Buffaloed again........

And this time around it was from the play of Johnny “ I’m rubber, your good, the puck bounces off me and I don’t know where it goes until it ends up behind me” Grahame. What a pathetic performance from a goaltender that does not belong at the NHL level. Last year, you would think that it was because of the team he played on why he sucked so much, but you can’t say that this season. Yeah I know that at the AHL level a few years ago (before the league changed rules) Grahame won a title with the P Bruins, but that was the A and this is the N. And yes, I am not a fan of Grahame, I will state that anytime I post about him and yes this is just my own opinion.
And keeping with my own opinion, what a cheap player Maxim Afinogenov is. He tries to give Willie a facial wash with his glove, something of which Justin Williams was not down with and when the two went at it Willie was taking care of business. What does Afinogenov do? He throws Willie to the ice and then when the linesmen come in to separate the players, he starts to throw punches of which Williams can’t do anything about because the linesmen are holding him down trying to get the two players separated.
But that was last night and tonight it’s the Canes vs. the Ducks in what should be an interesting contest. If J.S. Giguere and Ilja Bryzgalov are still on the mend and not able to play, it looks like Anaheim will turn to Michael Wall whom took over for Giguere in San Jose on Tuesday. Meanwhile, it would seem as the Canes would turn to Cam Ward between the pipes for a few good reasons. One, he can control rebounds or get them far away from the net. Two, why start Grahame in Buffalo if you were gong to play him tonight against Anaheim in a back-to-back. And three, Carolina is at home for Rod Brind’amour night. Until the puck is dropped and I have my first big beer at the RBC!

Five in a row and

Now it’s off to Buffalo, a team that the Hurricanes haven’t beat since Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals a year ago. But if you look at it this way, at least this is the last time that Carolina goes against the banana peels unless they meet in the playoffs.
No television last night even if you had Center Ice, so it was listening to the “Hall of Famer” on the computer last night while watching said Buffalo put up six goals on Washington and then seemingly coast to a victory. This is a tough stretch for the Canes to continue their five game winning streak as Thursday they play the best in the East on the road then come home to host the best in the West—that being the Anaheim Ducks (bad year to take mighty from their name in my opinion as they are the mightiest in the league so far). Until tomorrow – let’s feast on Buffalo wings!

Four in a row

But can they make it five? The Carolina Hurricanes have their longest winning streak of the season which is four games. Last season, the Canes had two different winning streaks of nine games, this season just one lowly streak of four.
The Canes again are a man down as Tim Gleason is now out for at least four weeks with a broken foot he suffered on the penalty kill. So now with still no Frank, no Wallin, and now no Gleason and Carolina’s defense is looking like Swiss cheese. The Canes have just starting playing good defense. No offence to the defenders like Commodore, Babchuck or Wesley, but missing the others sure will take some toll on the team.
Offensively, Willie sure is making a mark on the official scorers sheet every game. I just wonder what happened to Staal and Cole from one night to the next. Friday night when the Canes took the Islanders by storm, Staal and Cole were on fire with their speed and all around play, Saturday night was an entirely different story with Cole getting the garbage goal to give the Canes a much needed win.
And then there is the goaltending. Why do you start Johnny Grahmme “Cracker” after Wardo has won three straight and the last two of the wins has been a brick wall just allowing two goals both of which were from the defense chasing the same guy around using two defenders. Yes I know that one of the wins came against the lowly Flyer and another was against the Panthers, but the other two wins came against teams that are in the playoff chase at the moment.
Lets just see if they can stretch it to five.

Meaningless post just so that I posted

No, I have not died or gone anywhere, well actually last week I was like the Canes and out west. I have just been trying to figure out something positive to write about the Canes and so I have tried not to write anything at all if it weren’t nice. You know like when you were growing up and your parents’ always told you, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.” That’s been me with the Canes.

I really wanted to come on and bitch, bitch, bitch about the officiating when the Canes played the Canucks and it seemed that every last call was against Carolina. And, I even wanted to come on here and talk about how it seems the Edmonton Oilers stole one when Steve Staios goal should have been disallowed because Justin “Willy” Williams was tripped trying to cover him, but if that is all one does is bitch, bitch, bitch then I should say nothing at all.

Lets just hope that some home cookin’ will help Carolina as they welcome and I hope not to friendly like Paul Maruice and the Maple Leafs Friday as what I see an odd start 7:30 in the PM. Hopefully by Friday I can get my mind wrapped around stats and things and have a real entry.