Special Double Issue!

I didn't do a weekly recap last week NOT because I was lazy, but because I wanted to provide my loyal readers with a special double issue - twice the amount of information packed into one week!

(Don't you hate when print magazines pull that crap? I do. But I wouldn't be too optimistic that the next post will be next week - unfortunately college has these things called exams...)

So, let's enter the time machine and recap what's happened since the day before Thanksgiving:

- Canes lost to the C[r]apitals 3-2, despite coming back and scoring two goals in the third period to tie it up.

- Canes won 3-0 over Boston. They looked pretty awesome, which was surprising, as the Canes have generally looked like crap when they play against teams that are above us in the standings this season. Cam Ward also walked away with his first shutout of the year. All three goals came on the power play, which was remarkable because at the time Boston had the best penalty kill in the league.

- Canes lost to the C[r]apitals 3-2, despite coming back. And, no, I didn't get lazy and just copy the first bullet - this game the Canes lost in a shootout. Canes haven't been looking too good in shootouts of late - almost no goals scored in them. I'm hoping this isn't like two seasons ago where the Canes had an abysmal time in the shootouts. I'm too lazy to look up the exact facts, but I believe Rod Brind'Amour had the only shootout goal for about three-quarters of the season. Isn't it sad that I'm just hoping that this season isn't as bad as previous ones?

- Canes then lost 4-1 to the Stars, a game where I just kind of shook my head listening to Chuck Kaiton described the rapid succession of goals for Dallas early in the second period.

- Canes won in OT over Colorado 2-1, the winning goal being scored by Brandon Sutter.

- Finally, the Canes lost 5-2 against the Predators last night. Depressing fact: Cam Ward has not won a game against Nashville in his career.

So where does this leave the Canes? They're currently 4th in the Southeast and 9th in the Conference with 25 points. However, they're not really that close to the 8th place Thrashers who have 31 points, and their record is decidedly mediocre at one game under .500. Pretty much, if you were to look up "meh" in the dictionary, the definition would certainly reference this team. They play decently, but most of the time not amazing - but they're definitely not anywhere near as poor as last season. Really, I think they need to go on some sort of win streak, just to get them over the hump of being a .500 team.

Will it happen this week? They play Dallas again and the Blues after a long five day break. I wouldn't be surprised if we continue our crappy play against them, but hopefully the Canes will win over the Blues. So, nope, I'm not predicting anything remarkable this week.


Erik Cole stats (Nov 28th): 1 goal
On the season: 5 goals, 6 assists