Canes beat divisional opponents, fortify lead.

The Hurricanes finished a perfect mini-roadtrip by beating divisional opponents on consecutive nights. Wednesday, they beat Florida 4-3 in a shootout. Thursday they defeated Atlanta 5-1.

Since Wednesday was Scrabble night, I didn't get to watch the game live. Since I chose to stay out wicked late just to be with a girl who is, frankly, bad news, I didn't get to post about it at all.

Because last night was bowling night, I didn't get to watch or post about that game. So here comes a double.

On Wednesday at Florida, the boys chose to take the "We'll spot you two goals" approach to winning. Jozef Stumpel scored at the 00:47 mark with a shot from the top of the circle that surprised Gerber.

At 12:34, Mike Van Ryn picked up a garbage goal right in front when there should have been a whistle.

Matt Cullen made it 2-1 when he and Ray Whitney came in on a mini-break slapping the drop pass past Luongo.

At 18:03, just five seconds after Marty Gelinas went off for holding, Rod Brind'Amour got a power play tally to knot it at two. This one will go back to that argument about the importance of winning faceoffs. Brindy won the draw cleanly, Cullen got it to Tverdovsky, who took a heavy shot from the right circle, and Brindy was there to put home the rebound.

Nathan Horton made it 3-2 at the 10:11 mark of the second.

At 18:56 of the third, the Canes tied it at 3 when Brind'Amour got his second power play goal of the game. Jay Bouwmeester had gone off for slashing at 17:57. Laviolette decided to pull Gerber early, and the Canes were enjoying a six-on-four. Brind'Amour took advantage of some sloppy killing by camping out on the right post, where he easily scored the goal, even after mishandling the rebound of Staal's shot.

Overtime decided nothing, and it went on to shootout, where Erik Cole scored the deciding "goal". He used the same move he's been using all season on penalty shots and shootouts. He makes a very wide move to his forehand side, then swoops in, getting the goalie to commit to the middle of the net. At the last second, he pulls it back to the forehand and the goalie is out of position.

Thursday's game featured some drama, but not on the scoreboard.

After a scoreless first period in which Carolina had lots of scoring chances, they finally got the payoff in the second. Just 50 seconds into the second, Bret Hedican scored his fifth goal of the season in the waning seconds of a Nic Havelid penalty. Heddy put it in from the bottom of the left circle with lots of traffic in front. Initially, the scorers thought that Viva had redirected it, but they later corrected the score.

Matt Cullen made it 2-0 at 13:28, while the Thrash were being penalized for too many men on the ice. It was a funny shot that hit the juncture of the left post and the crossbar, then caromed in. The play was also odd in that Cullen came in without help, and was facing three Atlanta skaters. Andy Sutton, however, made a terrible mistake by turning his back to the attacking skater. Essentially, then, Sutton wasn't even on the ice. Tevvy got the only assist.

Patrik Stefan pulled Atlanta to within one at 19:01 of the second by persistently whacking away at a rebound from in close.

With the teams skating four-on-four, "The Secret Weapon" made it 3-1 at the 00:16 mark of the third. It was only his second goal of the year, and the tenth of his career. Bret Hedican unleashed a nasty slapshot from above the left circle that Wallin redirected in front.

At 11:14 Craig Adams made it 4-1 on a play where Erik Cole made everyone else look silly. He made Greg DeVries look especially bad, simply abusing him in a skating clinic. I think Kari Lehtonen was mesmerized by Colesy's nifty maneuvering, because once CrAdams had the puck, he easily stuffed it in from about 6 feet out, right in front.

Ray Whitney closed out the scoring with a power play goal at 19:41 with assists from Brindy and Viva. Lehtonen never even saw the shot, and he may have been dazed by the Viva slapshot that he had just turned away.

On Thursday, the Canes were 3-8 on power play chances. Wednesday, they were 2-8, and on Monday they were 2-6. In total, they've converted seven of their last 22 chances. That's 31.8% if you're scoring along at home, and a very nice improvement over the horrible 0-9 outing at Washington last Saturday.

Bad news. Matt Cullen broke his jaw and will be out indefinitely. Maybe Keith Aucoin will get called back up after being reassigned to Lowell yesterday.

Up next: Ron Francis Night. Standing room only tickets are available for $85.