Canes-Thrash

Tonight, the Hurricanes will take on the Thrashers in Atlanta. It's the first of three SE division road games in a row, and the fifth in a series of nine straight SE division games. It will be the first meeting between the teams this season.

Carolina has recalled Ryan Bayda and reassigned Keith Aucoin for the game. This will already be Bayda's third call-up this season.

After a poor performance on Thursday, especially from the defense, Carolina will hope to rebound with a win tonight. The good news on the defensive front is that Dennis Seidenberg got his immigration issues worked out. He had to miss Thursday's game because his visa was expired. I don't think he was deported, but he was definitely not allowed to play. Since that's taken care of, Snuggles Tanabe can return to the pressbox.

This season, Carolina has had two "bad" losses. Maybe three. Each time, they have responded with a convincing win the next time out. On October 6, they were shut out 2-0 by Washington. They responded three days later with a convincing 7-1 win at Toronto. On October 26, they lost bady at home 7-4 to the Canadiens. They bounced right back with a 8-3 pounding of the Islanders. The 4-2 loss to the Panthers on Haloween night wasn't what I considered to be "bad", but they answered it the next night with a 4-2 win.

The point of all this is that Carolina hasn't had two consecutive regulation losses at any time this season. They'll hope to make that remain true.

No word on who the starter will be in nets, but my guess is that Crackers gets a shot.

If you're in the Carolina viewing area, be sure to tune in a half hour early for the interview with Rod Brind'Amour. According to LSB, it should be a good one.