Canes win first preseason game!

Canes win 4-3 in overtime in their first preseason game!

Having attended, I can tell you that the Canes have already got into their regular-season form: get behind and have a killer third period to come back and win it.
I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing...

Anyways... the first two periods were kind of bland. The Canes had offense, but it just didn't seem spectactular in any way. Same with the C[r]apitals. Their first goal was a fluke from the blue line, and I honestly can't remember what the second was like.

Then the third period came, and with it came the Canes offense. Noah Babin scored the first goal, and then Erik Cole came streaking down the wing less than a minute later to tie the game up at two. Then, with 3 minutes left, the Canes let one through to get the C[r]apitals ahead, but Justin Williams answered back with a minute left, off of a nice pass by Ryan Bayda.

Then overtime came, and Erik Cole was credited with another goal, this one being tipped from a Eric Staal shot. I thought a Washington dude had tipped it in, but apparently not.

So, to recap, the good news:
- Erik Cole looks as awesome as he ever was.
- Eric Staal ended up with three assists.
- Michael Leighton (the goalie obtained from the Canadiens (I think it was Montreal, at least...)) looked pretty decent in goal.
- Commodore looked solid, with a couple pinches in on net... Gleason looked pretty solid as well.
- Hockey is back!
- We won!

The bad news:
- None of the new guys stood out. I didn't really focus on anybody and say "That's one I'll have to watch out for". Not good.
- I hate the new scoresheets online. I want to see how many shots Grahame let in versus Leighton (and how to spell Leighton's name) - it doesn't tell you! I mean, the new stats (shots on goal during 5v5, 5v4, 4v4, etc.) are nice, but why did they take away stats? Makes no sense at all.
- The whole no-offense for the first forty minutes thing. I mean, it's nice when the Canes can pull it off - not so when they can't.

Next game is on Friday. YaY for hockey!