Canes win overtime thriller, sit atop NHL standings

On Friday night, in front of a nearly packed RBC Center, the Hurricanes topped the Predators 5-4 in overtime.

I didn't have a pen with me for some reason, so I wasn't able to take notes, but here's how it went down:

Rod Brind'Amour started the scoring at 3:33 on a shorthanded goal. Assists went to Viva and Mikey C. The Canes came in on an odd man rush, and Brindy actually had plenty of time, and ended up making Vokoun look foolish by getting him to overcommit. With a wide open net, Brindy simply flipped it in. Vokoun looking foolish would be a theme on the night.

At 7:26 of the first, with the Preds on the power play, Steve Sullivan knotted it at one with a shot from the left circle that was perfectly screened by a Preds skater. There was absolutely nothing Gerber could do about it.

At 13:03, Andrew Hutchinson was able to score against his old team and give the Canes a 2-1 lead on a three on-one break. Cory Stillman found Hutch in the slot and Hutch wasted no time going glove side on Vokoun. Eric Staal, who hasn't scored a goal in seven games, got the secondary assist. At the time, I swore that the shot was tipped by Cole on the way in, but replays show that it wasn't.

At 15:13, Erik Cole made it 3-1 on another play where Vokoun looked foolish. He had collided with one of his skaters in front of the heavily congested crease area. Both fell, and Stillman fed Cole, who put it into an empty net. Tverdovsky got the second assist.

So for the second consecutive game, Carolina had a 3-1 lead at first intermission over on of the West's best.

No scoring in the second, but a trend started. The officials weren't calling a tight game at all. There were a lot of missed hooks, slashes and trips on both sides. At least it was consistent.

At 3:06 of the third, Martin Erat made it 3-2 on a bizarro goal. Paul Kariya made a really nifty move through the slot, spun around, and passed to Martin Erat, who rifled one just past Gerber. For some reason, the on-ice call was "no goal", but everyone in the arena could tell it would be counted.

Then at 11:04, Kimmo Timonen tied it up on an even more bizarre play. The preds were coming in on a power play, and Timonen was meaning to dump the puck in the zone. It took a crazy carom, and went in. Gerber had gone behind the net, anticipating the puck to go there. This time, it was he who looked foolish. And the Canes had let a two goal lead evaporate.

Later on, Brindy would score a power play goal at 15:56 of the third with assists from Ray Whitney and Cory Stillman. Stillman had three assists on the night, and was awarded the game's third star by the media. On that goal, Brindy had to keep digging at a rebound, and finally got it past Vokoun to give the Canes a temporary cushion.

With just over a minute to play, and Vokoun off for an extra skater, Kariya again fed Erat for a game-tying goal. It was very disappointing that it got to that point, but the best was yet to come.

With about 2:40 to play in the extra session, the Canes stormed in with numbers, and one of the Preds inexplicably launched his stick in the general direction of Frantisek Kaberle, who was on a mini-break. This is a rule with no grey area: a penalty shot has to be awarded.

Kaberle came through big time, luring Vokoun pretty far out, and going five hole on him.

For that play, Kaberle was awarded the first star. Good call.

There were two scary moments involving the already shorthanded defense. Mike Commodore had to leave the game in the second period with a "lower body injury" and did not return. That left us with five defensemen. Then midway through the third, Martin Erat got Bret Hedican really solidly with a high stick. Hedican went down, blood pouring on the ice. He lay there for a short while, then had to be helped off. It was über scary because he was listing off to one side really badly, and there was a lot of concern that he had taken it in the eye. He hobbled off to the room, but would return to the ice for the overtime period.

Who knows if or for how long Commy will be out. We cannot roll with five defensemen, though. Danny Richmond will have to come up and perhaps forgo his appearance in the AHL all-star game.

There was some talk on the post-game radio show about trying to obtain a veteran blueliner via trade. I don't know who we'd give up in a trade, but one name they threw out there was Paul Mara. I would like that quite a bit. We'll see.

The win put Carolina at 62 points, and into a "tie" with Philly for tops in the league. However, Carolina has a game in hand on Philly, and therefore owns the tie-breaker.

Carolina has now defeated four Central division opponents, and will attempt to make it a perfect sweep when the hapless Blues come to town on Sunday.

On other note. After Kaberle scored the penalty shot to win the game, Vokoun spazzed out, threw his stick, and was given a 10 minute misconduct penalty. I'm not sure how this will be assessed. Help?