Finally Some Winning...... But is it Too Late?!?!?

Caniac's Still Waiting 

2015 has been a complete turn around for the Carolina Hurricanes; they are starting to look like a team that should have showed up back in September. The Carolina Hurricanes are currently in 28th place in the league with 37 points and hold a record of 16-25-5. At the current pace the Hurricanes are on pace to get roughly 65 or less points on the whole season which will not get you into the
playoffs once again. To put that number into perspective; Anaheim has played 46 games (same as the Hurricanes) and has 66 points that is leading the whole league.

When the calendar flipped and the key pieces returned to the line-up so did the Hurricanes, for the month of January they hold a record of 6-2-1. For many long-term fans this is not usual; they are a team that is always playing better hockey in the second half of the season. This season is one of those unique ones that it doesn't matter what the team does in the spring because they had such a horrible first half that they cant dig out and go for that playoff push like previous season.

The Hurricanes are just trying to salvage some part of the season; players are really starting to click and make themselves look good for other teams that might need them for a spot into the summer. Some players that have found a stride in the month of January are Eric and Jordan Staal, Brad Malone, Jay McClemet, Patrick Dwyer, and Anton Khudobin.

Brad Malone 

With Jordan Staal returning to the line-up on December 29th it has sparked not just team but his brother Eric as well. Eric Staal has found his confidence and scoring touch that everyone has known for the past 10 season. With both Staal's on a line that makes Carolina a bigger and stronger team. The 4th line of Brad Malone- Jay McClement- Patrick Dwyer are the strongest of this team and the only line that has not been touched since they found their scoring touch. Brad Malone came over from Colorado and brought a physical game with him. Once he got that first goal the flood gates opened, he has 3 goals now and is piling on the assists.

The goal tending is the one things that has not been called into question this season for the Hurricanes; both Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin have been amazing. It took Dobby a little longer to get his first win of the season but since then he has won 5 of his last starts in net. We might be seeing some players leave to head to a playoff contender but that is part of the business and Ron Francis has already said that he will only made the trade if it makes our team better.

With the All-Star break upon us now, this gives the Hurricanes some time to heal up and get ready to continue playing good team hockey. Hurricanes return from break with a 7:30 start at PNC against the Tampa Bay Lighting.

Carolina Hurricanes Start 2015 Strong!!!!

Jordan Returns 

On Monday December 29th the Carolina Hurricanes did not get the victory that they had hoped against the Montreal Canadiens but they did get a BIG piece of their line up back.... Jordan Staal! The  Assistant Captain made his first appearance of the season after returning from a broken leg that was suffered in a preseason game against Buffalo back in September.

With the calendar turing to 2015 and Jordan back in the lineup the Hurricanes are starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. They opened with 2015 with a game against Metro Division rival the Philadelphia Flyers; the Flyers who are also in an uphill battle came ready to play. Brad Malone started the scoring getting his first goal of the season; Malone over the past 4 games has played his best of the season and starting to show some chemistry with his line. In the 2nd period Jordan Staal set his brother Eric up for this 10th of season. That goal extended Eric's Point streak to 4 games and put Jordan 2 points in 2 games so far this season. The 2 goals were all the Hurricanes need to put the Flyers away and walk away with 2 points.

In a post game interview the Captain said it best about what the difference maker was; he showed a smile and said "we got 2". It has been hard for the Hurricanes this season getting more then one goal but for 2015 it seems the tide has shifted.

Eric Staal 

On a rare early Sunday afternoon game the Hurricanes faced the Boston Bruins who came to town on the back end of a back to back situation that saw them lose the afternoon before to the Senators in OT. The Hurricanes got a first period goal from Patrick Dwyer to close out the 1st period but what key to the first period was that Khudobin did not see a single Bruins shot till almost the 17 minute mark of the 1st period. The Hurricanes continued to show dominance in all the zones for the 2nd and 3rd period. Boston finally got one past Dobby late in the 2nd but that would be the only Boston goal on the board.

The game needed extra time that took a unique turn in the OT period; there were matching penalties that allowed fans to see some 3 on 3 hockey. 3 on 3 OT hockey is something the coaches and league are looking into for the future of the NHL. Plenty of shots in OT but nothing saw the back of the net so we went to a shootout. The 3 shooters for Boston were Reilly Smith, Torey Krug, and Patrice Bergeron and the 3 shooters for the Carolina Hurricanes were Chris Terry, Jeff Skinner, and Eric Staal.

The only player to find the net was Eric Staal; earning the Hurricanes the extra point, their 2nd win of 2015 and earning Eric the Hurricanes Fireman Helmet. This win also got Dobby his first win against his former team and his second win of the season.

Anton Khudobin

The Hurricanes are in Nashville tonight to try and extend their win streak to 3 for 3 in 2015. This is also the annual Father's Trip for the Hurricanes as well. The Hurricanes return home on January 8th to face Buffalo.

Hurricanes Vs. Leafs Recap

Finally since December 2 we can say the Carolina Hurricanes have won; defeating the Maple Leafs 4-1. The Hurricanes snapped their own 6 game losing streak and stopped the Leafs 6 game winning streak.

Thank You Jay Harrison

The day did not start out so happy; late this afternoon Hurricanes General Manager Ron Francis traded Assistant Captain Jay Harrison to the Winnipeg Jets for a 6th round draft pick. The Hurricanes will also retain 30% of Harrison's 1.5 million dollar salary. This is also the 3rd time in Harrison's career where he will play under coach Paul Maurice. Harrison a dedicated Cane playing in over 300 games for the red and black; Jay was not only a leader in the locker-room but was also a huge feature in the community with the Kids and Community Foundation. We thank Jay for 6 amazing years and wish him all the best in Winnipeg!

1st Star Justin Faulk

Cam Ward stopped 25 out of 26 shots only letting Dion Phaneuf find the back of the net. Chris Terry got the Hurricanes rolling in the 1st period with help from his new linemates Eric Staal and Nathan Gerbe. Justin Faulk kept the scoring rolling in the 1st period with a beautiful short handed goal. Andrej Sekera added a 2nd period power-play goal. To cap off the first win in 16 days Elias Lindholm added an empty netter to make it 4-1. This is the first time the Hurricanes have scored more than 1 goal in the last 6 games.If there was a message in the Harrison trade that no one is safe and play like your job is on the line, then that message was received by the whole team this afternoon.

The Hurricanes return to the ice on Saturday when they face the New York Rangers and coach Bill Peters looks to keep this momentum rolling and believes Alex Semin might be able to come off the IR and return to action.

Marc Staal and the Rangers come to PNC on Saturday

Three Stars of the Game 
1. Justin Faulk: Game Winning Goal
2. Cam Ward: 25 saves
3. Nathan Gerbe: 2 Points

Hurricanes Scoring
1st Period: Chris Terry (5) ASST: Staal (10) Gerbe (8)
Justin Faulk (6) ASST: Dwyer (1) Sekera (11)
2nd Period: Andrej Sekera (1) ASST: Faulk (13) Gerbe (9)
3rd Period: Elias Lindholm (8) ASST: Staal (11) Hainsey (3)

Regular Season Game 1: Islanders Vs. Hurricanes

2014-2015 Carolina Hurricanes

183 days since the last regular season game was played in PNC Arena; a new coach and general manager have been added but the results remain the same; the Hurricanes lose 5-3 to kick off the 2014-2015 NHL season. Majority of the 18,680 fans in attendance were not pleased with the result but yet can't be to shocked.

Cam Ward was the starting goaltender and on the first 12 shots he allowed 3 goals. Playing the whole 60 minutes and facing a total of 26 shots Ward let in 5. Even thought the offensive pressure was hardly there and the defense hardly showed up the Hurricanes seemed to go 2 for 5 on the power play which is an improvement.

Johnny Boychuck

The Islanders made some big changes last Saturday with the additions of Nick Leddy from Chicago and Johnny Boychuck from Boston. Boychuck had a big debut tonight with 1 goal and 2 assist and helping the Islanders go 2 of 3 on the power play.

Elias Lindholm led the Hurricanes in the face-off circle winning 75% of the draws he took. The defensive pair of Sekera and Faulk led the Hurricanes in ice time both going over 21 minutes. Making his return to Raleigh tonight Tim Gleason showed he is still the roughest guy on the ice; throwing 6 big hits. There were also 3 players making their NHL debut tonight; Victor Rask and Patrick Brown for the Hurricanes and Griffin Reinhart for the Islander.

Hurricanes return to PNC Arena for the final home game of October (State Fair comes to town) on Tuesday to face Buffalo on National TV.

Reminder Caniacs its a 7:30 start due to being on NBC. 

Gerbe gets the 1st Hurricanes goal of 2014-2015 season

Three Stars 
1. Brock Nelson (Islanders): 2 Goals, 2 Assist
2. Johnny Boychuck (Islanders): 1 Goal, 2 Assist
3. John Tavares (Islanders): 3 Assist



Hurricanes Scoring
1st Period: None
2nd: None
3rd: Gerbe (1) ASST: Faulk (1) Sekera (1)
Terry (1) ASST: Sekera (2) Nash(1)
E. Staal (1) ASST: Lindholm (1) Tlusty (1)

Carolina Hurricanes 2014-2015 Season Preview

The ice is down at PNC Arena and Opening Night vs the New York Islanders is right around the corner on October 10th at 7pm. As the Canes take the ice for training camp on September 19 there will be faces missing and some new ones.

Some key departures that happened this off-season were those of Manny Malholtra (Montreal), Justin Peters ( Washington), and Drayson Bowman (Try-Out Montreal). Some new faces that come to town ready for a fresh start are those of Jay McClement (Toronto) and Brad Malone (Colorado). Tim Gleason and Chad LaRose also signed back with the Hurricanes organization after both taking a year away from the franchise.

Bill Peters and Ron Francis 

With a new GM in Ron Francis and a new head coach in Bill Peters the horizon for the Hurricanes looks to be bright and make them a contender for the playoffs once again. Both Francis and Peters believe in the core group of talented players that are already within the system and believe there is a contending team in the locker room. Some of the key things that need to be fixed and will be looked at this season is the Power Play, Penalty Kill, Offensive  Scoring and Leadership within the locker room.  One of things that Coach Peters has spoke about this summer is that he is not afraid to replace a player with someone else who is working harder and deserves the spot.

We know that the top three scoring lines will looking something like this and leave the 4th line to be determined in Training Camp:

Tlusty- Eric Staal- Skinner

Gerbe- Jordan Staal- Semin

Lindholm- Nash- Dwyer

Eric Staal

We know that the top three Defensive pairings will looking something like this and leave the 4th pairing to be determined in Training Camp:

Faulk- Sekera

Harrison- Gleason

Hainsey-Murphy

Justin Faulk

There will also be a goal-tending competition in camp that will determine the Opening Night goalie as either Cam Ward or Anton Khudobin.

Anton Khudobin

Some key dates that fans need to keep in mind for beginning of the season:

• September 19th: Opening of Training Camp
• September 21st: Preseason Game vs. Blue Jackets
• September 26th: Canes Carnival
• October 5th: Preseason Game Vs. Saber
• October 10th: OPENING NIGHT vs. Islanders
• October 14th: Game vs. Sabers (National TV)

Thanks for reading the season preview and cant wait for the season of start! The motto we will stick with this season is one that the Canes used back in the 2006 playoffs when they won the Stanley Cup.. Whatever It Takes!!!!

~Julie