Sparks of Life Amid Hurricanes’ Rubble

Nobody really ever wants to see their team battling just to stay out of the conference basement; but that’s the position Carolina Hurricanes fans found themselves in last night against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

By the end of the first period, the outlook was bleak at best with the Hurricanes down 3-0.  Things started to turn around though in the second, Carolina began to mount a rally scoring two goals less than a minute apart.  Stephane Yell netted his first goal with the team and Matt Cullen quickly followed it up giving fans a spark of hope going into the third period.

Unfortunately that was somewhat short lived; when Alexei Ponikarovsky’s power play goal put the Leafs up 4-2.  At that point, Canes fans’ heads collectively dropped into their hands.  Enter Tim Gleason, who became one of the night’s many heroes.  Gleason had two huge goals in the third period; his second of the night coming on a power play to even it up at four goals a piece.

With more than seven minutes gone by and no other goals scored, this game seemed destined to need extra time.  Ian White had other plans in mind, though; he scored Toronto’s fifth goal to give them the lead with barely 30 seconds remaining in regulation.  Carolina pulled their goalie, Manny Legace, in the hopes that a man advantage could take this game to OT.  Finally, Erik Cole found the net to again tie the game, five all, with mere seconds left.  To overtime we go!

Last night was the fourth game in a row that a Hurricanes game has needed extra time to decide a winner.  After a scoreless OT, it was time for a shoot out.  Tuomo Ruutu and Jussi Jokinen both scored for Carolina; while Phil Kessel and Lee Stempniak were both denied by Legace.  So the Canes came out on top 6-5 in their third straight game decided by a shoot out.

Despite last night’s slow start; there is a lot of good I think we can take from the game.  The Hurricanes finally showed us they can come from being behind early to win a game.  I like seeing the team finish a game strong; hopefully that can carry over into Saturday night when Carolina faces the Tampa Bay Lightning at home.

Also, this afternoon Bryan Rodney was reassigned to the Albany River Rats (AHL) to make room for Joni Pitkanen’s potential return on Saturday night.