First, what a great hockey game.

Even if Canes fans do not get real playoff hockey this April, the team has at least played its way close enough that we can have fun pretending for a few weeks. And lately that has been fun and mostly successful. The team continues to play good hockey.

For me, the most defining point in Wednesday's loss was the last couple minutes of the 1st period. Brandon Sutter earned a penalty shot while on the penalty kill but was unable to convert. Washington then scored to make it a 2-0 deficit. At this point, it looked like it was just going to be a tough night on the road against a team that had not lost at home since December. So did the Canes wilt? Not even close. Some of their best hockey of the night was punctuated by a HUGE Pat Dwyer goal and a continued rush that saw a couple more real good scoring chances. Right now, that is a 1-minute example for the season. This team had a chance to mail in the rest of this season a few months back and did not. And now even though the odds are long, they just keep working hard.

I can live with that no matter how it ends.

As for bits and bytes:

1) Larose is back. Chad Larose had a rough start to 09-10 going forever without a goal, but more significantly to me just not having the jump and quickness that defines his game and makes him difficult to play against. Following the Olympic break, he is playing like he is shot out of a cannon.

His line of Larose/Sutter/Ruutu was phenomenal all night. Ruutu was physical and also made a bunch of offensive plays. And Sutter was similarly playing at high speed.

2) Need to step up. Maybe the only disappointment from a Canes standpoint was Staal. In a game that got a bit wild and open at times, Eric Staal has to step forward and produce something to turn this into a win. He had the puck on his stick 2-on-1 at least twice if not 3 times and did little each time. And in general he just seemed to be a half gear slower than the game on Wednesday night.

3) Growing up/filling in. I thought Bret Carson had a generally solid game against a team that can make young defensemen playing a little over their head look really bad. He continues to make strides. Most impressive was his ability to "Wesley" a few plays where he found the puck on his stick without any really good options and at least avoided a blind wish pass that gets picked off and put in your net quickly.

It is hard to be disappointed with the effort and the game in general. But letting the 2nd point get away hurts. The problem is not so much what happened on Wednesday. It is what happened awhile back.

There is no rest for the weary. Tomorrow night the Canes get a Pens team that was resting in a Raleigh hotel and probably watching the Caps game on TV.

Go Canes!

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