Though the outcome was disappointing, I do not think the Canes loss in LA on Thursday was 1 of the variety you can really hate, and we have definitely seen our fair share of those on the past 2 western road trips including October of this season and the last trip out that way last season.

The Kings were better, but the Canes played a decent road game, gave themselves a chance to get points late and made a real good push to do so. As far as NHL losses go, it was nothing close to the horrible variety. I think the biggest takeaway for me was thinking "Boy am I glad the Canes are in the Eastern Conference and do not have to play 35-40 of this kind of game." The Canes just are not built for the "whoever wins the physical battle for the ice between the faceoff circles in both zones wins the game" style of play especially against teams that can also match them in terms of skill. Especially late, the Tlusty/EStaal/Lindholm line did a good job of playing offense in that area, and it resulted in a couple real good chances (1 of which was highway robbery) for Lindholm to send the game to overtime. But over the course of the full 60 minutes, the Canes more so got funneled to the outside off the rush and occasionally sent traffic to the front, whereas the Kings offense seemed to be built upon getting the puck and bodies to the ice between faceoff circles in the offensive zone.

But again, the Canes played pretty error-free hockey in terms of horrible breakdowns (Stoll goal being 1 of few exceptions) and gave themselves a chance against a good team on the road. And though the Canes still lost more than 50% of the battles, it was much more about size and team makeup than lack of effort or willingness.

A few notes:

1) Tlusty/EStaal/Lindholm. They were on the ice for both even strength goals against (not directly their fault but still) but were real good in the 3rd period and the only set that could consistently play offense where goals happen. If not for Quick robbing Lindholm late, the trio would have had 2 goals (EStaal's being on the power play not on the line at even strength) and a good overall game.

2) Cam Ward. His game is a strange mixed bag for me. On the one hand, giving up only 3 goals in that game with the volume of shots and the volume of traffic did not seem bad. And just like in the San Jose game on Sunday, he was at his best in the 3rd period. When the team needed him to hold the fort and give them a chance to turn 1 more goal into points in the standings, he did exactly that. The only chink in his armor is the 2nd and 3rd goals he allowed. In watching the replay a few times, I still have no idea where he was going on the 2nd goal. He sort of lunged across, maybe missed the post that was supposed to hold him in place and just kept going. When the puck found the net his nearest skate to the crease was a good 1 1/2 or 2 feet outside of the blue. It was like the bad version of Justin Peters before he righted his game. And the 2nd goal, he just had no ability to find the puck as it fluttered in off him at butterfly speed. So for as many good saves as he did make and as good as he was giving his team a chance in the 3rd period, I cannot help but want 1 of those 2 goals (especially the 2nd) back to get the team to overtime. But bigger picture, he continues to be good overall and at a minimum give his team a chance, and it is not for an extended run which is encouraging.

3) Scorers scoring. For the 2nd consecutive game, the Canes got offense from the 2 big guns offensively. Skinner just continues to finish at an elite level and EStaal made an underrated skill play very quickly handling the puck, adjusting his feet and lifting a shot into the net from close range without margin for error or bobbling. The ceiling for the Canes this year happens if it gets good goaltending (true of November), buy in and top-to-bottom effort level on a nightly basis (only Winnipeg loss was a big disappointment in that regard for November) and can get the offensive stars (EStaal, Semin, Skinner) both playing the right way and still reaching at least near their ceiling scoring-wise. Right now, Semin still seems lost, but I rate EStaal high for buy-in/system and now in a couple games straight high for scoring. And Skinner has been at least better defensively (not calling that good until I see a long run of it) and has also seemed to heat up scoring-wise.

4) Brett Bellemore. He has been very hit or miss so far this season and also out of the lineup due to injuries for a couple short stretches, but with the current roster, I continue to think that he has the highest upside of the Canes set of "big physical" defensemen. It is very simply about mobility. He is not going to win any foot races, but especially in terms of stop to go quickness in his own end, he is just quicker than Harrison or Gleason. He had a pretty good night Thursday as did his partner Ron Hainsey.

The Canes are off to a respectable 1-1 start on the 5-game road trip. Next up is a Saturday tilt in Colorado and a chance to again push ahead of breakeven for the trip.

Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63

Go Canes!

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