Canes drop first, are pathetic on powerplay

The Canes dropped their first game 2-0 to the Philadelphia Flyers last night.

First of all, let me just say that I don't believe you can really appreciate Chuck Kaiton until he is your only possible way of listening to a game. Also, the RBC must have been rocking at the start of the game, considering you could barely hear Chuck over the noise of the crowd.

That being said, after watching the "highlights" of the game, I am not that sad that I didn't see this one. It seemed like the Flyers took it to us, and we just couldn't convert. Not that we didn't have any opportunities, going zero-for-eight on the power play.

The penalty kill and power play are what killed the Canes, I think, seeing as both Philly goals came on a 4-minute Sergiei Samsonov high-sticking penalty (22 seconds apart, 47 seconds into the second period - aka "How to kill whatever momentum you might have had"). And, seriously, 0-for-8? That better not become a trend because that's just unacceptable.

Not to mention, the Canes were shut out against Ray Emery, a goalie who I really didn't think was going to be that good this year - I mean, come on, he played in the KHL last year. But either he's better than I thought, or we were just pathetic.

Tim Gleason got the first instigator penalty of the year, making him sit out 17 minutes of the game, after fighting Dan Carcillo who hit Ray Whitney from behind. And y'know, I'll take Gleason sitting out for that long just to make the point that punks like Carcillo can't take cheap knocks at our players. Good for Gleason to stick up for Ray Whitney.

Of course, I don't think that Gleason's absence helped the Canes at all on the defense, especially because Joni Pitkanen did not play in the game. But whatever, it's not like the defense was present when the Flyers scored their goals anyways.

Finally, props do go out to my man Erik Cole, who had two spectactular drives to the net which made the highlights. Unfortunately, he didn't convert on them, but it is a very good thing to see him as a presence on the ice in the first game.

The next game is tonight against Boston, who'll probably be out for revenge after their Game 7 loss in the playoffs. Maybe we'll score a goal in this one?