Thanks to a great effort against Tampa Bay tonight, the Canes reduced their magic number to 2 tonight, with a 6-2 victory.  That's 2 points for us, or two points lost by Washington.  Personally, I hope Tampa Bay rebounds and beats Washington tomorrow night so I don't have to think about NOT going to the playoffs when I'm at the game on Friday.  I don't need that kind of stress.

Chad LaRose got a hat trick tonight.  His third goal (the Canes 6th) was a real goal-scorers goal, he took the pass from Eric Cole and skated in on the net and just fooled Mike Smith with some back and forth moves.  LaRose got Smith to commit too early and he made one last switch to the backhand (I think) and dropped it in the net.  It was a beauty.  I am bummed that I missed seeing it live.

See you Friday night!

GO CANES!

Box Score

Who says lightning never strikes the same place twice?

Carolina dropped to 1-3-1 against division rival Tampa Bay with a 5-3 loss.  The Canes actually played pretty well, outskating and outshooting the Lightning.

We just got some bad breaks.

Two Carolina goals deflected off of Hurricanes sticks.  Eric Cole ("Mr. Penalty Shot") totally beat John Grahame on his penalty shot but hit the post.  And holy cow, if Grahame can string together a few games like he played last night - stopping all 28 shots that he faced - then Team USA might actually have a chance!  Grahame made some awesome saves.

As a side note, Eric Cole was incredible last night.  That guy is FAST!

Hopefully, Carolina can rebound tonight against the lowly Penguins in front of what should be a nearly sold out crowd.

GO CANES!

BY KEN PRESTON, CarolinaHurricanes.com

Carolina Hurricanes at Tampa Bay Lightning

Thursday, Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m. (ET)
St. Pete Times Forum - Tampa, Fla.

Hurricanes: 38-12-4 (80 pts.), Southeast Division, 1st place
Lightning: 30-22-4 (64 pts.), Southeast Division, 2nd place

Box Score

Yet another Tuesday game that I can't watch live because of bowling.

But the result was great!  I swear all of Carolina's goals were highlight-quality goals.  Great stuff, and Eric Staal continued the case for himself to be on the Canadian Olympic Team, with 2 goals and an assist.  Staal now leads the NHL in goals and is 4th in points.

Tampa Bay actually scored first in this game, and then Carolina built a 4-2 lead but blew that 2 goal goal lead before taking control for the final tally of 6-4.

Sadly, again there were barely 12,000 people in the building.  I wish I could've been there, it would've been a GREAT game!

Carolina finishes their home stand against the Florida Panthers Friday night.

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

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!