For Canes fans struggling to stay awake through the weeknight 10pm local start, the hockey did not offer much in the way of help except maybe suspense. On Wednesday night, the Canes and Avs played a slow, sluggish and sloppy hockey game with very little in the way of pretty hockey and nothing, at least through regulation, in the way of scoring. When Cam Ward made a lunging paddle save to block an empty net late in the third period, the local TV news stations had their first highlight for the night. When Victor Rask made a nifty 1-on-1 move against a tired Avs defender to win the game, Ward was justly rewarded for his efforts.
The story of the game from a Hurricanes standpoint was threefold:
1) Cam Ward. He was phenomenal in posting his first shutout this season. The work was light through 2 periods with neither team able to generate much offensively, but he made a couple real good saves late to get the game to overtime and another in overtime to set up the win. This marks 2 consecutive strong outings for Ward, so hopefully he is finding a groove.
2) A win. For a team that was 1-4-0 coming in and with a 2014-15 campaign that was doomed real early on this same road trip, any kind of win and push closer to break even is a good thing and willingly accepted regardless of terms.
3) Continued struggles offensively. Other than Cam Ward, there is very little that the team would want to carry forward. The Hurricanes offense continues to struggle to find any cohesiveness, and though less pronounced than other games, the Canes inability to move the puck up the ice also created problems and inhibited the offense or even the ability to try to play offense.
But again, on the road at this juncture in the season any kind of win is a positive.
Next up the Canes see a bit of a flip-flopped back-to-back. On Friday, the Canes play in Los Angeles against a Kings team that plays and travels the night before, so theoretically they should have the upperhand physically. Then on Saturday, the Canes play the second half of their own back-to-back against a rested Sharks team. Ideal would be to collect a win or even an overtime loss point on Friday which would make Saturday bonus points on top of a 3-game stint that would be at least break even regardless of Saturday's outcome.
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Go Canes!