Box Score

Carolina waited for Ottawa to come home, and then knocked them from the ranks of the undefeated with a 5-3 victory.

Chad LaRose found himself playing on the third line, and took advantage.  Although he didn't score any goals, his gritty play directly led to goals by Matt Cullen, Rod Brind'Amour, and Erik Cole.  LaRose ended the night with 3 assists and got the #1 star.

Speaking of Erik Cole, I mentioned the other day how I thought he'd been playing well but just couldn't buy a goal - well, he got two of them tonight and they were beauties.  One of them was basically on an empty net because Martin Gerber had just made a huge save on Eric Staal who almost knocked it in from the left side.  Gerber slide across to make the save and slide right out of the crease while the puck rebounded to open ice on the right side.  Cole skated up and knocked it in the net, going past a defender who looked like he was going to the ice for the block but didn't make it in time.  By the time Gerber got to his feet after the save on Staal, the puck was bouncing out of the net.

The game itself was beautiful.  Just an incredible amount of speed and skating.  Lots of back-and-forth action,  We led Ottawa 4-1 late in the third period but it wasn't a "dominating" performance, in fact I thought that Ottawa might've been playing a little better they were just being stymied by Cam Ward.  They made it interesting with late goals at 16:16 and 18:11, but Eric Staal sealed the deal with an empty netter at 19:01.

Staal now has 8 points (5/3) while Cole has 4 points (1/3).  12 points through 5 games.  Looking good so far for my prediction of 180 points between the two.  Keep it up, guys!

The Canadian Tour continues Saturday night when the Canes take on Montreal.

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

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, like I've said before, I'm a 24 game mini-plan holder.  Which means I did NOT have tickets to last night's game.  At least not as part of my package.

This was a big game.  Carolina is skating well, and Ottawa is... was.. undefeated.  I didn't want them to come into our house with 8000 people there on a Monday night that only consisted of season ticket holders.   So I stopped by the box office on my way home and picked up a pair of seats in the mezzanine.  I've always wanted to sit in the mezzanine, I just haven't.  Gotta say they're cool seats.

The game last night started out shaky, with Martin Gerber giving up two weak goals in the first 3 shots of the game.  And then he did what hockey enthusiasts refer to as standing on one's head.  Gerber stopped a nearly continuous barage of the next 43 shots.

The crowd of 12,113 was a bit lax in the first period, but I think the crowd often goes as the game goes - and with only 9 shots and a 2 goal deficit, the first period wasn't great.  But the Canes put us back in the game pretty quickly in the second period and then tied it up and the crowd was alive.

I'm really glad I went.   I will say that I think the Senators were the better team on the ice last night but sometimes, all you need to win is a goalie - and Gerber sure did the job last night.

Next up - the Boston Bruins come to the RBC Center on Wednesday at 7pm.  I won't be going, so I'll expect you to go in my stead.  I can't pull off 3 games in one week ;)  You know, wife and kids and stuff.

Boston is 4-5-1 after a shootout loss to the Leafs last night.

GO CANES!