Canes defeat Ducks 4-2

Carolina played a very solid game on Friday following the frustrating loss to Buffalo on Thursday. The result was a 4-2 win over the Ducks. They were injury riddled, but the Canes will offer no sympathy in that department, as they are also depleted. What follows is the period-by-period updates done during intermissions. It'll take the place of my usual game recap. I left the comments (I was the only one playing along) in.

FIRST PERIOD:
The Canes tested Wall early and often. He answered the bell a couple of times in the first minute, and looked much better than his inexperience would suggest.

--7:42 Ray Whitney scores on a beautiful one-timer from Justin Williams. Avi Tanabe got the second assist. Tanabe (playing for the first time in weeks) started at the right point, worked his way across the ice, then dropped it back to Viva. He made a perfect tape-to-tape pass to The Wizard, who blasted the one-timer past Wall on the stick side.

Formally speaking, it was a power play goal at 7:42 of the first. Whitney from Williams and Tanabe.

Moments later, Carolina was on another power play and had a couple of great chances denied by Wall. In particular a really nice one on Scott Walker.

Late in the first, Carolina had another great chance turned aside by the rookie. Cory Stillman had a great breakaway chance that Wall made a really nice glove save on.

After 20 minutes, I like the way things look. Carolina will have to avoid the second period lull that has plagued them lately, and they will need to continue to play well on the kill.

A BUSY SECOND PERIOD:
Just :41 into the second, Teemu Selanne unleashed a howitzer from the high slot that beat Ward badly on the glove side. Ward didn't have a chance on the play. Scott Niedermayer and Mike Wall got the assists.

At 3:22, Selanne struck again. During a Ducks power play, he slapped one in from the left circle, beating Ward stick side. Chris Pronger and Andy McDonald got the assists.

At this point, it looked like Carolina might have been slipping, hitting the "lull". Fortunately, they were able to right the ship quickly.

Rod Brind'Amour evened the score at the 4:31 mark on a power play marker. Ray Whitney made a really nifty move to work his way through traffic in the high slot, then wristed a shot that was ever so slightly deflected by Brind'Amour. I thought it was Whitney's goal, but the replays got a good look at the deflection. Avi Tanabe got the second helper.

At 6:57, Viva put the Canes in front with his 19th goal of the season. He let one go from the inside hash marks of the left circle. Brind'Amour and Whitney got the helpers.

So far, the Wizard has three points while Viva, Brind'Amour, and Avi each have two.

I'd still like to get Cole involved, but so far, so good.

THIRD PERIOD
A quick period. The only goal was an empty netter at 19:30 by Erik Cole. Chris Pronger was gone for a double minor high sticking, and Wall was gone for the extra attacker. Carolina managed to work the puck to center ice, but missed two shots from that distance. After the second, Cory Stillman raced down to battle for the puck. An attempted clear by the Ducks went right to Colesy high in the slot. He wristed it in with authority from there to seal the deal.

Officially, the last goal was unassisted, and was a power play goal into an empty net.

Carolina has done something that only five teams had done thus far: beat the Ducks in regulation.

Unfortunately it came at a cost: Nic Wallin had to leave the game with an "upper body concern". Now we have THREE of our top six defensemen out. Tonight, Carolina had seven defensemen dressed, so it was okay, and they'll be able to dress Keith Aucoin (scratched tonight) as the twelfth forward on Sunday night. Nothing catastrophic.

The "official" three stars of the game were Viva (third), Ray Whitney (second) and the Captain (first). This was a perfunctory gesture on "Rod Brind'Amour night" (celebrating his reaching 1,000 career points), but he was still one of the best players on the ice. As homerish as I love to be, I can't quite play it that way. There's no way to ignore the performance of Teemu Selanne, who, by the way, has 1088 points in 999 career games (counting tonight).

The RBH three stars:

Third Star: Justin Williams, CAR. GWG on 1 shot, assist, GWG, 24:02 TOI
Second Star: Teemu Selanne, ANA. 2 goals on 2 shots
First Star: Ray Whitney, CAR. 1 goal on 1 shot, 2 assists.

Carolina's power play should actually be named the game's first star. They converted three of their six chances, and in reality, it should be more like three of five. Cole scored on the front end of the double minor to Pronger, and the back end still had 1:30 remaining when time expired.

Honorary mention goes to David Tanabe, whom I have given a really hard time. He had a great game both ways, picking up two assists on the night.

At times, Carolina looked the way they did in June. Their passing was crisp, their d-men were really stepping up, they were getting to loose pucks. All of that. They deserved this huge win.

On New Year's Eve, Carolina will play host to the floundering Flyers with the traditional Dec 31 start time of 8:00 pm eastern.

Canes face Ducks

On Friday night, the best team in the West is in Raleigh to face Carolina. Anaheim has only lost five games in regulation this season, and is off to the best start in franchise history. In fact, they're off to one of the best starts in the history of the NHL.

Tonight, though, the Ducks will have to be better than the best. With Ilya Bryzgalov AND J-S Giguere both out with groin injuries, the likely starter in the net is Mike Wall. He's only started one game at the NHL level, defeating Calgary 5-3 on November 26. He came in in relief of Giggy on Tuesday, and didn't allow anything as the Ducks squeaked by the Sharks 4-3.

Even at the AHL level, Wall doesn't have much experience. He appeared in 11 games for the Portland Pirates last season with a 5-5 record and a 3.38 GAA.

Of course the Ducks have an outstanding defense, and they will need to step up to protect their rookie keeper, who may be suspect between the pipes.

Unable to score a ticket, I'll have to watch this one from home.

Before the game, there'll be a ceremony honoring the Captain Rod Brind'Amour, who scored his 1,000th career point earlier this season. In doing so, he joined a class of only 71 players.

Also, FSN South color commentator Tripp Tracy will be doing his job from an on-ice perspective. I'm assuming he'll be lodged between the two benches, and hopefully we'll get some on-ice interviews during the game. That should be fun in itself.

I hate that I'll miss this. Both for the historic night, honoring Brindy, and for the opportunity to see the best team in hockey.

Hopefully Justin Williams and Erik Cole will have big nights. Eric Staal has been ice cold lately and really needs to bring it. He won't, though.

Sadly, I have to predict that the visitors will win. The Canes are tired, frustrated and injured. The Ducks are injured but rested. I'll say 5-3 Ducks. I'll predict that Teemu Selanne will be the best player. Of course I HOPE I'm wrong.

For Ducks-centric view on tonight's matchup, visit Girl with a Puck.

Same as last night, I'll open a comment thread and I'll post an almost liveblog during teevee timeouts.

Andrew Ladd and Kevyn Adams are both back on the ice for practice, but neither will be able to re-join the team. Frantisek Kaberle is getting closer to a return, Tim Gleason won't be back till late January, and I'd just as soon never see "Avi" Tanabe again. Two star defensemen and two forwards out for us.

For the Ducks, Giguere and Bryzgalev are both out. Defenseman Francois Beauchemin is out with a busted spleen. Also, defenseman Sean O'Donnell is out with a cut foot. Todd Merchant has some abdominal issue which has him sidelined as well. Two goalies a star defenseman and two other players out for them.

Yesterday, the Ducks made a deal with the Blackhawks which brought them Pens castoff goaltender Sebastien Caron and some spare parts. They gave up former Cane Bruno St. Jacques. All involved parties will report to their new team at the AHL level.

Puck drop shortly after the 7:00 Brind'Amour ceremony.