Weekly Recap - Canes apparently can't score at home

Yesterday was the end of the first month of hockey (perhaps the only good thing of fall, in my opinion - temperatures really shouldn't ever go below 70). October has left the Canes at an even .500, 10th in the East and 4th in the Southeast Division with ten points. In other words, leaps and bounds above last year (do you sense a theme this year?), but overall not spectacular.

This past week we saw the Canes first two games at the RBC Center, and, uh, let's just say that it may not be a bad thing that tonight's game is on the road against Philadelphia. Goose eggs were lain in both the opener against the C[r]apitals and Saturday's game against the Penguins.

Perhaps the Washington game wasn't as bad as the 3-0 score would allow you to believe - I was able to view it thanks to living in C[r]apital country. The first goal was kind of a fluke, Cam Ward being run over outside the crease (and, yes, unfortunately he was outside of the crease, resulting in no goalie interference). Niklas Backstrom put Washington up by two just over midway into the third and then sealed the game with an empty net goal. Michal Neuvirth also looked really good for being Washington's fourth goalie or some similar absurd number.

However, while the game was closer than the score would indicate, I didn't really see anything to write home about from a Canes' perspective. Jeff Skinner continues to impress, but not much else really stood out. Pretty lackluster for a home opener performance, to be honest.

Speaking of Jeff Skinner, he really broke out in Friday's game against the Rangers. Skinner scored two goals and had an assist on Erik Cole's game winner. He seems to be a player that whenever he's on the ice he does something noticeably beneficial to the team (Granted, I've watched all of two games, but the point still remains that this guy looks to be a beast).

Finally, to wrap up the week, the Canes lost by another 3-0 tally at home to Pittsburgh. Let's just say that our current 0-2 home record is not really thrilling this Caniac right now. Yes, it is extremely early in the season, but I, and I think most of the Caniac Nation, would prefer the Canes to not become a road-only team. Especially when I think back to the season we won the Cup - let's just say that the 31-8-2 home record definitely helped. But I think that might be reading way too far into things.

But attempts to improve the home record (or, heck, score a goal at home) will have to wait until Wednesday against the Islanders. Tonight the Canes face Philly away - a Daniel Briere-less Flyers team as Briere was suspended three games for cross-checking an Islanders players straight in the mouth. Look at the YouTube video if you, like me, love to dislike Briere (and Carcillo as well). Hopefully the Canes can stay away from any Flyers thuggery and continue with their good away record.

Erik Cole stats (Thursday): 1 goal, 1 assist
On the season: 2 goals, 4 assists 

Another 3 game recap...

So much for posting regularly, eh? Oh well...

In this three game span over Thanksgiving break the Canes went 1-for-3. The first game was on Wednesday, a 6-3 loss against the Philadelphia Flyers. I didn't see the game because it wasn't broadcast on FSN south, but I did get to see the highlights on the NHL Network! And, those "highlights" pretty much consisted of numerous defensive breakdowns, Daniel Briere getting 4 points, and Cam Ward having a .750 save percentage on the night - I think I'm actually glad I didn't get to see this game...

The second game was against the Lighting, who the Canes had horrible luck against in the first two games against them. Luckily, that changed on Friday with a 4-3 win!
The super-good news was that Erik Cole was back on the ice, and he scored 2 assists in his re-debut!
The kinda-bad news was that the Canes looked like crap in the second period, letting Tampa get out to a 3-1 lead.
The better news was that this was a come-from-behind victory with the Canes scoring 3 goals in the third period!
What was weird was that all of the goals in this game came on even strength - no PP goals for the Canes and no PK letdowns!

Sadly, I can't say that about the final game of this Thanksgiving break - a 5-2 loss to the C[r]apitals. 3 of the C[r]apitals goals came on the Canes PK and one was a shorthanded goal.
I saw nothing of this game (yet again not on TV!), so I can't lend any insight except that it must have been pretty miserable. Goal by Cole, though, so I guess it wouldn't have been too bad.

I hope the Canes can snap out of this little slump (if you want to call it that) real soon. I also hope that this is the last we'll see of the SE Division for a while. It's getting really sickening to play (and lose to!) the same teams all the time. (Lucky for me, the next game we play is against Philly - who we just lost to on Wednesday... Man, I really hope they change the schedule for next year.)

Erik Cole stats (Friday): 2 assists
(Saturday): 1 goal
On the season: 4 goals, 11 assists