for the first of a 6 game road trip.

GO CANES!

Box Score

Among the most exciting things about this game was the fact that numerous injured players were back in the lineup tonight, including captain Rod Brind'Amour, Glen Wesley, and Andrew Hutchinson.  Unfortunately, Cory Stillman and Oleg Tverdovsky were out with new injuries.

Although I think Carolina played the third period and the overtime period a bit flat (I felt lucky to get to overtime!), Gerber managed to keep the Leafs out of the net enough to get us to the shootout, where he stood up and said "No" twice while his opponent allowed two Canes to score in the shootout (Radim Vrbata and Matt Cullen).

The game was a sellout.  The first sellout of the year, I think, besides opening night.  Nice to see a big crowd!

With the Lightning's 8-2 loss to the Devils last night, Carolina's division lead returned to 4 points with 3 games in hand, and our 31 points ties us for third in the East.

Atlanta comes to town on Sunday before the Canes head out on a six game road trip.

GO CANES!

Box Score

With the injuries piling up, and the league's best team in town, the Carolina Hurricanes put together a great effort to take the Senators down to the wire in last night's matchup at the RBC Center.  Ottawa's 5th goal was actually an empty netter so the game was very close at the end.

Unfortunately, Carolina's special teams failed to do the job, going not only 0 for 5 on the power play, but giving up a short handed goal as well (I guess making them -1 for 5!)

Coach did some interesting things last night.  In particular, he put Craig Adams on the scoring line with Erik Cole and Eric Staal - and he was rewarded!  Adams had a great night, getting a goal and an assist.  I guess coach just wanted to inject some energy into the line - especially since Cole (who likes to hit people) is hobbled a bit.

It was an exciting game, which I only saw the final 7 minutes of, but listened to other parts.

On a side note, last night's attendance, considering that lower level seats were "buy one get one free" was pretty pathetic.  Fewer than 14,000 fans showed up.  Sunday's game was poorly attended too.

We get a few days off before Toronto comes to town on Friday.  Hopefully we'll start seeing some guys BACK in the lineup.  I'd especially like to see Rod Brind'Amour and his face-off prowess back.

GO CANES!

Box Score

When the Carolina Hurricanes rattled off a string of wins like we've never seen before, we all knew it would end.  They weren't going to win 9 out of every 10 games for the entire season.

Well, the injuries have piled up, and with so many guys out of the lineup, the Canes took on Tampa Bay at home for the second game in the season series, and the results ended up being the same as on opening night in Tampa - with a 5-2 Tampa win.

I was at this game - for two periods - and Carolina came out skating strong in the first period for about 5 minutes, but after that, they really seemed kinda tired.  At one point, they were defending a 5 on 5 situation like it was a Tampa Bay power play - 5 Canes in the middle and 4 Tampa players around the outside passing it around looking for a shot.

The power play was off last night too.  I think during one of our early power plays, we didn't even manage to get a shot.

The injuries have really decimated the Canes lineup.  The loss of Rod Brind'Amour is really hurting us in the faceoff circle.  We only won a third of the faceoffs in this game.  And we really need to get Glen Wesley back.  Plus, Niclas Wallin and Josef Vasicek are out too.

Injuries do more than take specific players out - they mess up your chemistry and your rhythm.

Andrew Ladd was called up from Lowell and played 14 minutes yesterday in fine fashion.  Though he only got one shot on goal, he got 3 hits and a takeaway, and his plus/minus rating was a 0 for the evening.  He played pretty well.

Ottawa comes back to town Tuesday night - buy one get one free if you bring 2 cans of food!

GO CANES!

Box Score

I didn't get to watch this game because I thought it wasn't on TV.  The program guide on Time Warner said that FSN was showing the Oklahoma-Texas Tech game at 1 o'clock on Saturday afternoon.  So I didn't even tune to that channel to check.  Apparently, the hockey game *WAS* on.  We did listen to some of it on the radio but most of our afternoon was spent watching Michigan give the Ohio State Buckeyes the game in the final 5 minutes, so I was a little distracted.

From what I could tell, Carolina didn't really show up until the third period and by then it was too late.  They did manage a late flurry of shooting, got 2 goals, and emptied the net for the final minute or so of play but were unable to get the puck to go in for the game tying goal.

The injuries... more on that later.

Next up, Tampa Bay comes to town for a rematch!

GO CANES!

Box Score

When Kevyn Adams scored his second goal of the night, I said to myself "Wouldn't it be cool if he got a hot trick?"

Well sometimes dreams come true, and I had to explain to my mom why everyone was throwing their hats on the ice - she's learning!  Adams had a great night, and just had the scoring touch tonight.  Not only was it his first hat trick ever, but it was his first multi-goal game since 2001.  He stepped up the pace in Rod Brind'Amour's absence, to say the least.

Eric Staal picked up another goal for his 30th point of the season, and Martin Gerber had a great night in the net again, making some incredible saves.

One interesting note - the game went nearly 14 minutes before the first penalty was called.  Carolina only took 4 penalties the whole game, while New York got called for 8 - including 3 straight in the 3rd period (after starting the period with a minute and a half left on a second period penalty!)

Both teams head back to New York for the second game in the home-and-home at 1pm on Saturday.  I'll be watching the Michigan-Ohio State game but flipping back to check on the Canes game.

GO BLUE!  GO CANES!

Box Score

Some Carolina fans - myself included - were pleasantly surprised (but not shocked) tonight as the Carolina Hurricanes bounced back from Saturday's ugly defeat to beat the Senators tonight 2-1.  I think the Senators may be one of the best teams in the league.  They have only 4 losses, and two of them have been at the hands of our beloved Canes.

I missed the first 30 minutes of the game, but thanks to the DVR I did see both Carolina goals.  Ray Whitney had a beautiful goal shortly after the opening faceoff of the second period.  I don't know how you get right in front of the goalie like that unobstructed, but he did and put the puck where Hasek wasn't!

Mike Commodore got his first goal in 89 games (wow!) in the waning seconds of the same period as Eric Staal - on the ground - pushed the puck back to Commodore, then stood up and blocked Hasek's view.  Commodore threw the puck at the new and it went in - after going right through Staal's legs, I think!

It was a great game to watch, although I'd like it if the Hurricanes had controlled the puck a bit more.  The third period was pretty heavily in Ottawa's favor in terms of puck possession.  But the final score is all that counts, and even more important is the fact that Carolina continues to win games without giving up points to their opponents by doing so in regulation.

Next game is Thursday @ the New York Rangers.

GO CANES!

Box Score

So I'm tooling around Disney's Pleasure Island, knocking back a few tequilas with some friends, when the phone rings.  It's my sister, who is attending the hockey game of which I am speaking.  She tells me it's 5-0.  Well, no lead is insurmountable.

Or is it?

She calls me back when it's 6-0, and then again at 7-0, at which time I tell her not to call me anymore.  I can't bear it!  She calls one more time to tell me that we've scored and it's now 9-1... but then cries "Oh no they've taken it away!"

Did I pick a good one to miss?

Let's put this game behind us.  Bring on the Senators!

GO CANES!

Box Score

Another defensive struggle pitting Martin Gerber against Roberto Luongo, and Gerber and the Canes came out on top once again.

I was out of town and didn't see this game unfortunately.  I was in Orlando, where I seriously considered driving to Ft. Lauderdale to see the game, but couldn't justify it.  And in Orlando, the local sports channel was showing the Tampa Bay Lightning instead (understandable since Tampa is only 1 hour away while Ft. Lauderdale is 4 hours)

GO CANES!

Box Score

I've seen a fair amount of hockey in the last 4 years.  Not a ton, but I've attended probably 40 games and watched numerous others.  And I have never seen a penalty shot (outside of highlight reels).

Until tonight.

Eric Cole, in the third period, had two clean breakaways where the scoring chance was denied from behind illegally, and a penalty shot was awarded.  The first one resulted in a goal on a beautiful shot.  The second shot went wide, but it was that first penalty shot that ended up being the game winner - Carolina's 4th goal of the night.  Justin Williams finished off the Sabres with an insurance goal on an empty net in the final minute.

Martin Gerber had an amazing night, facing 44 shots and turning away 41 of them.  Buffalo dominated the puck just about the entire night, getting shot after shot after shot - especially in the second period where they outshot the Canes 22-3.  They were 0-22 in that period, while we were 1-3.  I guess that's what counts!

Buffalo played with intensity, but they couldn't solve Martin Gerber.

The last 7 game winning streak by the franchise was in 1985, and it was ended by Buffalo that year.  The results were different tonight, and Carolina set a new franchise record with 8 consecutive wins.

GO CANES!

Box Score

Rod Brind'Amour helped Carolina stay perfect at home with the first goal of the game - which turned out to be the game winner.  The game was scoreless going into the third period.  Niclas Wallin added an insurance goal to seal the deal for the final score of 2-0.

Staal was quiet tonight but he did manage an assist on Wallin's goal, and I was happy about that.

The crowd was decent.  I don't know how many people were there because the attendance hasn't been posted yet.  Not as many as the Philly game last Friday, but still pretty good.  Maybe 17,000.  It was a pretty quiet crowd though until the scoring started.  REALLY quiet.

I don't know if the Canes were flat - I mean they did outshoot the Panthers in the first period and played great defense, but there just wasn't a lot going on.  A few breakaways, but this game was definately less exciting than others.

Well, at least we didn't trail in this one!

The Canes head north to Buffalo for a meeting on Wednesday, then back south to Florida for Friday's game before coming back home on Saturday for their first meeting with the Trashers.

GO CANES!

Box Score

I didn't actually throw a hat when Eric Staal scored his third goal of the night.  I wasn't wearing one.  But a lot of people DID throw their hats.  Erik Cole owes every one of those people a new hat!

And he owes Eric Staal a steak dinner or something.

I think it's ironic that last Friday, Staal got a hat trick that the crowd didn't get to celebrate, and last night, the crowd celebrated a hat trick that Staal didn't get.

If you didn't see it, there was a breakaway, with Cole driving towards an empty net.  HE WAS HOOKED, and then he was called for diving.    In the process, he passed the puck to Staal who put the puck in the net.  The horn blew.  The refs didn't immediately wave off the goal.  In fact it was a good 2-3 minutes before we realized that there was no goal.

Cole has a reputation for diving, and he may have done so last night.  But he *WAS* hooked, and there should have been a call against Toronto as well for the hook which led to the dive.

Well, Staal continues to impress, and the Canes continue to win.

Next up, the Hurricanes host the Florida Panthers at home on Saturday.

GO CANES!

I wrote some lyrics to Michael Sembello's "Maniac"...

Check 'em out here...

The NHL announced that it has set new attendance records for October.  Read the story here.

To summarize, they've attracted 16,820 fans per game, filling arenas to 91.2% capacity on average.  That's a good thing.  And it's only going to go up from here.

Hockey is more exciting than it ever was before.  The days of the 1-0 win are (for the most part) gone.  For those of us who were hockey fans before, we appreciated the action and the "great" goaltending in the games that led to those 1-0 games.  But I think the casual fan is going to find the 5-3 games a lot more interesting.

A perfect example was the Canes 8-6 come-from-behind victory over the Philadelphia Flyers last saturday.  Goals are exciting, and that game was a huge rollercoaster of emotion, filled with ups and downs.  Down 2-0.  Tied 2-2.  Down 3-2.  Tied 3-3.  Down 5-3.  Tied 5-5.  Up 6-5.  Tied 6-6.  Win 8-6.  It was CRAZY in the arena that night!

Even the Penguins, who only won a single game in October, saw attendance increased by 31% over the previous opening month.

I'm glad i've got my season tickets, because as the season goes on, Canes tickets are going to get harder to come by.

GO CANES!

The NHL has named Eric Staal "Player of the Week" for the last week of October AND "Player of the Month" for the month of October.  You can read about it in the Hurricanes' press release..

I was impressed by Staal in 2003-2004 when he made the team as an 18 year old rookie.  I guess it may have been easier to make the team because the Canes simply weren't that good last season, but it's not easy for any young player to come into this league and play.  Staal struggled through the year - as did the team - but we saw flashes of brilliance.

The lockout was probably the best thing that could've happened for him.  He suddenly had a year to workout, mature his body, and work on his game as a full-time player in the minors.  He had a great year last year, setting numerous scoring records.

Well, one month into the new NHL season, we can see that Staal has got what it takes to lead this franchise into the future.