Might we be seeing the first time this season that the Canes are able to hop on a hot goalie, string together a few wins regardless of quality of play (Flyers game on Thursday) and step on the heads of the teams at #9 and #10 to get some breathing room? One can hope.

But keeping things simpler, tonight was a very satisfying and solid victory riding the back of Tuesday night's utter debacle and a very shaky though appreciated 2 points on Thursday. The Canes were clearly the better team tonight from the net out. They were stifling on defense. They created a decent number of scoring chances and finished enough. And most significantly, they were mostly breakdown free for the first time this week.

A few notes:

1) Grahame. Though Atlanta's shorthanded goal from a ways out in the 3rd had the knees wobbling a bit, all is well that ends well. And otherwise he was very good again. Overall, he has had a tough season. But coming in his resume fit pretty well for the job ahead of him --

---1) Proven and experienced in the backup role such that he can handle the mental part of this difficult 'get ready...get ready...wait' job-check.

---2) Also with proven capability to pick up a team and carry them awhile-check. He hauled the load for Tampa for quite awhile in 03-04 when Khabibulin struggled.

---3) And with the ability to do it in games that matter (playoff stretch run, playoffs, etc.)-check. Again, 03-04 in Tampa.

His resume looks good for the situation he is thrown into right now. More importantly, he looks good on the ice.

We have had good games, but we have not really seen a Canes goalie get hot and put the team on his back. Now would be a great time.

2) Williams. Coming into this season, Williams was amongst a few young Canes who took huge steps up offensively last year and could have a tough time matching it this season. Though his point total could finish lower than last year's 76, he is tracking toward a better offensive season bringing consistent goal scoring in a season where it has not come as easily.

3) Vasicek/Walker. Though they did not get on the score sheet and did not generate a ton of offense, that line was very effective playing a puck possession game tonight. If you allow me the liberty to fastforward to road playoff games, that is a 3rd line recipe for success. On the road, the other coach tries to match up his best offense against the weakest link in terms of defense. So he can try to exploit some combination of defensive pairs and forward lines to use the home ice to his advantage. This often means picking on a 3rd line (since the 4th line often does not see the ice that much in road playoff games). Once a grinding Vasicek/Walker get the puck deep and start their thing, an opposing team's scoring line is going to have a miserable time trying to muck the puck off the boards about 150 feet away from where the offense starts. I think Stillman's skill set could get wasted a bit on this kind of line, but he could get bumped up once he gets his legs back and gets his game back.

4) Solid defensively. After a loose game against Philadelphia, the defensemen were pretty solid again. Ironically, many of Atlanta's best chances and their only goal came shorthanded.

5) Welcome Anson Carter. The value conscious hockey consumer in me loves this trade. A 5th round pick 2 years out is a very reasonable price to pay for solid depth and a guy that can score goals. (Yes, I realize that he has not done much of that this season.) Will this clearly put us over the top? No. The biggest problem of consistency is not fixable by any one player anyway. But did we add quality depth? Yes. And another option for the powerplay? Yes. And did we mortgage our future to do it? No. Last season, Weight and Recchi were all about veteran offensive depth. Neither suddenly became 1 of our top 2-3 players, but they fit in and contributed offensively when the playoffs rolled around and offense started to come at a premium.

This trade looks more like bargain shopping for good quality at a good price than a quest to find the perfect puzzle piece. For now, we needed more offense and needed another right wing minus Cole. But once everyone is healthy, we go 4 deep at right wing, and none of them are really the type that take all of their offense with them if they move to the left side. Williams and Walker both looked okay at left wing this season for extended stints, but both saw their offensive production drop significantly. We have seen the same with Cole in the past. But that bridge is still a few weeks and 6-7 big games away.

Looking forward to next week, Ottawa is no longer the struggling team that they were last fall. Seeing them twice in about 15 hours is a treacherous assignment for a team fighting to find/build/keep its confidence. With a thin lead in the playoff race (mostly to teams with games in hand) and no margin for error, the Canes need to bring tonight's effort and maybe a little more to the Tuesday/Wednesday back-to-back.

Go Canes!

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