We had 3 tickets in the VIP Club Ledge tonight that I bought from someone on craigslist.  These are the seats in the club level south end (where the Canes shoot twice) that have the little TVs, which is damn nice for someone with vision as bad as mine.  We got each got a free sandwich with sides (I had a BBQ sandwich with chips and slaw) and 2 free drinks.  Karen used my regular season ticket to get in and then we "worked it out" so she was sitting there with us (Emily sat on laps the whole night).

Anyway, the Canes really got dominated in the first period, and even though they had 2 power players, they only had 4 shots in the entire period.  A Caps goal was waved off due to a hooking penalty, and the first period ended in a 0-0 tie.  Canes took a 1-0 lead in the second but Washington tied it up with a late period goal.  Pitkanen, Babchuk, and Corvo scored in the third to put the game away.

Washington had a 4 on 3 power play with under 2 minutes to go in the game because Brindy boarded someone (it was a legit call), so they cleared their goal for the 5 on 3.   After about 40 seconds or so (I think) in the zone, Corvo managed to clear it right towards the empty net, and it went in just as a washington player was getting to it for the clincher.  Way to go, Scorvo!

The energy in the arena tonight was awesome - true playoff atmosphere - and there were a LOT of Caps fans there - as always for a Saturday night.

PLAYOFF PICTURE

Florida and Montreal both lost tonight, so we're now in 6th place with 85 points.  The Rangers have 84 points and 2 games in hand, Montreal has 81 points with 2 games in hand, and Florida is in the 9 spot with 80 points and 2 games in hand.

I still think 93 points will get us in, which means we need 4 wins in the last 8 games - but I'd much rather see us get 5 wins (or more) and get to 95 points.  I don't want to be the 8 seed and match up with Boston in the first round!

GO CANES!

Carolina 4, Pittsburg 1 - Box Score

Friday night, Carolina took on Pittsburg at home, looking for their first win of the season.  They came out skating strong and never really looked back, scoring twice in the opening period (both by Eric Staal) and twice in the second period (Andrew Ladd and Jeff Hamilton).  Pittsburg came on strong in the third, giving it all they could, but only managed a power play goal to break the shutout.  Realistically, it was a 5 on 3 power play goal, but the two man advantage had just ended, so the 4th skater was back on the ice but wasn't yet involved in the play.

Cam Ward looked fan-freakin-tastic in goal again, and made some incredible saves.  He was the #1 star of the game, and deserved it.  The lineup worked, with Jeff Hamilton assisting on both of Eric Staal's goals as well as getting his own goal.

Washington 2, Carolina 0 - Box Score

Unfortunately, the first road game of the season didn't go quite as well.  Washington dominated the puck offensively for most of the game.  Carolina managed only 2 shots in the first period, and 9 shots in the second period.  Overall, they were outshot 33-23.  They came on pretty strong with 12 shots in the third period, and had some great scoring opportunities, but simply couldn't get the puck past Olie the Goalie.

John Grahame looked pretty darned good in the net, saving 31 of 33 shots.  I've got no complaints there.  Can't win games when your team doesn't score.

The good thing about this game was that Carolina only took 3 penalties, although they did give up a power play goal.  And we were 0-4 on the power play ourselves, which kinda sucked.

Part of this loss was just a hot goalie, but part of it was also the Canes inability to control thep puck - especially in the first period, where they were just completely dominated.

Next up - game 2 of this long 6 game road trip - the Canes take on the  Toronto Maple Leafs.  Look for former Hurricane Bates Battaglia!

The game is on Versus tonight, so don't look at Fox Sports South and assume it's not on!

GO CANES!

Box Score

Josef Vasicek returned to the Canes lineup last night after missing 59 games following reconstructive knee surgery, and he wasted no time getting into the action, getting 2 goals and 2 assists, earning him the NHLs first star.  Welcome back, Big Joe!

I wish I could've been there last night!  Lots of fights, and the team showed plenty of toughness - although Craig Adams got into a fight and really just embarassed himself.  More power to him though.  If you're willing to drop the gloves when you get your ass kicked every time, well I can respect that.

And although it took overtime to finally put away the Caps, the important part is that we got 2 points and kept pace with Ottawa, who still leads us by 3 points for the #1 seed in the eastern conference.

Game 2 of the three game mini series versus Washington will take place Wednesday night, followed by the third game on Friday - also at Washington.  It's a strange season!

GO CANES!

Box Score

The Hurricanes made 50 shots on goal for the first time since 1989.  And they only got one of them past Washington's backup goaltender, Brent Johnson.

They actually hit the post quite a few times, but overall I thought their legitimate scoring chances were limited, and most of the those 50 shots on goal were pretty easy saves for Johnson.

And the worst part was that the Canes were absolutely SLOPPY with the puck.  Washington had 15 takeaways according to the super stats.  Many of those takeaways led to odd man rushes, some of which ended up as goals.

Carolina was outshot 8-4 in the first few minutes and went down 1-0 very early in the game, were up 3-0 by the middle of the second period.  And when Carolina finally did score to make it 3-1, Washington wasted no time getting that goal back, scoring barely a minute later to make it 4-1.

And then to top off the evening, Washington scored a shorthanded goal in the final two minutes.  Nice.

I thought the effort wasn't there - even though they put the shots up.  Their sloppy puck play said to me they weren't prepared.  I hope they turn it around tonight against Florida.

Thanks to Tampa Bay's win last night, we still need another win to clinch the southeast division title.  I hope they pull it off tonight!

GO CANES!

Box Score

The Canes played a road game tonight against the team I affectionately call.. The Crapitols.  Washington has a terrible team.  They commit a ton of penalties, and they've given up more points per game than every other team in the league except Pittsburg.

Carolina dominated the play almost the entire night, and after Cam Ward went out with what is hopefully a minor injury (he was back on the bench by the second period), Martin Gerber came in and kept the Craps outta the net entirely for the team's first shutout of the season.  Gerber only had to stop 17 shots, but he made some excellent saves.  Kolzig on the other hand faced 41 shots.  I guess allowing 4 goals on 41 shots isn't terrible.

On a side note, I was just looking at the box score on NHL.com, which listed the game as final but didn't have the correct numbers for shots on goal.  Looks like I'll be referring to ESPN for box scores.

This week should be fun.  I've got tickets to Friday's game as part of my 24 game plan, but I think I might like to go see the Canes hand the Senators their first loss of the season on Monday.

GO CANES!