Friday Night Fights

Cane's KO Blue Jackets in 9th round....

My first ever pre-season game was. at the the very least, entertaining. Holy cow. I have not seen hockey like that since I used to frequent minor league games in Greensboro back in the early to mid 90's. I don't think I've seen an NHL game with that many fights this side of Colorado vs Detroit in the late 90s. It was crazy. Who knew that the Canes and the BJs were such bitter enemies? Guess it was a good last minute decision to take a sneak peak at the Cane's before Wednesday's season opener.

And what do you know, WE WON A SHOOTOUT!!
Of course it took a while...9 rounds...and an amazing performance from Cam Ward...before Andrew Ladd netted the winner over the shoulder of Columbus goalie Pascal LeClair, who was also stellar in the shootout.

The game was a bit disjointed and sluggish as a result of all the extra curriculars, but it was good to see the Cane's, who have often garnered the reputation of being a bit soft, stand up for themselves and each other. No one backed down, that's for sure. There had to be at least a half-dozen major altercations in the game, and each of those seemed to involve at least 2 or 3 skirmishes going on at once. And even when they weren't fighting, things were chippy throughout. My unoffical count had at least 8 fighting majors between the two teams, and at least two 10 minute game-misconducts. At one point the Cane's penalty box was so full that Cory Stillman had to sit on the floor. Game officials - Paul Devorski and Stephane Auger - lost control of this one early and never got it back. It even went so far that both teams were sent off to their respective lockerooms at the end of the second period with 22.6 seconds still left to play, in an efforts to cool down the tempers. For a moment I thought they had completely canceled the game.

As a result of all the penalties, the two teams had a hard time getting into any sort of flow offensively, and the Canes looked a bit sluggish on the backend of a home and home. Cam Ward was stellar throughout making 41 saves on 42 shots through regulation and overtime, and then 9 straight in the shootout. Eric Cole notched the regulation goal for the Canes (his 4th of the preseason) on a mid-air deflection in front of the goal off of a Mike Commodore blast from the point. Other than that goal, the Canes' were stymied on several good scoring chances by the steady play of LeClair, who faced less that half the number of shots as Ward, but made some big saves when needed.

Carolina's penalty kill got a lot of practice on this night, and was stellar, at one point killing off a full 2 minutes of 5on3.
I couldn't help but notice Eric Staal pulling an awful lot of PK time, including some big time while down 2 men, taking on the role normally filled by Justin Williams. Not sure if this was just some pre-season experimentation, or a portent of things to come, but either way Staal aquitted himself well.

The power play on the otherhand, was dismal overall, and all reports indicate that such has been the case throughout the pre-season. Which is not a good omen. A pathetic power play cost the Cane's dearly last season.

Not sure how much stock to put into anything from pre-season...no matter what the sport...but the Canes played well this year overall - sporting a 4-1-1 record, their best since moving to Carolina 10 years ago - and hopefully this gritty win over Columbus will provide a springboard into a good start to the regular season. The Canes also deveoloped quite a bit of depth this pre-season, especially with the young guys on defense - Babin, Borer, Carson - who, though they all went back down to Albany on Friday, will add a little bit of security should injuries force any call ups. Ryan Bayda has also made the opening-day roster, apparently giving Trevor Letowski a run for his money in competition for the last forward slot once Chad LaRose returns from injury. And top draft pick Brandon Sutter got a nice long look during camp, and some great exposure to what it will take for him to make it with the big boys.

The season opener is just around the corner. Wednesday cannot get here soon enough.
Let's get it on!

Firday night's game was entertaining, in a Slapshot sort of way, and there was a good sized crowd on hand, which is encouraging. The folks at the RBC Center were obviously working the kinks out. One note to the Canes: if you are going to charge full price for tickets in pre-season, you should at least provide full staffing at the RBC. WHAT A JOKE. Less than half the concession stands were open, and the ones that were faced ridiculously long lines and agonizingly slow service. Lukewarm beer and cold food. Not fun. But oh yeah, I forgot...Im the sucker for paying full price for a pre-season game.

-m