The Carolina Hurricanes came out with a dominating home 1st period. The Canes faded a bit especially in the 3rd, but at the end of the day they are just better than Buffalo right now and it shows in the early completion of a 3-game sweep for 2013. The win pushes the Canes winning streak to a solid 4 games. Winnipeg's loss pushes the Canes lead in the Southeast Division to 6 points. What's not to like?

A few quick notes:

1) Good for Justin Peters. He has been quietly working away playing solid hockey in the AHL hoping for a chance despite the fact that he is a clear #3 on the Canes goaltending depth chart. So enter a Ward injury and Ellis illness, and he gets an earned chance. He was very very good early. The volume of shots he saw in the 1st half of the game was low, but the quality was high. And as Buffalo tilted the ice later in the game he proved good enough. This is a solid start to a long stretch minus Cam Ward.

2) The line. 3 more goals for Tlusty/EStaal/Semin. (Yes I realize that one was actually with Jokinen in Tlusty's spot during a partial line change, but still.) When do these guys start getting consideration as 1 of the best 2-3 lines in the NHL?

3) Nash continues to look like he belongs. So it was not as dominant as Saturday's effort obviously, but Riley Nash continues to look like he could be a more permanent addition to the lineup. His patience and calm with the puck is what has me sold. He does not look like the game is too fast when he has the puck on his stick in his own end or in between the blue lines.

4) Quit too early. You hate to nitpick any win, but the Canes quit on the 3rd period. They looked too content to get the puck out of their zone and get a line change in the 1st half of the 3rd period and then even lackadaisacal late. Timely finishing saved them, but the possible improvement in this game is finishing. This should have been a comfortable 2-3 goal win.

5) Ride it. Canes are playing well with a steady schedule of every other day continuing for a few more games at home. Time to ride the momentum, collect points and try to run away from the rest of the division.

Next up is Montreal on Thursday who stymied the Canes for a 3-0 flop in Montreal not too long ago.

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

Go Canes!

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