Monday night was 1 of those games where the Canes needed to come out and dictate play. Despite a couple injury setbacks of late and 2 OTLs in a short week last week, the Canes have been going good. Vancouver has struggled early this season with their normal difficulty generating enough offense some nights and maybe of more concern with playing a stifling defensive game capable of winning enough games 2-1 to make the playoffs. Then you throw in Vancouver's schedule situation with a game at home on the other coast on Friday followed by a game in Columbus last night, and you have 1 of 10-12 positive situations that the NHL schedule monkey generates for each team. You MUST take advantage of these to make up for the 10-12 times that you are the other team.

And that is exactly what the Canes did. The first period was one of the more lopsided that I have seen this year. Only a solid period by Luongo and failure at times to put a couple bodies in his line of sight kept this one from being over early. The Canes skated aggressively downhill for almost the entire first half of the game, and though the margin shrunk some, I would say that the Canes won the rest of the game as well. And they succeeded in dictating the play throughout. We know too well from his days in Florida that this does not guarantee 2 points when Luongo is in net, but the hockey gods got it right for the majority of the guys on the ice and not that big #1 in the other net.

A few comments:

1) Larose. Would anyone else agree that this was Chad Larose's best game as a Hurricane? The regular description of Larose especially last season when little else seemed to be going right was "he played hard, he skated hard, he won little battles and he should get more playing time than ____ who appeared to be going through the motions." Most of these nights were without points. Most were the usual 4th line 8-9 minute variety. And while Larose exceled in his role on the team in those games, it just is not easy to be a true impact player with 4th line minutes and role.

Since being pressed into a larger role due to injuries this season, he has thrived. The end of tonight's game could not have been more fitting. It ended with the puck on Chad Larose's stick. It must have spent 15 minutes there. In the offensive zone - in the neutral zone - on the boards - on the way to the net - wherever - the puck was on Larose's stick for what seemed like half of the night. No one could have been more deserving of putting the only puck past Luongo that he actually saw (great screen on the other).

Someone is going to chime in and say that he had a better game last week when he registered 3 assists and the first star. There is a decent case there. He almost managed a couple of that same type of assist when he took the puck hard to the net in the first period and on the no-goal ruling on Williams rebound via his usual with a bang and a bust and a pile of dust.

But later in the game, tell me if I am wrong, I think we saw a new side to Chad Larose. First on the breakaway goal where he actually slowed up a bit, assessed the situation and picked a place for a goal and hit it rather than the common "storm the net and see if you can bang it in" approach. And then later in the 3rd period came a play that you could have missed had you been reaching for your drink. He got the puck at about the left faceoff circle with an opening in front of him, but nothing really to shoot at. Rather than the basic option A: take a decent low shot and hope to create a rebound for someone else; option B: charge the net with the bang and bust and pile of dust routine; option C: take a shot in the dark centering the puck to the bodies, he instead went the sniper route. He looked things over. He dangled the puck in pure sniper form. Then he sort of turned a skate and his shoulder as if the puck was going to the center of the ice and then fired the puck off the side of the net. Only he and Luongo probably know if he successfully got Luongo to give up that 18X18 inch box short side high. He missed by a couple feet anywway when he hit the side of the net, but the thought process was clearly that of a goal scorer not a 4th line grinder.

First, in no way do I want him to abandon his gritty style. But if in fact he is reaching a new comfort level that helps him slow the game down just a little, it is going to be a pleasure to watch his season unfold. For the next week or so I begin creeping to the front of my seat everytime Larose gets the puck on his stick in a scoring situation to see where it leads.

2) Sound. The Canes so dominantly controlled the game the defensemen and Ward had about 1/2 a game's work to do tonight. But with Luongo bringing back memories of some of the ugly games that he stole in our building wearing a Panthers sweater, the defense and/or Ward were 1 mistake away from having a point or 2 stolen from the team tonight. They were having none of that. Though it was a light night, Ward answered the call whenever it came. And the defense was breakdown-free and just generally sound whenever asked. The penalty kill did a phenomenal job of sorting things out and making all of the right decisions. Despite having trouble clearing the puck on multiple occasions, Vancouver had little luck getting anything at all going inside the airtight box in front of Ward. Everything was pushed to the outside.

3) The little things. Instead of getting frustrated by the lack of help on the scoreboard despite dominating the game early, the Canes just started working harder. Stillman and Williams are the 2 I remember offhand, but a bunch of guys laid down and blocked pucks today. The Canes finished checks consistently all night and took hits to make plays. They were clearly willing to battle for the full 60 minutes to eek out a 1-0 win in overtime if that is what it would take. Staal never got it going offensively, but seemed to be a standout on the forecheck tonight and won more than his share of battles on the boards.

4) Model for NHL policing? 3 fights in a hockey game between opposite conference teams that do not see each other enough to have any real hatred and neither of whom skate a pure enforcer seemed odd tonight. But I thought tonight was a textbook example of how NHL policing should go. The game got a bit chippy for whatever reason. Craig Adams was playing his game of finishing checks hard and throwing his body around. None of the hits were dirty, but after seeing the same number on the jersey nailing guys 1 too many times, Bieksa said enough and they squared off. There was no brutal slash; no retaliatory hit from behind; just 2 guys agreeing to go at it. I am not sure what sparked the Commodore/Rypien fight, but again, emotions were high and 2 guys agreed to go at it. Finally, when Isbister ran over Ward, Gleason stepped in to show his disapproval and 2 guys squared off. With a cheap shot artist or 2 on the ice tonight, you could see where this one could have gone another route into an ugly one. Instead, you get a couple fights, a lot of physicality and emotion and most of it channeled into the hockey game and clean play. All 6 fighters were guys who actually skate regular shifts for a living and do not need to wear snow shoes to make it far enough out onto that slippery stuff in 3 minutes of ice time to find someone to punch.

Next up are the Sabres. This has the makings of a good 1 for 2 reasons. First, the hard-fought 05-06 Eastern Conference Finals series still seems to stir emotions amongst both fan bases. Second, the Canes are again winning hockey games by outskating and outforechecking opponents. Even with the loss of Briere and Drury, if you want to make a case that you are skating well, Buffalo is still as good of a measuring stick as any.

Go Canes!

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