Canes smash Pens, E Staal shines

I watched tonight's game from the confines of the bar where I work. I went with a friend of mine who is a HUGE Penguins fan, and we raised the ire of a lot of people who wanted to watch the conclusion of the Yankees-Indians game. We only have two teevees, but I saw no reason for both of them to show the baseball game, and I get to do what I want, so that's the way it was. Go to the other end of the bar to watch baseball.

Honestly, I don't like writing about a game that I watched in a bar. There's too many distractions and usually the sound isn't on, so I don't watch the game as closely as I would like. By the end of the second period, I wasn't really giving it as much attention as I wanted to, so I'll have to watch the DVR to get everything right.

The crux of it is that Eric Staal scored the first two goals of the game to give him three for the season. The goal on Wednesday that was given to Staal, then changed to Cole was eventually changed back to Staal. He's now on pace for 123 goals this season. Obviously he won't hit that mark, but he's off to a fantastic start.
At 7:08, he knocked one in from the low slot assisted by Tim Gleason and Jeff Hamilton.

At 13:21, Staal made a very nifty move culminating in a backhand shot from the right circle. The shot fluttered through Fleurry, giving the Canes a 2-0 lead. At first I thought it had ricocheted off Fleurry's right skate, but replays showed that it actually caromed off Brooks (aka "Public Enemy #1) Orpik's skate. Cole and Hamilton assisted.

Andrew Ladd looked really good in getting to a loose puck and beating Fleurry with it. Sloppy notes on this one, but Justin Williams and Dennis Seidenberg assisted.

At 17:35, Jeff Hamilton did exactly what we brought him in to do. He quarterbacked the power play and scored a goal from the point. Rod Brind'Amour and Ray Whitney assisted. On a side note, Ray Whitney was up to his old antics, hamming it up during the pre-game interview with Rod Brind'Amour. Hijacking the spotlight by skating by and mugging for the camera. We didn't see a lot of that last season.

Cam Ward lost his shutout bid at 16:37 of the third when our old friend Mark Recchi notched a power play goal (assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar. Although we'd have preferred the shutout, we still got a convincing win, and you can never complain when the Recchin' Ball does something good.

I'll have to watch the DVR of the game to catch some of the stuff I missed.

The "official" three stars went to Andrew Ladd (third), Eric Staal (second) and Cam Ward (first).
Those are fine, but I don't think there's any way you can discount Jeff Hamilton's great night. I had an easy time selecting my three stars, but a difficult time enumerating them. The RBH three stars go to:
Third Star: Eric Staal, CAR --- 2 goals, GWG
Second Star: Jeff Hamilton, CAR --- 1 goal, 2 assists
First Star: Cam Ward, CAR --- 33 saves, win

In the course of the game, Jordan Staal squared up against Eric in the face-off circle two times. Eric won both faceoffs, and has earned two gatorades.