For the 2nd consecutive game, the Canes came out a bit flat at home. On Tuesday, the team mostly survived the slow start unscathed because the margin of difference in play was a little less and Cam Ward was extremely good. Going back to that well too many times against good teams is obviously a recipe for losses, and that is exactly what the Canes got on Thursday. The inopportune late soft goal that beat Ward from a bad angle late in the 1st negated an otherwise solid period for him, and the effort level and quality of play was such that a 2-0 deficit seemed about fair anyway. In a nutshell, the 1st period was a disturbing visit from the ghost of 07-08 past that saw the Canes unable to move the puck from its own end and prone to far too many defensive breakdowns. The team did wake up at about the midway point and play a very determined brand of hockey trying to claw their way back into it, but against a good team with strong goaltending and decent defense a 3-goal hole is just too big most nights.

A few notes:

1) The breakdowns. First, to be fair, the defense has been very good of late mostly giving Ward shots where he had a chance. That was not the case Thursday. Hedican had a rough night by the midway point coughing up the puck right in front of Ward for the 1st goal and then being the guy in the box with the hooking penalty out of the gate in the 2nd after seeing Avery shoot right between him and Wallin. Kaberle was the poster for sort of being in the right place (in front of the net) without really doing anything once he got there. He had decent position on Drury but decided not to play the body and not to tie up his stick and instead to unsuccessfully fish for the puck while Drury banged it in. The defense in general gave up too many good chances often via breakdowns especially in the 1st half of the game. Hopefully, they get Gleason back, shake this 1 off and get back to the more recent trend of generallyl sound defensive hockey.

2) The comeback. To their credit, the Canes did not pack it in and quit. One more break here or there and this could have been a 3-3 hockey game late in the 3rd with all the momentum and an excited home crowd. Staal missed no more than 4 inches wide on 2 separate goal mouth scrambles, and in general the team did a great job of getting 2-3 bodies within 6 feet of Lundqvist trying to will in another goal or 2. As I stated above, even good efforts late are usually not enough to make up 3 against a good defensive team, but you can give the Canes credit for trying.

3) Ruutu. In only 2 games, he already has 3 HUGE hits where he lifted a player up off his skates and dropped him on his back. Who besides Walker, Cole and Gleason can claim 3 of the capital letters HUGE variety of hits to their credit this season? I am not sure Ladd had that many through many more games. Has anyone else found themselves taking notice when #15 is on the ice and where he is just to make sure they do not miss anything? Finally, what has been most impressive/surprising to me is his speed. Having seen only a limited amount of him being in that other conference, I was picturing a little more of the sparkplug but not overly mobile version of strong maybe kind of like Andrei Kovalenko of past. The guy can skate too.

4) Cole. They were a couple weird ones, but it was good to see Erik Cole get rewarded for skating hard.

5) Bayda/Aucoin/Walker. They just continue to bring the same gritty brand of hockey every single night.

6) Get ready for the next one. Obviously the Canes need the 2 points every night, but they were bound to lose at some point. It took until the next to last day of the month for the team to lose at home in February. The important thing this time of year is to avoid the couple game slides and instead get right back on points trail next game out. The Canes catch a Tampa team that plays the night before, so they MUST find the jump and energy out of the gate and 60 minutes of faster skates. If you bring an A game, it should be one that you can control and win physically.

Go Canes!

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