I said in my game preview that the 5-game home stand starting Tuesday night could decide whether the Canes current struggles and injury problems are a bump in the road or the very early end of the 2013-14 season.
With a late extra attacker goal by Jordan Staal and a huge overtime winner by Manny Malhotra, the Canes seized victory from the jaws of defeat and are now 1-0 to start the 5-game stretch.
The game was mostly ugly and sluggish. It very much looked like exactly what it was – 2 teams struggling offensively and in the standings slogging through mud trying to grind out any kind of win. Both goalies were good, but there also was not much offense to be had.
It is hard to see an ugly win against another struggling team as being a significant turning point, but it does push the team 1 game and a couple days closer to getting a couple key players healthy and hopefully to the inevitable point where something starts working offensively.
A few quick player notes:
--Justin Peters. He received and definitely deserved the 1st star holding the fort for as long as he could and being beat only once on a deflection where he had not chance. This was a solid bounce back game for him because after playing pretty good hockey in a losing cause early in his run in net, he was not very good in the past 2 losses.
--Manny Malhotra. He was 14 off 22 in his usual faceoff specialist role and then notched a HUGE overtime game-winner to put icing on the cake.
--Alexander Semin is ready to break out. Of the variety of Canes players who are struggling offensively (Both Staals were real quiet tonight until the extra attacker goal), Semin is at least making plays and is noticeably in the game. How about an overdue break out on the score sheet for 3 points and a path to another Canes win on Thursday?
--Ryan Murphy. He logged a team high 24:55 of ice time and offered rare moments where it did not look like everyone was skating in mud. It was also good to see that the clipping penalty on Saturday did not alter his game when minus his stick he upended a rushing Flyer with another of his hip checks.
Details aside, the Canes desperately needed any kind of win to start to try to begin treading water instead of sinking rapidly.
Can the Canes follow it up with another win Thursday to begin to dig out of the small hole they have dug? Or did they just benefit from playing 1 of the handful of teams that are struggling just as much as them right now? The drama continues on Thursday when the Canes play game 2 of 5 at home against the New York Islanders.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
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