Sunday night's win in Anaheim gets the Carolina Hurricanes 3 out of 4 points on the western leg of their 6-game road trip. The team returns home for a couple days of practice and battling State Fair traffic before heading out to Pittsburgh for Thursday's continuation of the road trip.

By my estimations, the Canes did exactly 4 things right Sunday to pick up 2 points:

1) They FINALLY were faster out of the gate. Rather than letting a home team get them on their heels early and turn it into a disadvantage on the scoreboard, the Canes actually played a solid first period of hockey and emerged with a 1-0 lead.

2) Better than any game I can remember in a long time, the Canes to a man did the simplest thing when in trouble in their own end - return to the front of the net, battle for pucks, tie up sticks or even just get in the way. Anaheim clearly got the better of the offensive zone time and chances for the 2nd and 3rd periods but managed only a 1-1 tie (not counting the empty-netter). It was the norm to see 3 even 4 sometimes Hurricane logos within 10 feet of Leighton.

3) They got timely scoring. Sunday night marks the 2nd time in 2 weekends (other was 1st goal in Tampa comeback) where captain Rod BrindAmour chipped in a huge goal to close out the 2nd period of a game headed the wrong direction and set it right heading into the 3rd period.

4) Leighton was good. He was very good on first saves. And though rebound control continues to be his achilles heel at times, he never quit on a puck and battled hard for 60 minutes. For me, the game reminded me a bit of some Arturs Irbe games (the good ones before the problems) where things were a bit messy at times, but the goalie and defensemen just won enough battles in and around the crease to put up a good GAA number.

In this blog before the season, I said that Leighton earned his job with his play last season in the AHL, but also expressed reservations that the team might be better off with someone more capable of pushing Ward. So far, I am wrong. Hopefully it continues. I think Ward will be better if mediocre play leads to games off. For a competitive guy like Ward who is still finding his way as a consistent starter, I think time off leads to hunger to play whereas just heading back to net all the time leads to the negative things that come with a bad stretch. Maybe this is the start of a string, as I would venture a guess that Leighton gets the start Thursday in Pittsburgh.

A few other random notes:

1) Good timing. Anaheim is struggling right now. I think the Canes might have benefitted a bit from the Ducks pressing a bit and squeezing the sticks a bit tight trying to make things happen. They mustered a bunch of good chances in the 2nd and 3rd periods to net only 1 goal.

2) Unsung hero. Bayda continues to play well. After holding his own through 3 games, doing a solid job on the forecheck and holding up his end defensively, he has now chipped in goals in 2 straight.

3) Scoring machine. Wallin was solid tonight playing a simple game that including shooting the puck whenever he could. Even his half-whiff turned into a great pass to BrindAmour at the front of the net.

Sunday's win keeps the Canes tied atop the Southeast Division matching Washington's 3-1-1 mark.

Go Canes!

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