Solid

It's funny what a little bit of effort and hard work will do for you. The Canes played a solid game tonight and pulled off a 3-1 win over the Kitties from Florida. All three goals were effort goals: A Stillman putback of a loose puck, Walker fighting for the puck under Belfour, and the Brindy deflection short handed. Those are the kind of hard working goals this team needs to consistently get in order to break out of this goal-scoring slump.

The game would have been a shutout if not for the perfect example of the famed Olé Defense as demonstrated by Joe Vasicek. Nice one.

Disappointing

Another blown third period lead and the Canes find themselves out of the playoff picture. It was truly a tale of two halves as the Canes were in control up until they actually took the lead. Ottawa absolutely dominated the latter half of the game, piling up an impressive shot count, battering the Canes into submission. Once they took the lead late in the third, I never got the impression that the Canes were going to tie it up. I hoped, but it never looked like a hope with anything to back it up.

You have to give credit to Ottawa for doing what they needed to do, but the Canes let them do it and the only ones to blame are in the mirror. No real action from the Canes at the trading deadline today, so this is what they've got to work with. The teams around them, fighting for spots, made some serious moves. Most notably the Islanders, who with a win tonight supplanted the Canes for the final playoff spot. The guys need to find that fire, that killer instinct, that they had all of last season.

The best player on the ice for the Canes tonight was, strangely, Josef Vasicek. He seemed to play with a purpose and determination that the rest of the team lacked at times. I don't know why he seems to bring intensity when the rest of the team does not, but it's always something I noticed of him over the years. That's the primary reason he led the team in points several years back.

Back from the dead

OK, I decided enough was enough and it was about time for me to get back into the hockey blogging game. I have been completely out of touch with forums and message boards in the time I was "away", so it will be interesting for a while. A few things have happened recently to catch my attention...

1. If Josef Vasicek is the answer, I'm not sure I want to know what the question was. Josef, known now on the PK as "the Answer" (imagine the "Practice? We're talking about practice" speech in a czech accent), was acquired for Eric Belanger. Maybe JR thought we had one too many Erics on the team, or that he just wanted to get "the band" back together since we got Tanabe on the cheap at the beginning of the season. Regardless his reasoning, the Answer is now back with the Canes. We tried to warn Preds fans about Big Joe when the trade for Walker happened, but some lessons must be experienced.


2. Streissand's antics We have a numbers crunch on the roster when Frankie gets back and Streissand pulls a diva and won't report to Albany? What in the hell is that kid thinking? I've read that the human brain doesn't full mature until around the age of 25, and that was my first impression upon hearing Babs didn't want to report because he is an "NHL player, not a minor leaguer". Did someone not explain it well enough? I met the guy and his English seems OK. Although, to be fair, he only said two words. He looked liked he understood though. Whatever.
   
3. Forty minutesNot the average time on ice for El Capitan, rather the amount of time this season that the entire team has been healthy. Forty minutes of Kaberle back in the lineup and playing before Stillman went out. This team is in the thick of things and hasn't been healthy all year. One hopes they will be able to fully recover and make enough noise to get into the playoffs. Things are awfully tight.


4. Sugar Ray Who would have thought that our most productive player would be Whitney? The guy put up very good numbers last year, but was battling health issues. He's been healthy this year and leads the team in scoring by a bit, not to mention the monster 5 point night he had in Boston the other night. Wow.


5. The Key With everything going on with the Canes, the key to their success is still Wardo. The past two games, Ward has been simply outstanding. If he continues to play this way down the stretch, the Hurricanes might get healthy and on a roll into the post season. Only time will tell.

I'll try to keep things updated more often, but family, work, and various hobbies are keeping me busy all of the time. Adios.