Since when is bashing Sean Avery more important than Canes updates????

I don't know what came over me. I somehow was more driven to post another anti-Steve Avery post than to write about the Hurricanes 2-1 road victory over the mighty Ottawa Senators

Ottawa, who has allowed far and away the fewest goals in the NHL thus far, has only lost three games. Two of those three have come at the hands of my Carolina Hurricanes. Once in the RBC Center and once in the Corel Centre. In each game, Martin "The Gerber Baby" Gerber has shone. In Raleigh, Gerber stopped 45 of 47 shots after giving up two very early goals. In Ottawa, Gerber gave up a late goal en route to stopping 35 of 36 Senators shots. In those two games against the Eastern Conference favorite, Gerber has stopped a total of 80 shots, while allowing three goals. That's a save % of .964.

Here's what was important about Tuesday's game:

MIKEY C!!!!! Mike Commodore got the game-winning goal on a play that Eric Staal created. Commy deserves to have his season-long hard work rewarded with the glory of a game-winning goal against a very strong conference opponent.

The Stillman/Staal/Cole line stayed strong. Staalsy had an assist on the game winner and everybody on that line finished the game +1.

Our goalkeeping (in this case, Martin Gerber) was outstanding. Gerbs did a terrific job keeping one of the best teams in the league at bay. And in their own building, no less.

Ray Whitney also stayed strong. He scored the first goal, allowing the Canes to cash in on the power play. In 11 games, the Canes newcomer has 15 points(5 G/10 A), and has only been shut down twice.

The Sens played some outstanding defense, limiting the Canes to 1-7 on the power play. Actually, on a few of our power play opportunities, we failed to register any shots on net while allowing shorthanded chances. Credit is definitely due to the Ottawa killers.

On the other side, Carolina was even better on the PK. Ottawa had eight power play chances, including two five-on-three situations, but came up empty on each try. The difference, though, is that while all the credit is due to the Ottawa PK units, the credit for Carolina's success is due to Martin Gerber. He was absolutely en fuego.

Up next, the Canes play a home-and-home with the New York Rangers.