The Carolina Hurricanes never really got going in Montreal. Give the Habs credit for being better, not a ton but better through the 1st half of the game. The Canes did seem to muster a bit of energy late in the 2nd, and with recent history Canes fans had to be optimistic that the team would again pull out a win or at least a consolation point in the 3rd period. But putting it simply, Cam Ward had a rough time of it early in the 3rd letting in not 1 but 2 odd softies, and that was all she wrote.

This is one where you need to just quickly move on and get ready for the next one. Nothing is certain, but the banged up list that added Tim Brent today seems to be short-term issues. Hopefully the Canes get a couple back from the current list of Gleason, Pitkanen, Skinner and Brent.

A few quick notes:

1) Gotta skate. The Canes are dynamic offensively when they skate well, but tonight was a great example of what happens when they don't. Partly due to the faceoffs as well, the Canes played too little with the puck on their sticks and had trouble entering the offensive zone cleanly.

2) The equalizer of late missing. It mostly got lost in the fun of winning, but the Canes did have a couple clunkerish games on the front of the road trip in Toronto and Ottawa, but Ward stood on his head in both those games until the offense arrived. So today was sort of on that path until the strange turn of events in the 3rd period. Maybe I'm just an optimist, but I have to think that if the Canes only needed 1 to get to OT, they would have found a way.

3) Too many kids. The all-important 1st goal was largely the result of failure to sort things out quickly and tie up sticks and bodies and/or clean up a loose puck. It was literally an AHL set on the ice for it with Sanguinetti/Jordan on D and the makeshift 3rd line of Bowman/Nash/Welsh at forward. Of the bunch, only Bowman was seeing ice time at the NHL level before the rash of injuries over the past week. I really like the prospect of Nash growing into a 3rd line center simply because the Canes really need one, and they ideally need one for cheap. He had moments of looking almost ready and others of not tonight.

4) Credit where it is due. Even before the Ward breakdown, Montreal was better and more deserving of points.

The key is the right the ship quickly. The Canes get 2 more days off and after seeing how they skated after 3 days off, I'm afraid that is 1 too many. But they get a middlish/beatable Winnipeg team at home and need to use that to get back on track quickly.

For a quick heads up when I post a Canes blog follow me on Twitter at CarolinaMatt63.

Go Canes!

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