Game Recaps and Stuff

Haven't posted in a while, and I don't really have that great of an excuse, so let's just go to the recaps, eh?

Last weekend was the All-Star Game. Saturday was the skills competition (which I wasn't able to watch) and Sunday was the game itself, which the East won 12-11 in a shootout. Our very own All-Star, Eric Staal, scored one goal in the victory.

Then on Tuesday came the 3-2 loss against the Rangers. I thought the Canes played very well in this game - they just couldn't pull out the win. It was a rather well-paced game - there was no stoppage in play for 15-ish minutes in the third period!

Last night the Canes pulled one out against Tampa 3-2. Definitely didn't play as well in this one, although Chad LaRose notched the first shorthanded goal of the year! Cam Ward played very well, which covered up the Canes lameness on many accounts. Really, the Canes looked to be coasting to overtime in the third period, until Staal's lucky goal in the third.

Next game is tomorrow against Atlanta - starts at 8:00 for reasons unknown to this Caniac. Anyways, Atlanta's way out of the playoff picture, but a win would be nice because the Canes are the odd man out in ninth place right now.

Chad LaRose stats (Tuesday): 1 assist
(Thursday): 1 goal
On the season: 11 goals, 4 assists

Canes end winning streak

Canes lost 4-2 to the Panthers last night, ending their 4-game win streak.

Canes played well, but let the Panthers get two quick goals early in the third period, and they never recovered.

Tim Gleason went out of the game in the third period with what looked like a pretty nasty leg injury. According to "Canes Now" (somehow I liked "Lord Stanley's Blog better...), the Canes are optimistic that it's not a serious injury.

Meanwhile, Eric Staal was named to the All-Star team, the only Cane to be going to Montreal. He's probably the Cane that deserves it too (certainly not our esteemed captain, who still trails the entire league with a -26).

And, Scott Walker apparently has his own signature sandwich, the "Walker 24", now in local Harris Teeter stores. I haven't been able to find any details about what is actually in the sandwich, so I guess I'll have to pop in the local store to find out.

That's it for now. Canes play Boston (again) tomorrow in the afternoon.

Recaps and stuff

I have some overdue game recaps for you, my loyal readers.

First: Canes won 1-0 over Blues on last Thursday. The goal in that one was scored in Tuomo Ruutu, which I didn't see because I went to bed in the middle of the second period. I did realize in this game that, if you happen to be in a bad mood, John & Tripp on FSN South will absolutely cheer you up with their (sometimes useful, sometimes not) blabbering and random factoids.

Second: Canes lost 3-1 to the Oilers Saturday. I was receiving text messages about the score under a dinner table, so I can't really say how the Canes played in this one. I think Matt Cullen got injured, but I can't find an article easily to back that up, so whatever.

Third: The Canes picked up their first third jersey win 6-3 against Toronto. I watched this game, but can't really remember much except that the Canes started out looking like crap, but then they did a massive scoring flurry in the last four minutes of the second period to take the lead. Very good.

Then last night, the Canes won again against Toronto, this time in overtime 5-4. They should have won it in regulation, having gotten out to a 3-0 lead so quickly in the first, looking like they had completely demoralized the Leafs.

But nooooooooo, the Canes decided to mail it in, so the game had to be won by The Secret Weapon, Nic Wallin. Which was incredibly lucky.

So the next game is Thursday at Washington.

In random news: Brind'Amour, Staal, and Whitney made it onto the All-Star ballot.

And Marty Brodeur will be out 3-4 months after elbow surgery to repair a torn biceps tendon. And the description of what happened completely makes me cringe:

Brodeur extended his arm trying to make a save and ended up tearing the tendon that connects the bicep to the elbow off the bone.

Owie! And that completely sinks the Devils chances this season, a bummer for them - because Brodeur is one heckuva goalie.

Chad LaRose stats (Sunday): 1 goal, 1 assist
(Tuesday): 1 goal, 1 assist
On the season: 4 goals, 2 assists

All-Star Break is over...

The Canes return from the All-Star break tonight against the Rangers.

I'd say the All-Star Game was successful for the Canes lone represenative - Staal had two goals and an assist in the East victory, enabling him to take home the game's MVP award - which includes a new car!

Hey, Eric - if you don't want the car, I'll take it off of your hands for you. Seriously, it'll be no problem.

Canes lose; Staal's an All-Star

Canes lost 4-1 to the Devils last night.

Missing in the lineup was essentially half the team - those who were not injured were struck with a nasty flu bug going around the team.

Canes didn't look that bad until the third period, where they just lost control - allowing two goals and putting little to none offensive pressure on the Devils.

The good news was that Keith Aucoin got his first NHL goal!

Next game is tomorrow against the Avalanche. I will probably not be watching all of it because of a little thing called NFL PLAYOFFS! Go Pack Go!

In other news, Eric Staal is going to his second consecutive All-Star game.
And, for the second consecutive year, the best power forward evah! was not selected to go... It's a travesty.

West wins All-Star Game

The West All-Stars beat the East All-Stars 12-9 last night.

The East was doing pretty okay in the first, tied after one. Then Martin Brodeur let in 6 goals on 16 shots, and it was over.

The Canes All-Stars did pretty good, both Staal and Williams got goals in this one. That's more than Sidney Crosby can say, being shutout in this game.
It makes me laugh on the inside that our two Stars did better than Crosby and Ovechkin combined.

Anyways, that's about it for today. The All-Star Game was nice to watch - but it'll sure be nice to see some bodychecks again.

All-Star stuffs

Well, I did manage to watch most of the All-Star festivities last night.

First of all, the East Youngstars beat the West Youngstars 9-8. Interesting to watch, as the game was all 4-on-4 offense. I felt sorry for the goalies, though, seeing as they faced a lot of shots and got no defense in front of them whatsoever.

Then came the skills competiton. This part was kind of cool to watch, because you realize that if you were out there trying this stuff, you'd probably hurt yourself.
Eric Staal started the Canes representation off with a 4th place in the Fastest Skater contest with a time of 14:50.
Then, he was denied a goal in the shootout competition by Marty Turco. (What else is new?)
Justin Williams scored a goal on his shot. (Why can't he come through in the regular season? The Hurricanes are 0-for-4 in the shootout, and I think that those games count a lot more than the All-Star Game.)
Eric Staal then knocked down 4 targets in 5 shots in the Accuracy competition (tied for first).
Then... well, I stopped watching after that, but the East won 15-11.

The All-Star Game is tonight. Thankfully it doesn't count for home-field advantage in the playoffs like some lesser sports.

Canes play Tampa

Canes play Tampa Bay tonight. This is the last game before the All-Star Break. (Speaking of which, does anyone know why the All-Star Game is on a Wednesday? If the NHL had waited until next Saturday (or even Sunday), there would be no pro football games to compete with for ratings, and the game would have fit in NBC's weekend NHL games slot. But, noooooo, the NHL decides to put the game in the middle of the week on a cable tv channel that no one watches. That's the way to reach the American public!)

Anyways... game is important tonight, as the Southeast Division is suddenly tight. Atlanta is 5 points ahead of Carolina and 8 points ahead of Tampa Bay. Considering the 3 point gap between Carolina and Tampa Bay, and that Tampa has won the last 6 of 7, this would be a nice game for the Canes to claim a victory in.

Puck drops at 8:30 because of the Duke-NC State game at the RBC Center that starts at 3:30.

Canes lost

Canes lost in a shootout 4-3 against the Atlanta Thrashers last night.

A game the Canes should have won. They were leading 3-2 in the third, but Cam let in a soft shot from near the blueline, letting the Thrashers tie it up. Game went into a shootout, and the Canes haven't won one yet this year. (In a way, it makes you miss Matt Cullen...)

Cole was given a 10:00 misconduct at the end of the game for "jawing" at the refs because the refs missed a blatant tripping call, but then they called a penalty on the Canes. (The reason I put jawing in quotations is because someone told me that Cole actually checked one of the refs as he was going off the ice. No article confirms this, but itwould explain how Cole got 10 minutes instead of just 2.)

Dennis Seidenberg got his first goal as a Hurricane. Makes the trade look good.

Staal and Williams were named to the All-Star squad.

That's about it for now. Writing about this loss got me all sad...

Erik Cole stats: 2 assists
On the season: 19 goals, 23 assists

Canes win; All-Stars announced

Canes won over the Maple Leafs 4-1.

Walker, Belanger, Staal, and Williams scored. Williams' was an empty net and Belanger's and Staal's were both power play goals.

The new guy, Seidenberg, played 20 minutes in his first game.

That's really all I can tell you, as the game had no TV, and I didn't really pay attention to the radio call of the game.

Meanwhile, the Vote for Rory campaign fell short, as Rory came in third, thereby not getting a starting spot in the All-Star Game.
No Canes got starting spots - 3 Sabres got spots, which I don't think is right. Or en español: Me parece injusto. (Why, yes, I am studying for my spanish exam. How could you tell?)
Full All-Star Game rosters will be released on Saturday. I, personally, will be unhappy if a certain player named Erik Cole doesn't make the team.
Erik Cole es más mejor que los Sabres de Buffalo. ¿Por qué? Él es fenomenal.