I would argue that the 3 low points in an up-and-down season so far would be after the Buffalo 8-1 blowout, after losses to Atlanta and Tampa by a combined 9-1 in mid-November and then again after last night's 3rd consecutive loss. In all 3 cases, the Canes have responded with a win. It would be much better not to have an every other week gut check, but at least the team does seem to respond to them.

Tonight's game was a wild one. If you are into the any kind of noise, flashing lights and speed type of excitement and can look past quality of product a little, this was the game for you - 11 goals, a half dozen 1 on none breakaways and a shootout to boot. But unlike the 1st half of the last meeting in Raleigh which featured the same intensity but much tighter play, this game featured a lot of the skimp on defense/pond hockey type of excitement, but a helping of that now and again is fine by me. And with the Canes struggles of late, any kind of 2 points is a good kind of 2 points.

A few notes:

1) Unlikely sources. Craig Adams chipped in timely offense for the 2nd consecutive night with the soft goal through Kiprusoff on Friday, the key play tipping the puck off Cullen for a goal and even an extra assist later. Letowski also had a huge goal tonight after having an assist wasted last night. 2 goals and 3 assists in 2 games is huge production from guys getting 6-8 minutes a night with the assignment mostly just to stay out of trouble.

2) Cole and Cullen. Cullen continues the carry the 'best Canes forward' crown (from me anyway) until someone can undisputably take it away from him for at least 2 straight games. He had a few creative plays again tonight and a garbage goal via Craig Adams to boot. You could make a decent case for Cole tonight, as he skated very well on back-to-back legs.

3) Grahame. I will be curious to hear other's opinions, but I am not sure I buy the Forslund/Tracy review. He made some big saves, but he gave up 5 and was prone to flopping around on the ice without any idea where the puck was about twice per period. He had 1 goal trickle under him somehow when a whistle seemed inevitable. On the 2nd Lupul goal, he made a great save on a breakaway, but if you DVR the play, he spent the next 4-5 seconds a full 4-5 feet wide of the net while Gleason and Wesley tried to play goalie and Philadelphia fired away. He was similarly laying at the top of the crease while hand-to-hand combat ensued behind him for the 5th goal. When a defenseman saves the day (or almost does in Gleason's case) right at the goal line, it is a fun thing. When it happens again, it seems like too much. When you get to see it about 4 times in a single game, you start to think the guy needs to keep his water bottle on top of the net like everyone else, so he does not need to leave his post so much. So I give Grahame a mediocre rating. On the plus, he made some good saves, faced far too many breakaways but was only beaten once on the initial shot and he did get a much-needed W. On the minus, he looked like an overdramatic 8-year-old goalie too often flopping around in the crease without knowing where the puck was.

4) The Captain. I was hoping BrindAmour got a shot in the shootout. Cullen and Hamilton were brought in with a proven track record in shootouts. And while there are a couple other options who seem like a better bet, none of them have really worked that well. So you just had to feel that going with BrindAmour in a situation where the team really needed it was not a bad bet.

5) It is all about timing. The key to making the willingness to drop the gloves a positive is all about understanding how it fits into context of the game and timing. At the point in the game where you are just trying to fight your way out the door for 10 minutes with a 2-point win is not the time to let ego/macho get in the way of focus on priority 1. Gleason's contribution (with the 1st unnecessary penalty) to the 5-on-3 powerplay and goal was very disappointing. That was not the time to dial up the adrenaline trying to pick a fight first with Hartnell and then with Smith.

So in terms of moving forward in the standings it was a good night. The Canes won while Atlanta, Tampa and Florid all lost, so that is good for 2 points. But in terms of addressing issues, I do not feel as good. The team was horribly loose defensively again getting beat for too many breakaways. The penalty kill gave up 2 more. And the team showed no ability to close out a win blowing 3-1, 4-3 and 5-4 leads before pulling 2 points out of the fire in the shootout.
But at least for tonight, I guess you take the 2 points and run for the bus hoping that the team will work its way back to more quality type of wins sooner rather than later.

Go Canes!

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