On Tuesday night in Buffalo, the Canes ran their regular season record to 0-2 in being shut out 2-0 by the Sabres and Jhonas Enroth. The biggest news coming out of the game was Jordan Staal getting tangled up with Josh Gorges late, going down in a heap and having to be helped off the ice with a right leg injury. There were no official reports on the details of the injury as of the end of the game, but it is now reported that he suffered a broken bone in his right leg. I am not sure what that means in terms of time off, but it obviously is not a day-to-day kind of thing. More on that situation below.

As for the rest of the game, it was another mixed bag tarnished of course by the injury and to some extent the outcome.

-Anton Khudobin did not see much work but made a few sharp saves and was a perfect 9 for 9 in about 30 minutes of work.

-Thought it did not score, the power play seemed to bring the same "shoot lots" mentality and generated some chances.

-Bill Peters reported after the game that he was pleased with Victor Rask's game which is significant since he is 1 of the young players surging upward right now and even more so since he is 1 of the centers who could fill in for Jordan Staal if he is on the shelf for awhile.

-The Canes defense was again victimized in transition getting up in the neutral zone to then see the puck and opponents behind them. This time it was Hainsey/Faulk who somehow allowed a 2-on-none, so it is not like we can write it off as just the youth. We are still early in the preseason and adjusting to a new system, but the trend is definitely something to watch as we push closer to the regular season.

It will be a restless night of sleep for those who dream Hurricanes waiting anxiously for more detailed information on Jordan Staal's injury tomorrow.

Jumping the gun a bit since I will not have time to spin up a blog during the day tomorrow, I think there are 2 options if JStaal is out for an extended period of time:

I think the most obvious approach is to go back to the well with Tlusty/EStaal/Semin as the 1st line and Skinner/Nash/Lindholm as the 2nd. The Canes then have the pieces to build a pretty solid old school checking type of 3rd line of Gerbe/McClement/Dwyer that can eat up some of the hard minutes. Then you have a truly open competition for the last 3 spots on the 4th line with Malone as a frontrunner to take 1 spot. The big question with this path is how well that 2nd line would hold up being targeted matchup-wise by other teams' best scoring lines especially on the road. The Canes' road-heavy October would provide an answer pretty quickly.

The other option would be to continue on Coach Bill Peters' early path and backfill:

---If it clicks, you keep Skinner/EStaal/Lindholm together as your 1st line.

---Riley Nash then slides into JStaal's slot making Tlusty/Nash/Semin. His game is different, but he does bring the same 2-way game that you want on that line. And Nash does play with a nose for the net which fits well with Semin's playmaking role on that line.

--Then I think you build the same 3rd line as the 1st scenario. At a minimum, you get a line that you can run out for defensive zone draws without feeling sick to your stomach. It also leaves what is probably now your 1st penalty kill unit of McClement/Dwyer together. With the Canes already light on proven forward depth, I do not see why you would try to balance 4 lines. Better is probably to stack what you can in the top 9 and then let the skilled youth have the 4th-line slots. Despite limited NHL experience, they could provide 2nd unit power play depth and also a line that you give more minutes in the 3rd period if you are down a goal or 2 and need to gamble a bit for offense.

I think the advantage with the 2nd alternative especially on the road is that things are a bit more balanced in terms of experience and defense. Skinner and Lindholm still get a tall task, but they at least get to do so playing next to Eric Staal who has years of experience in this role. And Riley Nash also gets veteran help around him despite the demanding bump up in role.

Personally, I like the idea of balancing the top 2 lines (Skinner/EStaal/Lindholm and Tlusty/Nash/Semin), building the 3rd line for checking and then building a 4th line of youth with skill that can score. You then pick your spots a little bit matchup-wise but mostly turn that 4th line loose and tell them to play to their strengths and go score and NOT try to morph into the checking line that they are not.

Here is hoping that the 17 days remaining until opening night eat up much of Jordan Staal's layoff, but my non-professional medical handicapping suggests that the Canes will need to work their way into 2014-15 without their 2nd line center.

Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63

Go Canes!

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