After having to go the last two weeks with five players out of the lineup, the Hurricanes got four of these players back tonight and put together their best performance of the season. Everything just seemed to come together tonight. The first line was firing on all cylinders, the penalty kill was a perfect five for five and Cam Ward came up big when he needed to, all en route to a 4-1 win over a very good Pittsburgh Penguins team. It's amazing what having a healthy roster can do, because this looked more like the team we have grown used to seeing before the wave of injuries happened.

Getting Skinner back definitely helped, as he scored his eighth goal of the season tonight, but what really sparked Carolina tonight was how well the first line of Eric Staal, Jiri Tlusty and Alexander Semin played. The trio were back to their usual selves after a few off games, combining for three goals and completely dominating the Penguins territorially. The latter point is huge because Muller elected to match them up against Sidney Crosby's line and whenever those two were matched up against each other, the Pens were spending most of the time in their own zone. Being able to have that advantage is huge and it was a key reason why the Canes won this game. Them adding three goals was just icing on the cake.

What Carolina needed more than anything tonight was a confidence booster because it was at an all-time low after that horrible performance against Washington. Getting a few key players back in the lineup along with a few good bounces tonight changed everything and now things are looking up heading into the back-to-back series against the Florida Panthers. Let's just hope that this roster brings this type of performance this weekend. 

Carolina had a lot of incentive to win or at least put together a good performance tonight. They still have yet to win a divisional game and one of their teammates was returning to the place he spent most of his NHL career. We heard a lot about how the guys wanted to win this game for Alexander Semin and we thought the Canes would have an inspiring performance en route to their first win against a Southeast team. Instead, we got to see the Hurricanes get shutout for the second time this season and put together a pretty horrible performance overall. 

The Canes had some jump in the first few minutes, but that was all washed away after they were called for a couple penalties and the Caps took a 1-0 lead on their second powerplay. After that, Carolina struggled to create offense and allowed the Capitals to do whatever they wanted for the next 30 minutes. The Caps were able to win just about every battle along the boards, were beating the Hurricanes to loose pucks and thoroughly dominated Carolina.

Don't let the final score fool you, the Caps dominated this entire game and the only reason things were close is because Cam Ward made a handful of fantastic saves to keep his team in the game. You would think that this would inspire the Hurricanes to put forth a little more effort and put together some more offense but the most they could do was create some one-and-done chances and nothing more. The team probably wasn't going to win many games during this stretch of injuries but there's a difference between losing because of a lack of talent, and losing because the team comes out sleep walking while the game is still in reach. The latter is what I have been seeing in too many games recently and it doesn't reflect well on the coaching staff and how much preparation the team is getting. This is by no means a "Fire Muller" statement, but it's up to the coaches to get the most out of the roster they've been dealt and I haven't been seeing it these past few games.

The Southeast is a very bad division this year, so the Canes will probably stay in the hunt for awhile but they are currently 0-5-0 and have been outscored 21-6 against divisional foes. These kinds of performances just aren't going to get it done. Period. 

"Here we go again" was the phrase uttered by many Hurricanes fans after they saw their team fall behind early in the first period and were forced to play from behind yet again. Even more grumbles of frustration were unleashed later on that period when the Hurricanes were able to mount an attack but could not get anything past Islanders goaltender Kevin Poulin. Things seemingly reached a season-low in the second period when the Islanders just dominated the Hurricanes, outshooting them 12-1 mid-way through and looking like they were going to coast their way to a shutout win. After last night's collapse against the Tampa Bay Lightning, many Hurricanes fans were hoping for a better showing tonight and that this team would come out with a little more fire than they were showing.

The tides would then shift in Carolina's favor late in the second period when Islanders forward Matt Martin was whistled for an interference call. The Canes would then quickly make the Islanders pay by getting a lucky goal off a faceoff and then follow it up less than a minute later with a goal from Jordan Staal to tie the game. What had happened prior to that was now all but irrelevant as the Canes managed to put themselves in a position to win the game despite playing so poorly for the first 40 minutes. All they had to do was go out and finish the job, something they couldn't do yesterday but did tonight.

Now rejuvenated, the Hurricanes came out very strong in the third period and took control of the game, just as they did against this same Islanders game a couple weeks ago. Their top-two lines were finally clicking and their hard work paid off as a terrific shift from the Jordan Staal line resulted in Bobby Sanguinetti getting the game-winning goal. They would continue to wear down the Islanders and eventually salt away a 4-2 win after Alex Semin added on an empty netter in the dying seconds.

This was a thrilling victory and a much needed morale booster after the last three games, but I'm sure many fans would prefer to see this team show more of a complete effort instead of having to rally from behind like they have so many times this season. The fact that the Canes have been able to battle back and win games like this speaks a lot about their character and determination, but it isn't going to work every night. In the end, a win is a win and the Hurricanes will certainly take whatever they can get this year.

Coming into this game off two straight losses and no divisional wins to their name, many fans considered Carolina's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning a "must win." It's still too early to consider any game a must win, but the Canes would have done themselves a huge favor down the line by getting a win over Tampa Bay at home. It would have been a great way to lift some sprits before going on the road again for the next two games. This wasn't a must win, but it was a big game for the Hurricanes but you wouldn't know that judging by the score, as Carolina ended up losing 5-2 on the back of a terrible third period which rivals the Florida game as some of the worst hockey this team has played this season. 

Carolina gave up the first goal yet again, but they managed to hang tough with the Lightning for a good portion of the game despite not being able to solve goaltender Mathieu Garon for the first 40 minutes. Down only 1-0 to begin the third period, the game was still in reach and the Canes could have easily found a way to get a point out of this game. Unfortunately, they came into the third period flat and let Tampa Bay walk all over them. The Lightning out-competed the Hurricanes, were able to easily maneuver around their defense and added on four goals for good measure.

The Hurricanes injury problems and lack of depth showed in a bad way tonight, but even with that there is no excuse for how bad they played in the third period tonight. The game was still within reach after 40 minutes but it looked like the Hurricanes thought the game was over before the third period even started. This kind of performance shouldn't be acceptable in any game but it's especially troubling when it happens against a divisional opponent who has already beaten you once this year. Again, the injury bug has hit this team hard right now with five players on the shelf in the span of a week, but that didn't stop them from staying competitive against Winnipeg on Thursday. Where was that in the third period tonight?

Usually this is where I'll say that the team needs to "forget about the loss and regroup," but I think a lot more work needs to be done here. You have to wonder if this is just one bad game or a sign of things to come? Hopefully it's the former.

Losing is always tough and losing when you outplay your opponents is even more frustrating. This is what happened to the Hurricanes tonight, as they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Winnipeg Jets despite outplaying them for most of the game and remain winless in Southeast Division play this season. With the roster crushed by injuries right now, you have to make the most out of good performances like this, so coming away empty handed really stings here.

This really would have been a great game for the Hurricanes to win. They managed to outplay a divisional opponent by outshooting them 29-17 and outchancing them 19-13 and get a glimpse of the future with Ryan Murphy playing well in his NHL debut. Unfortunately, they came away with nothing to show for their efforts except for another loss and no points earned in the standings. There are a lot of positives you can draw out of this game, especially with the Canes roster being in the shape that it is, but it's kind of hard to look on the bright side when your still winless in divisional play and just watched your team lose a game they probably should have won.

In the end, the Hurricanes couldn't get a timely save from Cam Ward and had a defensive lapse at the worst time, which sealed a frustrating loss. They will have to look past this and hope they can get a better performance in goal this Saturday against Tampa Bay. The Hurricanes recent success on their road trip means that the division isn't going to slip out of their hands any time soon and they should win more games in the upcoming weeks if they play like they did tonight.

There weren't a lot of Hurricanes fans who were expecting the team to win tonight given the roster they were dressing. It's hard to expect much when your team is missing three top players along with one of their key special teams contributors. When said players are being replaced with guys from the AHL (one of which was jetted to the game on the same day), it was very important to keep your expectations in line coming into this game. The only thing we knew for sure coming into tonight was that this would be a very ugly game and it certainly delivered on that front. 

The Hurricanes and Canadiens played what was a very low-event, tight checking game with not much action at either end. Both teams combined for only 36 even strength shots and weren't able to apply much sustained offense aside from a few instances. Neither team was able to build much offense but the Hurricanes struggled to generate a lot of chances and shots on goal in general. They were able to gain Montreal's zone easily and keep the puck deep, but it wasn't resulting in much offense. Most of Carolina's possessions consisted of them with them working the puck around the boards and getting maybe one shot on goal if they were lucky. The stat sheet reflects this as the Canes had only 19 shots on goal with 21 shot attempts that either missed the net or were blocked. All of this led to a 3-0 shutout loss to a team starting their back-up goaltender.

Carolina was forced to make the best out of a bad situation tonight and their forward depth issues showed up in a bad way.  It was very frustrating to watch but it's not anything worth panicking over if you're a Carolina fan. There are only going to be a few games where they dress a roster like this again and things should hopefully get better once Skinner, Gleason, Pitkanen and Brent return to the lineup. Right now they just need to put the loss behind them and get healthy for Thursday night when the Winnipeg Jets come to town.

Tonight's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs had the makings of being one of those old fashioned, high scoring run-and-gun style contests where the winner would be determined by who had the last shot on net. The Hurricanes, who haven't been good defensively this year, were missing two top-four defensemen in Joni Pitkanen and Tim Gleason while the Leafs have injuries all across the board and are currently icing two AHL-ers in their top-four. It ended up being somewhat of a low-scoring affair with the Hurricanes putting together one of their best defensive efforts of the season.

The Canes gave up only 18 shots at even strength and 23 overall, which is pretty amazing when you consider who they were dressing in their defense corps. They managed to do this by employing the same strategy as they had in the New Jersey game, which was forecheck hard, force turnovers and trap the Leafs in their own zone for most of the game. I thought it would be difficult for the Canes to do this with a depleted defense, but they really suffocated the Leafs tonight and did everything they could to keep the puck out of their own zone. A large part of this was due to the excellent play fo the top-line, who forced a lot of turnovers to disrupt Toronto's breakout attempts, and the makeshift #2 defense pairing of Jamie McBain and Joe Corvo. If you told anyone that this particular d-corps gave the Hurricanes their best defensive effort of the season, they would think that you were lying but that's what happened tonight.

Some people say that the first game home after a long road trip is tough because there is a lot of pressure on the home team to perform well in front of their fans. Even if that is true, it didn't look like that affected the Canes tonight as they took home a very impressive win against a hot Toronto team and now have a well-deserved few days off. Let's hope that they don't lose much steam when they hit the road again for Monday's game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Tonight's 4-2 victory over the Devils was easily the Carolina Hurricanes biggest win of this young season. Not only does it clinch a 4-1-1 record on their road trip, but they were also able to get a win over a team that has been at the top of the Eastern Conference for most of the year. As expected, the win did not come easy as they found themselves down 1-0 in the first period again despite outplayed New Jersey in most of that frame. They managed to battle back again and tie the game early in the second period on the back of a powerplay goal by Jussi Jokinen. Patrick Dwyer would then provide the go-ahead goal in the dying minutes of the frame by deflecting a Jay Harrison shot past Brodeur. 

A large reason why the Hurricanes gained this lead was because they were forechecking hard and skating circles around the Devils during the first 40 minutes of the game. They gained a big territorial advantage over New Jersey during that time and it was hard to tell that they were playing the second half of a back-to-back game. Then the third period happened. Carolina began to look tired, were getting pinned into their own end, lost one of their best defensemen in Joni Pitkanen and gave up an early goal to Ryan Carter which tied the game.

Carolina's dominance at even strength had all but faded by then, but they received some help from their special teams units, which have been rather cold as of late. First, they were able to successfully kill off Joe Corvo's penalty early in the period and would then get a huge powerplay goal from Jiri Tlusty to give the Canes a 3-2 lead. From then on, the Canes basically did the best they could to hang onto the lead by limiting the Devils scoring opportunities and they just managed to survive with some help from goaltender Cam Ward.

The Hurricanes definitely left everything all on the ice tonight and even if they just managed to get by, it was great to see them pull out a win all things considered. I'm sure many people would have been happy if they only earned a point in the standings with this being their third game in four days and the final game of a long road trip, but the Canes had their sights set higher and managed to achieve it.

Winning four out of six games in this stretch of the schedule is no easy feat at all, so this could hopefully lead to greater things down the line for this team.

Generally speaking, the Hurricanes have done a pretty good job of outplaying their opponents this year or at least keeping things relatively even against them. The wins haven't been coming as often as fans would like but the Canes have had more good games than bad this year by my account. Tonight's game against Ottawa had all the makings of being one of the worst games the Canes have played all year. They gave up 47 shots, were outplayed at even strength and struggled to get the puck out of their zone for most of the game. Despite all of that, they were able to tie the game late in the third period on the back of a goal by Alexander Semin and finish off Ottawa in overtime. 

The Hurricanes have been on the losing end of games likes this before, where they outplay the opposition for the majority of the game but end up taking the loss thanks to either bad luck, poor special teams or running into a hot goalie. Tonight, the Canes were outshot 47-26 but went perfect on the penalty kill, went 1/2 on the powerplay and Cam Ward came up big more than a few times in stopping 45 shots. It was definitely what most people would consider an "ugly win" but it's been awhile since the Hurricanes have won a game like this.

You don't want to make a habit out of winning games like this but the Hurricanes will take the two points regardless and move onwards towards a re-match with the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon. 

History is beginning to repeat itself for the Carolina Hurricanes, as they once again outplayed their opponent tonight but ended up taking a loss because of some terrible special teams play. They outshot the Flyers 42-24 (30-16 at even strength) but went 1/6 on the powerplay and had multiple opportunities to get back into the game in the third period. Unfortunately, they still look completely disoriented when playing with a man-up despite all of the talent present. To make things worse, Carolina failed to kill off all all three Flyer powerplays and that ended up being the dagger in this game.

All losses are frustrating, but this one was particularly maddening to watch because just about every time the Hurricanes had a chance to get back into the game, something went wrong and they found themselves down by two or three goals again. That's just the way that the dice has been rolling for the Hurricanes this season, though. Some of it is bad luck but a lot of it is related to this team's lackluster special teams play and tendency to have some defensive lapses. Sure, some people might point a finger at the spotty officiating tonight or not getting the goaltending they needed from Dan Ellis, who was pulled after allowing four goals on 12 shots, but most of Carolina's errors tonight were self-inflicted and the reason why they find themselves below .500. Again.