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The Canes have traded Wade Brookbank, Josef Melichar, and a 4th round pick for Jussi Jokinen of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
I'm not sure what to make of this. I don't really know much about Jokinen, despite him playing for the Lightning this year. Checking his career stats, it looks like he's having a little bit of a down year compared with his other seasons in the NHL. According to Rutherford:
“Jussi is a skilled, two-positional player that can be used in all situations,” said Rutherford. “He will add depth to our team at an important time of the season.”
In reality, the Canes didn't give up too much for him - Brookbank hadn't played in a game since December, and Melichar's been down in the minors for most of the year.
But I'm definitely going to miss Brookbank. He was essentially the only person who would fight on our team. Oh well...
Game is tonight at nine against Phoenix.
Canes lost in OT 2-1 to the Flyers last night.
They didn't play too bad, I thought. Again, they came out with more enthusiasm than in some past games.
Sadly, that didn't stop them from giving up a stupid shorthanded goal in the first period. Defensive turnovers are not fun to watch, especially on your own power play.
Wade Brookbank fighting is always fun to watch, though. I managed to take the following snapshot:
Which is, coincidentally, the only picture I took at last night's game. I got tired of taking pictures of empty ice due to my camera's slow shutter speed.
Anyways... the third period was a very good period to watch - very exciting. Probably could've been less of a sloppy period, but I don't care, it's always fun to watch chances on both ends of the ice.
Sergei Samsonov had an excellent power play goal, knocking one in a pretty much vacant net. This allowed the game to go into overtime!
Which was absolutely completely lame. Not necessarily for the Canes play - but for the way it ended. It was one of those things where I'm looking at the jumbotron at a very creepy clip of a dancing Santa Claus and then - BAM! The puck's in the net. Pretty much right off of the faceoff Jeff Carter just blasts one by Michael Leighton. It was a fair goal - but it's not fun having such an abrupt end to the night, especially when the Canes had been doing well in the third and overtime periods.
Oh great... I just actually *read* the article I linked to (versus just skimming it). Looks like Wallin might be out for today's game with an ankle injury. Not good. We already were only playing with six defensemen, two of them having been called up from Albany for injuries to Gleason, Seidenberg, and Kaberle.
Won't this team ever be healthy?
Game is this afternoon against the C[r]apitals.
Soooo... The Canes went 1-3 over my Thanksgiving break... Not very good.
First, the Canes lost to Florida 3-2.
Then they lost to Philadelphia 3-1 (while wearing their third jerseys... making them 2-2 on the season with them... I'm not exactly sure why I'm continuing that stat, other than now that I've started, I certainly can't stop...)
Then they won in Philly 3-2 in overtime. I saw the first period of that game (while eating a delicious cheesesteak), which was merely an okay showing by the Canes. I also saw Wade Brookbank's fight, which was an excellent fight to watch, the referees letting them go at it for quite a bit. Don't think either one won the fight, though.
Sergei Samsonov scored in the overtime period.
Finally, they lost 4-1 to the Ducks yesterday. About the time of puck drop I was lamenting the Washington Redskins' slow shuttle system to take us back to our parking spot all the way on the other side of I-495. Yep, I went the Giants-Redskins game on the way back from Pennsylvania - froze my butt off in the stupid mist, too (although my six layers of clothing did keep me moderately warm...)
Anyways... Canes lost Cam Ward to a groin injury in that Ducks game - he'll be out for the next three games and Justin Peters will be called up to back up Leighton.
Good news on the injury front (unexpected news as well) is that Justin Williams of all people will more than likely be back on the ice sometime this week. And this is after busting his Achilles' tendon in training camp. ("Busting" being the proper medical term in cases such as these.) Good news - we could definitely use him out on the ice. I just hope he doesn't get injured from coming back too fast.
Next game is on Thursday against Pittsburgh.
Chad LaRose stats (Monday): 1 goal
(Wednesday): 1 goal
On the season: 7 goals, 2 assists
So I'm writing down on all of these college applications and scholarship forms that I started my own blog, when it suddenly occured to me that I want to actually, y'know, update said blog.
Of course, the last time I posted was only Saturday, so really this is the normal turnaround for me.
But this is not what I'm supposed to be rambling about. What am I supposed to be rambling about?
Ah, yes, the Canes. They won! Granted, it was a shootout win, but any win is good to stop the losing slide they had been on.
And, now that I think about it, any shootout win is a thing to celebrate, considering the unsuccess rate† of recent ones.
Anyways, I didn't actually see the game, as, yet again, the game was not on TV. But it looks like the Canes went down by two goals early, then powered back to tie it.
And Wade Brookbank got a goal! YaY! Maybe this will end up getting him some more ice time...
And the Canes were wearing their black jerseys, pushing that particular record to 2-1 on the season.
Next game is tomorrow against Montreal. Maybe we can now have a regulation win?
† Best phrase evah!
Canes lost in a pathetic attempt against Pittsburgh 4-1.
Now, granted, the whole game wasn't pathetic. The first period was good, the second period was the start of the decline, and the third period was a crash-and-burn-in-a-huge-mushroom-cloud sort of affair.
Kicking off the good part of the game was LaCouture mixing it up with Paul Bissonnette. And by "mixing it up" I mean getting his butt kicked. But it still was a way to get fired up at the beginning of the game.
Then Brandon Sutter got his first NHL goal off of a Brooks Orpik turnover (yes, it felt good to see Orpik look as inept as, well, our defense does...).
The second period, instead of building upon the success of the first period, the Canes just kind of skated around in circles, not actually doing anything. (Brookbank did make up for the rather lame fight in the first by getting some good shots in on Eric Godard).
Then came the third period, where the Canes just completely imploded. It started with Crosby tipping in a Malkin power play shot, and then 32 seconds later Fedotenko just waltzed through our defense and the game was 2-1.
Note to Canes: A one-goal game is NOT a comfortable lead.
Then I don't even remember the third goal, but it wasn't unexpected because the momentum was completely in the direction of Pittsburgh. And then an empty net goal was the dagger in the heart.
So, in summary, the Canes completely blew the game, not pressing offensively when they needed to and resembling Swiss cheese when they needed some defense, leaving me with a gaping hole of patheticness and a huge craving for a Primanti Bros sandwich. (Delicious sandwich... if anyone is ever anywhere near Pittsburgh, they must get one.)
Jeez, I feel like a broken record. It seems like every single game I'm begging the Canes to play a full 60 minutes. And y'know what? They never do! And y'know what? It makes them play like crap and lose!
So, please, Canes, please, actually put forth an effort in the 60 minutes against the Islanders, okay?
Well, Mick McGeough proved once again why he is the worst ref in the NHL in last night's 2-1 OT win over Jersey.
Tuomo Ruutu (who missed warmups, but still made the game) got stabbed in the face by Patrick Elias, and left a trail of blood leading back to the bench that could be blatantly seen from the third level. He needed 40 stitches to sew up the laceration.
McGeough - GET SOME CONTACTS!
Grr...
Anyways, game was great for the Canes. They had some really good cycles against the Devils - and didn't really let them score, as Bret Hedican (I think it was him) inadvertantly knocked the puck in the net.
However, the game was not great for Tim Gleason, who got hit head first into the boards by Jersey's Mike Rupp. Scary looking when he tried to get up - almost had none of his own support skating off the ice. Only update on him I can get is that it's a head injury (duh), probably a concussion.
At least Wade Brookbank got Rupp back, totally kicking his arse later in the period.
Sergei Samsonov looked awesome, scoring both of the goals for the Canes.
Jeff Hamilton was sent down to Albany before the game.
I thought Ruutu played really well. He came out and had a huge hit on some Jersey dude, and looked to be a tough player - maybe a touch of scoring? He did get an assist on Samsonov's first goal.
As for Eaves (who also made his debut) - meh. Granted, he only had 6-ish minutes, but he did nothing spectactular.
Canes are looking great (Better than Ottawa, who fired their coach today). Tomorrow's game is against the Rangers.
Canes won 3-1 last night against the Rangers.
Wow, the first period was incredible. 66 penalty minutes. Scott Walker and Sean Avery got put in the box for roughing before the game even started! Brookbank and Orr fought, then Walker and Avery fought (with Gleason as third man - game misconduct for him), then Brookbank and Orr fought again. It was great.
As for the hockey part, the first period was crappy by both teams, although the Rangers scored the first goal.
In the second period, the Canes picked up their play, scoring two goals. The third was well-played as well, and Cam looked absolutely spectacular for the last 20 seconds when the Rangers had a 6-on-3.
Next game for the Canes is against the Maple Leafs tomorrow.
Oh yeah, Sean Avery - you're still a punk.
Chad LaRose stats: 1 assist
On the season: 7 goals, 10 assists
Canes played two games over this weekend, one a win and one a loss.
The first game on Friday was a 4-3 victory over Boston. The game was primarily a well played game - I thought the Canes let Boston get a little too close at the end (only a one goal lead and Boston was putting on some pressure) but the Bruins took themselves out of it, getting a too many men penalty with two minutes left - pretty much ended their chance of sending it to OT.
The best part of this game was the Chad LaRose penalty shot! Yep, the second penalty shot of the year for Chad, and this time he converted!
Unfortunately, the injury bug bit again in this game, with Bret Hedican going down with a knee sprain that will keep him off the ice for 10-14 days. Because of this, the Canes called up Wade Brookbank from Albany to fill in the lineup for the next game.
The second game on Saturday was a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jackets.
This game wasn't the greatest, the Canes letting the Jackets accumlate a 3-0 lead in the second. Cam Ward was pulled after that period, and Eric Staal managed to score a powerplay goal, but it wasn't enough to win.
The next game is tomorrow against the Islanders (New Year's Eve!).
Chad LaRose stats: 1 goal (penalty shot)
On the season: 5 goals, 6 assists
