The Carolina Hurricanes are no longer in last place in the NHL standings. By handing the Bruins a 5-1 Boston massacre, the Canes moved one point ahead of the Edmonton Oilers, into 29th place in the league. And I was there to see it!
Okay, so being 29th instead of 30th doesn't change the fact that Carolina has still had a very disappointing season and would need a miracle to reach the playoffs. But in a season this bleak - especially after reaching the Conference Finals last season - small victories must be cherished. And there were other reasons to be excited about the win.
It was Cam Ward's 131st career victory, placing him first on the franchise's all-time list, ahead of Artus Irbe. Ward was brilliant, stopping 27 of Boston's 28 shots on goal. He unfortunately missed recording his first shutout of the season when David Krejci scored a power play goal at 8:56 of the 3rd period. The Warden made some beautiful saves to protect the Carolina lead and allow his team to put the hammer down on offense.
The Carolina power play continued its recent success, converting on an Eric Staal goal 4:26 into the 2nd. The goal was Staal's 5th as team captain, as he has scored in each of his first three games wearing the 'C.' The Canes' power play is now 8-for-21 - a 38% clip - over the last 5 games. They've moved up to 18th in the league with a 17.6% success rate. It's really great to see after some really ugly man advantages earlier this season. Carolina has reportedly been working on the power play a lot recently during practice, and it has definitely showed.
Another bright spot of the win is that it pulled the Hurricanes to within one game of .500 at home this season. They've won 3 of their last 5 at the RBC Center and will have a chance to pull even on Thursday against the Islanders. Carolina has also started finding ways to win on the road of late, winning in New York, Toronto and Atlanta this month after going just 2-13-4 previously. With their 6 wins in January against 5 losses, the Canes have posted a winning record in 2010 thus far and have a chance to post their first winning month of the season.
For me, the experience of finally getting up to Raleigh to see the Hurricanes play was amazing. I got there about an hour early and explored the arena in jubilant awe. All of my friends ended up having prior commitments (that's what I get for deciding to go to the game three days beforehand), so I ended up going by myself. However, it's probably for the best. Anyone who had come along would probably have thought I was an idiot for being like a little kid on Christmas and trying on about 37 hats before finally picking out this beauty. My seat was up in the 3rd level on the Carolina offensive end, and I had a pretty great view. Although, being on the Carolina end sort of backfired considering they scored 3 of their 5 goals during the 2nd. But even from the other end of the rink, it was still thrilling to see Ray Whitney show why they call him The Wizard by completely schooling Zdeno Chara to set up Brandon Sutter's goal.
All in all, great weekend!
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