A week's worth of games!

Massive week recap: initiate

Canes lost their only game of the past week last Saturday against the Flyers 4-2.

Yes, that means they won more games than they lost in the last seven days. Of course, all of those games they won were against teams that aren't in playoff contention, but that is trivial information.

The next game was a 5-1 win over the Bruins, in which Cam Ward became the franchises' leading goalie in wins! The game was a shootout until David Krejci spoiled it a little over halfway into the third period. A real accomplishment for Ward, and I think it's a good sign that he still has so much of his career ahead of him. (Or at least, he better, due to the massive contract he'll be getting...)

Then came Wednesday's game against the Rangers, also a 5-1 tally in favor of the Canes. Sergei Samsonov and Eric Staal both had two goals apiece in that one.

Finally, the Canes knocked off the Islanders 4-1 last night.

Why couldn't we play this well earlier in the season? Why is this team suddenly having a spurt of wins when really we don't need them at all? Is this the aftereffects of the change in captaincy? If so, that move should have been done a long time ago, perhaps when we still had an outside shot at the playoffs.

Speaking of our captain, Eric Staal has 9 points in the five games since he became captain, 8 of them goals. Seriously, was the key to the lock on the dam of offensive talent a different letter stitched on your jersey? Dang.

So it's great that we're playing well, but this Caniac is slightly miffed that, in reality, it means nothing. We're still the second worst in the league (not even the worst anymore, what a consolation prize).

I guess this little winning streak can show to everyone that, see, all of us weren't crazy for rating this team higher in the preseason. This team can score goals. They just decided not to for the first half of the year.

We'll see how good this mini turnaround truly is when the Canes play the Blackhawks this Saturday. If the Canes win, well, I'd say we've got something going on here. If we lose, well, I won't be overly surprised.

Chad LaRose (Sunday): 1 goal
On the season: 3 goals, 8 assists