Lots of familiar faces in Chicago tonight

For Wednesday night's game between the Blackhawks and the Hurricanes, both teams will see some familiar faces wearing the wrong sweater.

Carolina will see their old friends Kevyn Adams, Craig Adams and Andrew Ladd all playing for the Blackhawks.

Chicago will see Tuomo Ruutu and castoff Sergei Samsonov playing for the visiting Hurricanes.

Craig Adams has been doing nothing all season. It doesn't matter what sweater he wears. Kevyn Adams has been injured most of the year and just returned to the lineup on Sunday. Andrew Ladd has played well since the trade deadline trade. In eight games with the Blackhawks, Ladd has recorded six (2/4) points and is a -1.

Since the Ladd trade, Tuomo Ruutu has played well with the Hurricanes, recording just three (1/2) points, but he's been a very physical and energetic player.

Sergei Samsonov, though, has to be the best acquisition the Hurricanes have made in quite some time. Since being claimed on re-entry waivers from the Blackhawks on January 8, Samsonov has 24 (12/12) points in 27 games and is a +11. In that time frame, he's been the most prolific Hurricanes scorer, and one of the biggest stories in the NHL.

Although these teams don't face each other very often, they know each other pretty well.

The Blackhawks are fighting just to make the playoffs, while the Hurricanes will try to extend their lead in the SE division and build on their longest winning streak of the season.

Game recap to follow.

Adams Family reunited again (sort of)

The "Adams Family" of Craig Adams and Kevyn Adams played together for almost five seasons in Carolina. They are not related to each other, nor are they related to TV's "The Addams Family". According to legend, Gomez Addams (two Ds) was born Adams (one D), but changed the spelling of his name to avoid confusion with "that other prominent Adams family" from which two US Presidents emerged.

During the abysmal 2006-07 season, Kevyn was traded to Poenix for Dennis Seidenberg. During this past summer, the Coyotes traded K-Ads to Chicago for Radim Vrbata, who is former teammate of Adams with the Hurricanes. One month into this season, Kevyn tore the ACL and the MCL in his left knee, and will most likely be out for the remainder of the season.

Craig Adams (aka "Hands of Feet") was drafted by the Whalers. He spent his entire career as property of the Hurricanes. There was a one month period in the summer of '05 when he was with the Ducks, but before the regular season began, he was traded back to Carolina. Last week, he was traded to the Blackhawks for "future considerations".

Kevyn Adams was a fan favorite. He took time for the kids, he worked really hard, and even though he was never the most productive, he was one of the hardest working guys. Craig Adams wasn't exactly a "fan favorite". He brought tenacity to the table, and would never hesitate to drop the mitts to protect his teammates. His skills were lacking, and he didn't have the Chad LaRose work ethic to make up for it. Still, he was a familiar fixture. People just accepted the fact that Craig Adams was a Hurricane and he was somewhat of a "company man".

Until last week.

Canes GM Jim Rutherford promised that he would shake up the team in an effort to get the ship headed in the right direction. Rumors were flying (and are still flying) that some of the big name players might be traded. I don't think that's in the works. Yet. He wants to scare the players into thinking that their jobs aren't secure. The demotion of John Grahame was meant to send a message. The trading of Adams was another message.

The Adams trade served two purposes. It said that not even a "company man" was safe. It also, as many are suspecting, was a gesture towards the Blackhawks for Sergei Samsonov. They are paying half of what's left on his salary, and the Canes are already getting better production out of him in six games than they did in half a season. I don't think there are any "future considerations", and that's fine.

So, Craig "Hands of Feet" Adams is playing the part of George Jones and Kevyn is playing the part of Tammy Wynette. They're, um.. "Together Again". Kevyn is done for the season, so they won't play together this season, but if they both stay next year, they might like their fourth line Adams Family.

On Friday night, I tuned in to watch some of the Blackhawks game against the Avalanche, just so I could see CrAdams in his new uniform. One of the first things I saw was him getting absolutely Phaneufed by Marek Svatos in the third period. Welcome to the Western Conference!

CrAdams banned for two games; Larose and Tanabe concussed; Albany has the flu

The Carolina Hurricanes have been called a lot of things by a lot of people. "Dirty" has never been one of them. Prior to this season, the last time a Hurricanes player was handed an NHL suspension was in the 2002 playoffs. Suddenly, in the last four games, two Hurricanes have been suspended.

Scott Walker was given a one game suspension for headbutting the Senators' Mike Fisher.

Against the Leafs last night, Craig Adams was penalized for high-sticking Alex Steen late in the third period before the Leafs' monumental collapse. As I watched the game, I wondered why the call was "high sticking" rather than "cross checking". It was a high hit, and it was to the head. The league is doing its part to make sure hits to the head are kept to a minimum. Today, the league handed Craiggers a two game suspension.
However, Luke Decock wants to know (and so do I) why that player was singled out. In the first period of that game, Nik Antropov clipped Erik Cole in the face, opening a cut. No penalty. Occasionally, the refs miss stuff, but even the Leafs announcers wondered where the call was.

In the third, Alex Ponikarovsky (who would later become the goat) checked Chad "Sharpie" LaRose from behind into the end wall, giving him a concussion. No penalty there either, but the ref was right on top of it and let it go.

At some point in the first period, "Avi" Tanabe suffered a concussion, but nobody knows how or when. I assume he concussed himself when he considered actually hitting someone.

Both Tanabe and LaRose failed baseline tests and did not travel with the team. This is not good news. The Albany River Rats have the flu. Got that? The whole team. Has the flu. They won't be of any help. Just yesterday, they themselves called up seven players from the ECHL Elmira (NY) Jackals. The Jackals are somehow affiliated with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but ECHL affiliations are loose at best.
The River Rats can ill afford to be without any of their players -- they already have THIRTEEN players out with flu or injury -- but Carolina will be missing two forwards and possibly will continue to miss Rod Brind'Amour with the flu. No moves yet, but I'm itching to get a look at RW Jerome Samson who has 18 (11/7) points in Albany or LW Brandon Nolan (son of Ted), who has 21 (10/11). Neither have made their NHL debut, but both are playing better than Keith Aucoin and Dave Gove.

The suspension isn't that much of a surprise, but the news of two concussions was unwelcome. Carolina does not have enough healthy extras to fill those voids. Someone is gonna get a call from somewhere.

Canes beat weary Canucks 3-1

On Monday night, the Vancouver Canuncks came to town for the first time in almost four years. Carolina had to (literally) fight harder than they would have liked, but the end result was a 3-1 win for the guys in red.

The first period was dominated by the Hurricanes. It was clear that the visitors had tired legs as the Canes kept the puck in the Vancouver zone for most of the period and dominated the SOG category 16-6. There was no scoring, but Carolina was by far and away the better team in the first frame.

Cory Stillman got the Canes on the board at 5:07 of the second with a one-timer from the top of the right circle. Ray Whitney and Matt Cullen assisted on the power play goal. Of course, Carolina was employing the five forward PP unit. This came just moments after an apparent goal had been nullified at 2:16 of the second. I suppose the ruling was the variety of "goaltender interference" where the goal is disallowed, but no penalty is called.

The power play was the result of an extra roughing penalty assessed to the Canucks after Craig Adams and Kevin Bieksa went toe-to-toe. For the record, Craig got clobbered in the fight. It only took 28 seconds of the man advantage to get the lamp lit.

At 17:44, Rick Rypien (cousin of former Washington Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien) took offence to Mike Commodore's rough treatment of Byron Ritchie. Those two gentlemen had a long fight right beside the penalty benches, with neither combatant getting the upper hand.

Five minutes into the third frame, there was a third fight. Brad Isbister had run Cam Ward and got away with it, but Tim Gleason forced him to pay the consequences by abusing Isbister in a heavyweight bout at center ice.

Chad "Sharpie" LaRose was rewarded for his extraordinary work ethic with a breakaway goal at 7:01. Like Tom Brady-to-Randy Moss against the Dolphins on Sunday afternoon, Rod Brind'Amour saw Chad LaRose at center ice, just behind four white shirts. Brindy threaded the needle and hit LaRose with a perfect pass from deep in the Carolina zone to center ice. LaRose streaked into the Vancouver zone all alone and buried it top shelf against Roberto Luongo.

Vancouver finally started to get their game together about midway through the final stanza. They kept Carolina out of Luongo's house, played very aggressively, and eventually got one past Cam Ward. Brad Isbister had a very nice wrap-around chance, which was denied by Ward. However, at 13:19, Brendan Morrison tucked in the rebound to make it interesting.

In the final minute, after the Canucks had pulled Luongo for an extra attacker, they were caught for having too many men. Loungo had come back on the ice, but nobody came off. Seconds later, Luongo was pulled again, and Ray Whitney put one into the empty cage to make it 3-1.

Chad LaRose had the game-winning goal and was named the game's first star because of it. I'm glad for the guy, but I just didn't see him as the best player on the ice. The "official" three stars were Mike Commodore(third), Ray Whitney (second) and Chad LaRose (first). I saw it completely differently. Really, any number of players could have been any of the three stars, but I finally settled on a completely different set. The RBH three stars:
THIRD STAR Tim Gleason, CAR --- 5 hits, 7 PIM
SECOND STAR Cam Ward, CAR --- 19 saves, win
FIRST STAR Rod Brind'Amour, CAR --- 2 assists

It should be pointed out that five of Gleason's seven PIM are the "good" variety. He stuck up for his teammates, took down his opponent. We'll gladly take the five for fighting in the name of "team toughness". It wasn't fighting for the sake of fighting or common goonery. It was purposeful. He has been a very dependable defenseman lately, taking away passing lanes, laying down to block shots, and doing all sorts of other inglorious things that good defensemen do.

It should also be pointed out that Cam Ward never had to stand on his head, and he only faced 20 shots. Still, he made it look easy,

Brindy's pass that sprung LaRose was a thing of absolute beauty. How in the world he found LaRose among those four Canucks is beyond me. At the end of the game, he forced a turnover deep in the Vancouver end, and instead of firing it at the empty net from a tough angle, he unselfishly dished it to Whitney for the easy goal.

I was impressed by Craig Adams, who played very good two-way hockey tonight.

Chad LaRose also played very good two-way hockey. He racked up 18 minutes of ice time tonight, and looked very comfortable with his increased role. He got the game-winner on a very pretty goal, and I really wish I could name him one of the RBH stars, but there were too many others.

Buffalo comes to town on Wednesday, and it's probably safe to assume that it'll be another fight-filled game. These two teams do not like each other, and the tempers usually flare.

The three game home stand will conclude Friday against Les Habitants. I'll be in Raleigh that night (and all weekend long), but not at the game.

Canes report card .... part 4 of 5

Here's part four of the Canes mid-season report cards. I'm almost done with the whole thing.

#27 Craig Adams (aka "CrAdams", aka "Craigassaurus Rex" aka "Craiggers", aka "Hands of Feet", aka "Hands of Stone") -- D+
CrAdams, like the unrelated Kevyn Adams, is not doing much to provide energy to the "energy line". He's looked bad at times, and has a cumulative -9 rating for the season, ranking him second to last on the team. Expectations were pretty low for the Brunei native, but even with increased ice time due to injuries, Craig has failed to meet the low expectations. He's appeared in every game this season and has accumulated just 9 points (6/3), which means he's behind defensemen Mike Commodore (16 points) and Anton Babchuk (10 points). He's also behind Cory Stillman, who has 10 points in just 12 games. He's slow-footed and lacks offensive ability, but he's very good on the backcheck and at battling for loose pucks. Not enough to get him a better grade, though. Craiggers will have two more years in Carolina.

#28 Andrew Hutchinson (aka "Hutch")-- B-
Due to a couple of long visits to the injured reserve last season, Hutch failed to meet the criteria for getting his name etched on the Cup -- 41 regular season games played OR 1 game in SCF), the Canes petitioned the League to have Hutch on there. The league approved. This season, the injuries have been to just about every one else, and hutch has seen his ice time and his role on the team increase. He went from being a seventh defenseman or healthy scratch to being an every night starter. He hasn't disappointed, but he hasn't exactly shone either. Neither a horrifying liability nor a tremendous asset. One thing the coaches asked him to work on last year was putting more pucks on net. He does a good job of running the power play, but they wanted him to shoot more. He's getting better, but he's not exactly what anyone would call an "offensive threat". That said, he's on pace to set a new personal best point production. Thanks to increased ice time.

#30 Cam Ward (aka "Wardo") -- C
The Conn Smythe winner got off to a really slow start this season, and has faltered at times. Still, he has a winning record (19-12-3), and his GAA (2.78) and his SV% (.901) are somewhere around 20th in the league. Not terrible. One mitigating factor in the grade here is that there has not been one single game this season where he has had a full, healthy blue line in front of him. Most nights, two or more defensemen are hurt, and right now, there are four out. When one of the few available defenseman is Avi Tanabe, there's trouble. Given that, I think he's done a fine job. We'll see what happens when Frantisek Kaberle et al return and Ward can focus on goaltending.
Defensive help or no defensive help, there's still the problem with Cam's rebound control, which has been spotty. I contend that this will get better when the Canes better defensemen are back on the ice, and they can deal with the rebounds.

#45 David Tanabe (aka Avi, aka "Snuggles") D-
Last night's game against the Islanders notwithstanding, Tanabe has been pretty bad. He's been irresponsible in his own end, sloppy in neutral ice, and non-existent in the offensive zone. He has tremendous speed, and should be a more active player in the Canes "everybody in" offensive system. He's made some horrible mistakes that have led directly to goals against, and some other plays that have indirectly led to goals against.
He has had a few moments of brilliance, which gives false hope that he's developing better skills. However, those hopes are quashed when he does something dumb on the next shift, or the next period, or the next game. He can be good in all aspects of the game, but he does it with such infrequency.

#47 John Grahame (aka Crackers, aka "Johnny Crackers", aka "Johnny G") -- D+
Carolina allowed Marin Gerber to head off to Ottawa, promoted Ward to the #1 spot, and went out and got John Grahame. Grahame had struggled a bit in Tampa, and was sort of in John Tortarelli's dog house. Peter Laviolette, however, has a good relationship with Crackers after having coached him a few times on Team USA. It was a gamble, but Canes fans were okay with having him as a back up.
Grahame is a very big dude with a completely different style from Ward, which probably gives the defensemen fits the same way a wide receiver struggles with a quarterback who throws the ball differently from the normal guy. Okay, it's nowhere near the same, but the way he sets up and the way he plays the shots and handles rebounds is so different from Ward's style that the players have to adjust when Grahame is in the pipes.
In limited appearances, Grahame has been inconsistent. That's to be expected when you only play once every ten games or so. Unlike some former Canes goaltenders who had been relegated to backup, he's not sitting there sulking and pouting, though. He wants to help the team, and is always one of the first guys out there to congratulate Ward after a win.
One thing that is disappointing is his focus. He gets rattled and stays rattled when he makes a mistake.
Honestly, I'd like him to get some more starts so he can have a chance to improve on the things like rebound control and concentration. It's hard to simulate that in practice. With a thinner schedule in the second half (fewer back-to-backs) there won't be so many obvious chances for Crackers to start.

open thread -- Sabres 4 - Canes 1

I can't quite "liveblog", but I'll update this thing during intermissions and I might post comments during teevee timeouts.

The annoying word verification has been temporarily disabled, so comment away!

FIRST PERIOD
Good stuff. Carolina has to be given a slight edge. The teams took turns controlling the pace for two minute increments, but Carolina dominated the shots on goal statistic. After 20 minutes, Carolina has taken 10 shots and Buffalo just one.

Ryan Miller has been great. He's made probably three highlight reel saves. One on an Erik Cole one-timer, one on a Ray Whitney attempt from the low slot, and one on a Justin Williams wrap chance.

If the rest of the game is like this, I wouldn't mind a loss. Of course a win would be much better.

Just one penalty so far, which is mildly surprising given that Captain Hairspray is the charge official.

SECOND PERIOD
1:21. Jason Pominville stuffed in a rebound from close range. Jochen Hecht and Teppo Numinen Daniel Briere got the helpers. Peter Laviolette was barking at the officials about something, but the only thing he should be mad about is his goaltender's inability to control rebounds. Actually, J-Pom stole it from someone (I think Commodore). Either way, I didn't like it.

2:52. Chris Drury attempted a wrap around, then backhanded the rebound in. Unassisted goal. Paul Gaustad with the lone assist.

I really don't like the way Crackers is handling rebounds. Buffalo has also shown that it's not so much about quantity of shots as it is quality.

The Canes mounted a shorthanded rush, and after an unsuccessful shot, Maxim Afenogenov checked Viva into the boards a little rough. A little extra stuff with hands to the face, but nothing all that bad. The two squared off, and there wasn't much of a fight as Afenogenov threw Williams down. Brind'Amour was upset, in case you're wondering, because after both linesman intervened and Williams was down and out, Maxi kept throwing punches. The only penalties were to each player for fighting.

16:18. Tomas Vanek set a beautiful screen in front of Grahame, which ultimately allowed him to give the Sabres the field goal lead. The intitial shot from the right circle (and the primary assist) was Jaro Spacek. The second helper was to Derek Roy.

Once again, Carolina registered 10 shots, but Ryan Miller answered the bell every time. He fumbled with one, but a heads up play by a Sabres defenseman prevented Eric Belanger from getting to a loose puck with an open net.

John Grahame is really struggling with his rebounds. Too many of them are going right to the doorstep, where the Sabres are able to capitalize.

It's never too late, but I'm just about ready to start drafting my "Danny Briere is kool" post.

THIRD PERIOD
Carolina continued to get a bunch of shots on net, but every single time Ryan Miller was on point. His rebound control was excellent, and his defense was great in front of him. The few rebounds that Miller allowed were kicked out to the corners or were handled by the defense. Carolina wasn't getting any of the second chances that Buffalo got and took advantage of.

18:51. Carolina stunned me by avoiding the shutout. CrAdams potted a shorthander from above the right circle. Miller got a pad on it, but it snuck through him. Chad "Sharpie" LaRose and Rod Brind'Amour had the assists.

19:18. During the same Sabres power play, Erik Cole caught up to a breaking away Ales Kotalik, and hooked him. Unfortunately, the referees determined that the criteria were met for a penalty shot. It was the first in Kotalik's career, and he made good on it. He came straight down broadway and at the very last second, made a subtle move to the backhand and beat Grahame like that. Technically speaking, it was a power play goal.

Ryan Miller was far and away the best player on the ice tonight, and it's tough to discern the remaining two stars. "Officially", they were Paul Gaustad (third) and Tomas Vanek (second). The way I see it is only slightly different. The RBH three stars:

Third Star Tomas Vanek, BUF. goal
Second Star Jason Pominville, BUF. goal
First Star Ryan Miller, BUF. 29 saves

For one period, Carolina was good. For one they were bad. For one they were about even. The bad one cost them.

Ray Whitney saw a five game point streak end, and Justin Williams saw an eight game point streak end. Eric Staal looked terrible.

Although the Canes TV announcers think otherwise, I think it's pretty clear that Carolina can't run with Buffalo. They won't have time to cry into their Stanley Cup either. They've got to fly home and play the NHL best Ducks, who are already in Raleigh waiting. Even with injuries to both goaltenders and three other players, the Ducks are a juggernaut, and a well rested one. The Flyers, who are busy snapping their 10-game losing streak, will also be in Raleigh waiting for the Canes.

I guess I better get to finding ways to compliment Daniel Briere.

Canes lose Cup rematch, Captain

On Wednesday night, the Canes lost to the Oilers 3-1. Turns out my prediction was pretty lousy.

I got home just in time for the third period and haven't gone back to watch from the beginning yet, but based on the third period, the Oilers were the much better team. They completely dominated the flow of the game and completely shut down Carolina's speedy skaters.

At some point in the second period, Rod Brind'Amour suffered an injury (which I haven't seen yet) that kept him from returning to the game. I can imagine the jubilation in the BoA headquarters as the Oilers won the game handily AND their least favorite player in the league got knocked out with what has only been called a "lower body" injury.

Mick McGeough is a terrible official. Oilers fans don't need to be told that. Even as an extremely biased Canes fan, there were two times during the third period that Canes players should have been penalized. With about 6 minutes to play, there was a blatant slash committed by Scott Walker behind the Canes net that was let go. There was a blatant trip committed later that was let go. Moments after the non-call with the slash, Marty Reasoner caught Mike Commodore with a blatant high-stick, opening a cut on Commy's nose. It should have been a four minute penalty, but there was none. This was the same crew that officiated the Canes-Flames game and let A LOT of stuff go for both sides. At first, I thought it was just that there was a slightly different rules interpretation in the Western Conference. After two consecutive nights, it's obvious that it's just McGeough. He's a lousy lousy official. I know he's pissed about having to wear a lid this season, but that's no excuse for being a worse ref than he already was. The thing with the phantom hand pass a few weeks ago was absolutely disgusting, and the way he called the game tonight, you wouldn't blame the players if they decided to take the law into their own hands. The League and the Officials Association need to do a better job of holding the refs accountable for poor performance.

I don't think the officiating had anything to do with the fact that Carolina lost. They lost because Edmonton was better. Like I said, I saw two obvious penalties against Carolina that weren't whistled, too.

The goal scorers for the Oil were Brad Winchester (2:30 of the second), Jason Smith (19:00 of the second) and Saint Fernando Pisani (1:44 of the third). CrAdams had the lone goal for the Canes.

Now I have to go back and watch the game from the beginning and also try to find out what happened to Brind'Amour.

Carolina will have Friday off, and will be happy just to get out of Alberta. On to BC, where they'll take on the 'Nucks on Saturday night. Hopefully, McGeough won't be anywhere in sight.

Canes defeat Blueshirts, take 6 of 8 points on homestand.

On Wednesday night, the Hurricanes closed out their four game home stand with a 2-1 win over the Rangers. The boys took six of a possible eight standings points during the home stand and have closed Atlanta's lead in the Southeast to four points. After getting off to a very rocky start, and taking some time to find itself, the team was told by coach Laviolette that they needed to win all four games. Unfortunately, the Sabres had other plans on Monday night. "Three out of four," said Laviolette, is "okay".

There was a lot of talk about how the Canes needed to come out with at least six points, and that certain players were already on the proverbial trading block, and that certain players who wear an "A" on their chest would have a chance to keep their job. All of this talk, of course, was coming from message boards, bloggers, and Bucky Gleason, who is the Buffalo News' answer to Ned the Head.

In an article in the News on Tuesday, Gleason pointed to one game of insignificant ice time for Kevyn Adams and suggested that it was a trend spelling the end for him. I could go into detail about how Gleason is missing the boat on this, but I doubt that Gleason actually watched the game in question, or even referred to the shift chart, or is even aware of the fact that K-Ads is a fourth line center.

There's all sorts of crazy rumors flying around, though. I've heard so many different trade scenarios. Every one of them involves David Tanabe and either John Grahame, Kevyn Adams, or a pick. One completely insane nonsensical rumor I heard was David Tanabe and Kevyn Adams for Daniel Alfredsson. You see how crazy that is?

One really interesting rumor (really just an idea, I suppose) was David Tanabe and parts to the Flyers for Freddy Meyer. I like that idea.

All the trade talk aside, the Canes knew that they had to win on Wednesday. Although it wasn't pretty, they did it.

We thought we were being given a break from Holly Wilver when they announced that Miss North Carolina was singing the National Anthem. I actually thought that Miss NC did a pretty lousy job. She tried too hard to opera it up. I don't know what ever happened to just singing the damn song straight up without being all showy.
The guys from 850:The Blog were there, and in their liveblog of the game, they pretty much hit it on the head:

she ain’t winning the big crown unless the plans on singing while twirling flaming batons and riding a unicycle.

Due to the fact that the Rangers had played the night previous, Henny Lundqvist got the night off and we got to see our old pal "Shady 80" in the pipes. It became a sort of homecoming party, as there were five former Canes and two more former Whalers on the Rangers squad. Matt Cullen and Aaron Ward both played last season in Carolina. Kevin Weekes played between 2002 and 2004. Defenseman Marek Malik played here for almost five seasons, and defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh played a season and a half.

Craig Adams got the Canes on the board early, and it looked like we would be off to the races. He picked up a short rebound of an Anton Babchuk shot and sent it past Kevin Weekes at the 2:51 mark. Babs with the first assist and Chad "Sharpie" LaRose with the secondary.

I think this officiating crew was in a hurry to get back to the hotel to watch a Seinfeld rerun or something. They missed a bunch of calls on both sides in the first period, and they only called a total of seven penalties. Only three against the Canes. Carolina has been terribly undisciplined lately, and although I believe they were cleaner and more focused, they weren't that clean. There was a lot of clutching, grabbing, punching and tackling by BOTH teams that went unpenalized. Whereas last season the officials did a great job with being consistant, they're not so much this season. One night, they call ticky tacky stuff, and the next night, there's more clutching and grabbing than a high school prom.

Midway through the first, Cam Ward showed why he won the Conn Smythe and why he's the clear #1 goalie in Carolina. He was staring at one of the most feared things in all of hockey: Jaromir Jagr was barreling down the center of the ice on a breakaway, no Canes in sight. Cam was patient and calm, forcing Jagr to make his move first. Jagr waited too long and ended up putting it right in Wards pads. Cam was as steady as could be, where a lot of other goalies would've panicked and overcommitted.

Late in the first, a tiny little skirmish developed in the southeast corner. It wasn't that big of a deal. No punches, no penalties. The only reason I bring it up is that nine players jumped in. The one player who didn't jump in to defend his teammates: David Tanabe. It's little stuff like that, and getting in Brindy's way the other night. Then there's the big stuff. The lazy penalties, the missed assignments, the times that he screens Ward out causing goals against. I'll get to that later.

Nothing at all happened in the rest of the first. The first penalty of the game wasn't called until the 20th minute, and it was when Malik flat-out tackled Erik Cole in neutral ice.

At 3:40 of the second, the refs had no choice but to blow their whistles when Anton Babchuk shot the puck over the glass for delay of game. The next 10 minutes, nothing happened. The teams each took one obvious hooking penalty. One more blatant hook by the Canes, and we finally got some action.

At 16:02 of the second, Jaromir Jagr scored his 599th career goal on a pretty one-timer from the left face off dot. Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka got the assists on the power play goal. On the play, David Tanabe was terrible. Jagr was all by himself at the top of the left face off circle, and Avi positioned himself at just the right spot to make it impossible for Cam Ward to see the shot.

Right on the third period face off, we saw the game's sixth penalty. It was a double-minor to Eric Staal for high sticking Matt Cullen. Inadvertent, but still careless, and a no-brainer of a call. There was only one more penalty in the game, and it was a marginal trip called on Jagr.

At 13:55 of the third, after the Canes had hit four posts earlier in the game, Rod Brind'Amour hit another post, but the puck bounced in that time. Off a draw that Brind'Amour lost down in the Rags end, Viva got control of the puck behind Weekes. Instead of attempting a wrap-around, Williams spotted Brindy alone in the high slot, and Brindy beat Weekes high on the stick side from there. That was the only assist, and the goal turned out to be the game winner.

Once again, Erik Cole was hitting everything in sight. This time, however, he did it all within the rules of the game. Sometimes it actually scares me, but there was nothing dangerous in this game.

With our continuing injuries to the blue line, and the shaky play of David Tanabe, Anton Babchuk has seen a huge jump in ice time. He's been really good, too. Much more than just a "fill-in", he's seen increased responsibilities and is doing just fine as a #3 or #4 defenseman. He's very seldomly in the wrong place, is very positionally sound, and is showing to have a ton of offensive upside. On the CrAdams goal, he made it happen by joining the rush and getting the initial shot on Weekes.

The "official" three stars went to Cam Ward (third), Chad LaRose (second) and Rod Brind'Amour (first). I didn't quite see it that way, and it was really hard to pick, but mine are more like:

Third Star Anton Babchuk, CAR. 20:10 TOI, +2, 3 blocked shots, 1 assist.
Second Star Jaromir Jagr, NYR. 24:49 TOI, 5 SOG, 1 goal, 599 career goals.
First Star Cam Ward, CAR. 23 saves, Win.

Canes get off the schneide!

On Friday night, the Canes finally won a game, and people will finally stop asking me "Dude, what the eff is wrong with your Canes?" It took a little more of that dramatic fashion stuff than I would have liked, but a win is a win. More importantly, a regulation win is very important in divisional play.

Coach Laviolette decided to shake the lines up a bit, so some guys were playing with guys they've never lined with before. Also, Lavi dressed seven defensemen and gave Trevor "The Dude" Letowski the night off. The lines looked like this:


Scott Walker, who had been playing well on the third line, the "new guy" line with Eric Belanger and Trevor Letowski, got a chance to move up to the first line. Erik Cole moved down to the second line and over to the right wing. CrAdams moved off the "Adams Family" line up to the second line with Brindy and Cole. Canes TV color commentator Tripp Tracy refered to this line as "The ABC Line", then added "... for those who enjoy the alphabet". Okay...

The third line, formerly composed of all new guys, was shaken up quite a bit. Andrew Ladd and Ray Whitney bookended Eric Belanger. With CrAdams up on the second line and Trevor Letowski scratched, Andrew Hutchinson was dressed as a seventh defenseman and played left wing on the fourth line.

This move payed huge dividends for Craiggers, who scored the game's first two goals. At 9:33 of the first, CrAdams scored by getting behind Kari Lehtonen on the rebound from an Erik Cole shot from the slot. Lehtonen made the first stop, but Adams was there to grab the rebound on the left side of the goal mouth. Lehtonen was already too far out to get back for Adams' shot. Erik Cole and Rod Brind'Amour with the assists. It was Brindy's first point of the season

At 15:27 of the first, Adams got his second goal. Nic Wallin fired a shot from the blue line that was handled by Lehtonen, but the rebound popped out to Adams in the low slot. He patiently slid over to the right side of the net and eased the puck in. Wallin and Brindy each got a helper.

At 19:59, the Canes got their first of two dramatic goals. Down in the Carolina end, Mike Commodore made a nice defensive play, after Cam Ward had made a great stop on Ilya Kovalchuk. Commy flicked the puck off the glass, and down ice to Eric Staal, who was streaking down the right side. Staal broke into the Atlanta zone ahead of two Thrashers and beat Lehtonen off the right post. Commodore had the only assist. The play was reviewed to make sure that the red light beat the green light. It did. Initially, they showed 00:00.1 on the clock, but they reset it to 1.6 seconds. Neither is time enough to do anything from a center ice faceoff.

In the first period, the Canes looked really sharp. They played extremely well in their own end, and had good puck movement in the Atlanta end. The latter is something that we just haven't seen much of this young season. It will mostly go unnoticed, but Eric Belanger had a good first period, and a good game. He didn't crack the scoresheet, but he played very well on both ends.

The second period was owned by the Thrashers. They were pretty much having their way and controlling the flow, getting better chances. All that. At 14:18 of the second, Jon Sim put the birds on the board on a crazy play. A Thrashers shot sailed wide of the net, hit the endboards, and bounced back over the goal, where two Thrashers skaters were hanging out in the crease. The were feverishly whacking at the air and the puck, and Cam Ward was lucky just to have even had a chance on the play. He made one stop, and the puck just barely snuck in under him and to his right. This goal was also reviewed. I'm not sure why. Glen Metropolit and Vitaly Vishnevski got assists.

Only 22 seconds later, Jon Sim made the game interesting. Whereas the first goal was somewhat of a fluke, this second one was a case of making something our of absolutely nothing. Vyacheslav Kozlov slid a pass into the goal mouth area from behind the goal line on the right side. Sim took the pass on the right side of the net, and with Tim Gleason pressuring him, he made a perfect shot. He didn't have any time or space to maneuver, but somehow he found the back of the net. Kozlov's assist was the only one on the play.

Nothing happened for the next 20 minutes. The Canes looked really flat, and the Thrashers had several good chances to knot it up. Atlanta committed two penalties, but their kill looked great, and the Canes never mounted any serious threat. Then, at 14:39 of the third, almost exactly 20 minutes after Sim's second goal, Bobby Holik tied it up. He made a tremendous move to skate through a bevy of Canes defenders. He attempted to make a pass to a teammate through the slot, but it caromed off a defensman's skate and right back to Holik. He made no mistake putting it in. Scott Mellanby and Andy Sutton got assists.

As the period wound down, it looked like the game was destined for overtime. Nobody likes to go to overtime against a divisional opponent, but one standings point is better than none, and at that point, the Canes would have been content to take the one point. Fortunately, it didn't come to that. Atlanta committed an icing infraction with just 00:08 on the clock, bringing the face off down to the Thrashers end, at the left dot. Brind'Amour won the draw, and somehow Eric Staal ended up with the puck behind the goal line on the right side of the net. He made a blind centering pass to Ray Whitney, who didn't quite get all of it, but got enough of it to send the puck past Lehtonen with less than a second remaining. Staal and Brindy got the helpers. Whitney, who I had just called out a day ago, got his first goal of the season. More importantly, the Canes got their first win of the season. To reiterate a point, the buzzer beater was enormous in another way: it denied Atlanta a standings point that they would have gotten for going to overtime.

All goals were scored at even strength.

Counting the two buzzer beaters scored by the Canes on friday night, I can now think of three times that the Canes have scored a goal with less than a second remaining in a period in the Philips Arena. On March 5 2004, Kevyn Adams scored a shorthanded breakaway goal with four tenths of a second remaining in overtime at Philips Arena.

Tonight, the Canes will take their traveling road show to Pittsburgh. The Canes will see their friend Mark Recchi, and Eric Staal will see his brother Jordan. Erik Cole will not be seeing Brooks Orpik, who is out after having hand surgery.