Things are looking up... or at least above .500

The past two weeks were pretty kind to the Canes - in the six games since my last post, Carolina went 4-1-1. Yes, that means that finally the Canes have had a win streak and managed to get above .500 on the season.

Let's recap:

- Canes lost to the Stars 2-1 in a shootout. No one scored in the SO for the Canes.

- In their next game the Canes were finally victorious in the shootout, winning 2-1 over the Blues. Jussi Jokinen scored the only goal in the shootout.

- Canes won 4-3 over the Panthers in a come-from-behind victory. They had gone down three goals early in the game - Ward was pulled from goal after letting two goals in the first two minutes. But, for probably the first time this season, they didn't give up and they powered back for the victory in regulation.

- The Canes also came from behind the next night, winning 3-2 in a shootout over the Atlanta Thrashers. Cam Ward was a complete beast in this one, stopping 45 shots on the night.

I actually watched the game against the Ducks (finals are over, haha!), and I think that the 4-2 win was entertaining enough to earn its own bulleted section of the post. So, my observations:

- The end of the game was INSANE. Yeah, that's the only word that even begins to describe what happened. Three successive penalties called against the Canes resulting in a full two minute six-on-three that the Canes had to kill off. Yes, that's six-on-three due to the fact that Anaheim pulled their goalie. First time in a long time that I've been on the edge of my seat to watch any sort of hockey that the Canes have played. Cam Ward was absolutely stellar to keep the Ducks from scoring more than one.

- Speaking of Ward, he looked amazing. AMAZING. If he can keep up this kind of play, the Canes definitely have a chance for the playoffs. He is a top-notch goalie and he definitely showed all of his skill in this game.

- As for the penalties called to put Cam Ward in the position to have to make those saves... Joe Corvo pretty much lost his mind going after Corey Perry (although he deserved it, but let's just say that Corvo has to be a little less blatant in roughing next time if he doesn't want to get called). Brandon Sutter I guess closed his hand on the puck - debatable, but I'll give the ref credit. Eric Staal's crosscheck, however, was nonexistent. Definitely absurd that the refs should call something like that when a team is already down two men. Talk about trying to decide the game.

- I loved that Corvo went after Perry after he scored the empty netter. Not so happy that Perry started something because his team lost, but I'm glad that Corvo stuck up for himself and didn't just take the crap.

- Eric Staal had a natural hat trick. Yeah, kind of an afterthought after the excitement at the end. But his first goal particularly was a beauty - Staal just took the puck straight up the side during a powerplay - a very pretty goal, although I'm sure the nonexistent Anaheim defense would think otherwise.

So, with this win, the Canes had a four game win streak. That ended pretty ignominiously with a 5-1 loss to the Lightning tonight. Let's just say I'm not crying that this one wasn't televised.

So where does this leave the Canes? They currently have a 15-13-4 record and 34 points on the year, good enough for 9th in the East and 4th in the Southeast. So, if you're keeping track, same as it was last post. The good news, or at least, what could be good news in the future - the C[r]apitals no longer have a stranglehold on the division. Thanks to their recent struggles, they are actually third in the Southeast. In our position it probably doesn't mean much - we're eight points behind them - but hopefully the Canes will continue to win and take advantage of our rival's poor play.

Upcoming this week is Montreal, who is leading their division, and the aforementioned C[r]apitals. I'm hoping for a continuation of the good play of the past two weeks - hey, the Penguins recently went on a twelve game tear, why can't the Canes do the same?

Erik Cole Stats (Dec 15th): 1 goal
(Dec 18th): 1 assist
(Tonight): 1 assist
On the season: 6 goals, 8 assists

Corvo comes back to the Canes

So the Canes actually did something in the free agent market today (amazing, I know). They signed Joe Corvo to a 2 year contract worth $2 million this year and $2.5 the next.

I think it's a good signing. Corvo is a good defenseman and has played solidly with the Canes. It's not an exorbitant salary, like we've seen with other defensemen this offseason, but I think it's a fair one. I also feel a lot better about the Canes blueline now - I wasn't enthralled with the prospect of McBain and Harrison in our top six to start the season. Now I think the Canes are a bit more secure defensively, and will be more prepared if injuries happen.

I doubt the Canes will do too much else this offseason as they are close to their self-imposed cap... but you never know. Updates, as always, will be here.

UPDATE 5:27 PM: The Canes also announced that they have agreed to two-way contracts with Nicholas Blanchard and Casey Borer.

And, the Canes site also has a nice take on the Corvo signing - sounds like Corvo took a "hometown discount" to stay with the Canes. But I find the most interesting blurb to be the following:

Rutherford said that the signing of Corvo does not mean that he’ll stop talking to defensemen Brett Carson and Alexandre Picard about a return to the team, but that negotiations with those two will be the extent of his free-agent hunting for the time being due to his preference to let young forwards battle for spots in training camp.

Sounds like that's the end of anything interesting for our Caniac summer.

Deadline day!

Well, the past day has been exciting! Let's start with the recap of the first game back from the Olympics.

The Canes stomped on the Leafs, winning the game 5-1. Justin Peters had a shutout going until inside the 5 minute mark of the third period. Chad LaRose had three points in his first game off of the IR.

Also - Erik Cole's first game back! Not quite as successful as LaRose's, but hey - HE'S BACK ON THE ICE!

It's pretty amazing that the Canes won this game so handily. Obviously they're not quite the bottom dwellers that they had been - this game marks the sixth win in a row for the Canes.

How long will that continue? Well, considering the Canes traded away half of their roster before today's trade deadline... who knows? They did somehow manage this win streak, after all.

The first to get traded was Aaron Ward, who got shipped to the Ducks for goalie Justin Pogge and a fourth round pick. To which my response was, "Why the heck do we need another goalie?" I mean, we do have Cam Ward and Justin Peters (is there another one in the minors? Knowing Rutherford's goalie collection habits, I wouldn't be surprised).

Next to go was Scott Walker to Washington (a trade within the division! I thought that was taboo!) for a seventh round pick. I also thought this was slightly less than what should've been gained for him. I mean, if Ward is worth a fourth rounder and someone, Walker certainly must be worth more, correct?

But then came the announcement of Joe Corvo going to Washington and the previous trade made a little bit more sense. The Canes got Brian Pothier, Oskar Osala, and a second round pick for his services. Am I the only one to think it's odd that this didn't just happen in one trade? It would seem more economical - although I suppose you should give those guys at TSN something to talk about.

The Canes also shipped Andrew Alberts to Vancouver for a third round pick and Stephane Yelle and Harrison Reed to the Avs for a sixth-round pick and a prospect.

So, overall, this day was an ultimate salary dump for the Canes. This season has been over pretty much since it began, so it makes sense to jettison off all of the spare parts. It will be a shame to see Corvo and Walker in C[r]apitals jerseys, but at least they get to go to a serious contender. I'm glad to see Ward go as I don't think he really did that much except clutch and grab this season. Alberts and Yelle didn't really do a lot for the team either.

Interestingly, Ray Whitney was not dealt as many expected, likely because of Ray's no trade clause. Also, the asking price of a first rounder + some may have been too much for the market.

Hopefully Rutherford will put all of those draft picks to good use so that we're not in this position again for a very long time.

Cam has another shutout - Bruins go down

Canes won 3-0 in Game 2 last night!

This game was played much better than Game 1. And I'm going to say at this point that it is creepy how this series has so far mirrored the Jersey one. We're 1-1 after two games, the Game 1s both being the crappy losses, while the Game 2s have been the better played ones. Hopefully the Canes can win quicker than in the first series, although I wouldn't be too upset if round 2 mirrors round 1 completely. (In case you can't follow the choppy sentence, that would mean a Canes win...)

The first period was only okay, both teams being kept off the scoresheet. Which is probably a better sign for the Canes than the Bruins, seeing as that was the first time Boston had not scored in the first period (or something along those lines - I forget the exact stat from Versus.).

Second period opened up with scoring for the Canes - Joe Corvo scoring on a slapshot pretty early in the period (and Erik Cole finally - finally! - got on the scoreboard with an assist). But the best goal was the Matt Cullen shorthanded goal - Chad LaRose intercepted a pass at the blue line and ran it up the ice, missed his first chance, but then passed it to Cullen who zapped it in the net.

The second period was definitely the Canes' period in terms of outplaying Boston. It could have actually been 3-0 at the end of the period, thanks to Chad LaRose never giving up and catching pretty much everyone on Boston mentally heading to the locker room. Alas, they said it was no goal as there was not enough video evidence to overturn the no goal call on the ice (Apparently, someone in the Situation Room is completely color blind because I saw white in between the puck and the goal line - but whatever). I think it wasn't a goal because scoring with .2 seconds left in anything is totally Jussi Jokinen's gig, not LaRose's.

The Canes also came out strong in the third period, but took some stupid penalties. Either their penalty kill is excellent or Boston's power play is crappy, but either way the Canes managed to keep it a two-goal game (with a lot of help from Cam Ward, of course), until Staal's empty net goal.

I am really glad the Canes were able to win this one, as I did not like the prospect of going back to Raleigh down 2-0 in the series. But, they played better than they did in the first game and now it's a whole new ballgame!

Next game is Wednesday at the RBC Center!

Erik Cole stats: 1 assist

Chad LaRose stats: 1 assist
Playoffs: 2 goals, 6 assists

Canes win in OT!

Canes won 2-1 over the Panthers in overtime last night.

Last night was completely awesome for me, as I not only got to attend the game, but I also sat in the lower bowl. And I was really close to the ice:
And, if you don't think that's close to the ice, then you have much better seats than I usually do. Jealous!

The only problem with said seats is that I don't really like the end section that low - it's sometimes hard to judge what's going on down at the other end.

Anyways, I thought the Canes played pretty well. I really appreciate Tuomo Ruutu that close to the ice - I saw a lot more of the fighting for the puck along the boards and the physicalness that he plays the game with.

Justin Williams scored his first goal since coming back from injury, and it was a power play goal as well! That goal was the deciding factor until the third period - Cory Stillman came out of the penalty box into a breakaway.

Canes played well in the overtime, Joe Corvo scoring the OT goal. I imagine it looked something like this shot, taken in the second period:Except that the goal was scored on a backhand. Whatever. Use your imagination.

Anyway, the point is that the Canes won against a division rival and took over 8th place in the East. YaY Canes!

The next game is on Saturday, away against the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins.

Corvo notches a hat trick!

I think today's game showed who came out the victor in the Commodore-Stillman/Eaves-Corvo trade.

Canes won 5-1 over Ottawa. Joe Corvo had a hat trick and Eaves added a goal as well.

Meanwhile, Stillman added a mere assist, and Commodore took two stupid penalties for Ottawa - looked like that part of his game hasn't changed any.

Anyways, this game was a very fast-paced, up and down game. Ottawa couldn't get any good chances, and it didn't help they were taking penalties left and right. Or that they only had 3 shots on goal in the second.

This was a nice comeback for the Canes after the Buffalo debacle. Next game is against Atlanta on Wednesday.

Canes win over Blackhawks

Canes won 3-0 over the Blackhawks last night.

I didn't see the game because I got home late, it started at 8:30, and I didn't feel like watching the TV so I turned on Chuck K.

And didn't actually listen to any of the game itself, but I did hear an interesting interview with Joe Corvo.

Anyways... Erik Cole scored a goal! And Cam Ward got a shutout.

Canes scored all of their goals in the first, two of them on the powerplay.

Next game is against Buffalo on Friday.

Erik Cole stats: 1 goal
On the season: 20 goals, 25 assists

Canes let it get close, but win anyways

Canes won 3-2 over the Boston Bruins last night.

Andrew Ladd scored two goals, and Joe Corvo got his first assist as a Cane!

Patrick Eaves did not play, due to a lingering shoulder injury.

The horrifying part of this game was that the Canes had a 3-0 lead in the third period - then Cam, who has a propensity to let things get waaay too close, let in two goals in 27 seconds for the Bruins to pull within one.

Please, I like a close game as much as the next person... but that's the entire 60 minutes, not just the last five minutes.

This is not basketball! You do not need to draw out the last two minutes to make up for the worthless first half!

Anyways... guess who the Canes play tomorrow? THE PENGUINS! A Cole-Orpik rematch at home, perhaps?

Please?

GAH! Canes trade Commodore and Stillman!

The Canes have traded Mike Commodore and Cory Stillman to the Ottawa Senators for Joe Corvo and Patrick Eaves.

Holy crap, I didn't see this coming.

Well, okay, I did see a trade coming. And I had a feeling Stillman was going to get gone (My dad called him "Still-boy" because he reminded us of the Pillsbury Dough Boy out on the ice) - but Commodore? I mean, he was one of our top D-men (and we need all them we can get!).

I miss the hair already.

So, we got a defenseman and a forward in return. Corvo I don't think really stuck out at me a "trade for me" kind of guy, but Eaves I'm pretty sure is a good, young forward.

Hey, if they help us win, then I'm cool with it.

In completely different news, a scary incident last night in a game between the Sabres and Panthers, where Richard Zednik had his neck cut by a teammate's skate. Luckily, he's in stable condition right now. (Link to YouTube video - I personally can only watch it once)

I'm glad to hear that he's okay. Get well soon, man.

We'll see the new Canes acquisitions tomorrow against the Bruins.