Move On

As far as I’m concerned, we need to move on, we’ve got a game tomorrow night, two games left in the season at home, we need to play well and we need to win ‘em both. -Erik Cole (post-game, Washington 4 - Carolina 1)

I could not have summed it up better myself.

The Cane's situation is simple...win two straight games on home ice and you are in the playoffs. One opportunity has been wasted. Two more await.

Tuesday night was not the Hurricanes finest hour, but despite those looking to jump off a ledge this morning, it wasn't the end of the world either.

The Caps out-skated, out-hustled, out-hit, out-shot (by a ridiculous margin of 39-22) and basically outplayed the Canes in a 4-1 win on Tuesday night in DC. It was a win that brought the Caps into a points tie (90) with the Hurricanes at the top of the Southeast division with 2 games left to play. Carolina holds the tie-breakers of total wins and overall record head-to-head.

Both teams finish the season with two home games, against the same teams - Tampa and Florida - with Washington having the slight advantage of getting the 'Ning and Panthers on the back-end of back to backs. The Canes get the 'Ning at home tonight, on the back end of a back to back.

It's really simple at this point. If the Canes beat the Lightning and Panthers at home, they are in the playoffs as the Southeast Division champs and will secure the third seed in the East. If they lose either game, and Washington wins their matchup, the Caps are division champs. Both Washington and Carolina are still in the running for a playoff spot (currently 1 point behind 8th place Boston), but to be honest I don't even want to think about that.

The Canes win two and they are in. If they don't they need help, and that's not an enviable position to be in. You work to have the puck on your stick to control your destiny, and the Canes have that. Now they just have to go out and take care of business at home against two teams who are out of the playoffs.

Notes from last night:

- The Caps took control from the start, dominated the game for the most part. The first 7-8 minutes werea blitzkreig, and only Cam Ward's stellar play kept the Canes in the game.

- Washington's first two goals - from Matt Cooke and Brooks Laich respectively - were both probably something the Canes would like to have another crack at. On Cooke's tally Ward gave up a juicy rebound off of a Mike Green blast from the point which fell right at Cooke's feet between the circles. And Laich scored on nifty forehand-to-backhand move in front of the crease that seemed to hypnotize both Ward and defenseman Tim Gleason.

-Cristobol Huet made a stunning save on a Scott Walker short-handed breakaway in the 2nd that would have tied the score at 2, and probably changed the entire complexion of the game. Instead, Washington scored later in the same power play (a 4 minute minor to Trevor Letowski for high sticking) to essentially ice the game.

-Much was made on the radio call-in shows last night and in the blogosphere this morning about the officiating in last night's game, and some sort of perceived conspiracy theories about the NHL wanting the Caps in the playoffs over the Canes.
To this end I would like to make a few points:

1) The officiating did not lose the game for the Canes last night. They were beaten by a team that played better and worked harder.

2) NHL officiating, on the whole, is indeed atrocious, but is usually atrocious both ways. My big beef with NHL officiating is that it is so inconsistent from game to game, period to period, shift to shift. Sometimes I could swear they are just making things up as they go along.

3) That said, the way a game is being played by the teams on the ice has a lot to do with how a game is being called...i.e. the Caps were contorling play for most of the game last night, setting the tempo and putting the Canes on the defensive. This naturally leads to the aggressive team getting the benefit of the calls. When the Canes are pressing the action, controlling the flow of the game I've seen them get the benefit of calls on many occasions.

4) Referees don't usually decide games, players on the ice do. Last night the Canes got rattled, started worrying about the refs and the calls instead of focusing on controlling the game on the ice. They were outplayed. This is why they lost.

5) Of curse the NHL would love to see the Caps/Ovechkin in the playoffs! Duh. But to somehow infer that they would actually, specifically, cheat the Canes to get them there is a bit out there. Just reaks of homer fan insecurity to me. Do you think the Canes would have ever met Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Finals if the league operated this way? And even if they had, don't you think the fix would have been in for more tradition laden Oilers in such a situation?

One other note on Alex Ovechkin and some perceived notion that he gets the star treatment...OF COURSE HE DOES...he is a star...stars get preferential treatment in every sports league known to man...Does he sometime cross the line from hard nosed and gritty to "dirty"?...ABSOLUTELY...but I would argue it is his willingness, as a player of exceptional skill, to even approach that line that makes him the world class hockey player that he is...and a joy to watch as long as it's not against your team...should he get called for leaving his feet on checks, or brings his elbow up on a check along the boards?...ABSOLUTELY...but until the pansies in the striped shirts do something about it, there's no deterrent...the only deterrent I see is some goon getting sick of it all and taking a serious run at Ovie...then the NHL can think about it while one of their superstars sits on the shelf for a month or so...that would suck...because I would love to have a guy who plays as hard and with as much skill as Ovechkin on my team any day...


Canes vs Tampa tonight.

Let's Go Canes!