LetsGoCanes.com

The Canes took down the Flyers 3-2 last night in dramatic fashion on goals by Chad LaRose, Jeff Skinner and Erik Cole. Philadelphia's Blair Betts and Braydon Coburn tallied their 2. Spurred on by Rod Brind'Amour's address to the team, the Hurricanes came out buzzing and took the game to Pilly. They jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead early in the first and held that into the 2nd period.

We really didn't break down too badly defensively all night, save the short handed goal given up to Betts. Not only did the 5 forwards on the ice let him get a breakaway, Cam Ward let in a pretty soft goal. He'd love to have that one back. After that they were pretty solid. We were in the Flyers end as much as they were in ours and we outshot them on the night.

Braydon Coburn tied it up with about 5 minutes left in the third at 2 after a long flurry in front of the net where we just couldn't clear the puck. Colr then tallied a minute or so later and we held them the rest of the way.

So since Buffalo lost they lost ground on us and the Rangers lost so we gained ground on them Tonight we play the Devils and Atlanta, who was idle last night will play today. Hopefully we can put some more distance on them before the day is out.

It's just killing me. Can't wait for #17ToTheRafters!

There's few moments that define one's career. For Rod Brind'Amour one of those moments was June 19th, 2006, when he hoisted the Cup. At age 35, and in his third trip to the Stanley Cup finals, he probably assumed it was his last chance. He made good on it.

For many of us this image with the most pure, unbridled joy upon his face is an enduring snapshot of not only the man who will always be our Captain, but also of our team and our town. We see a little bit of our community's composite identity here. Pride, dedication, determination. WHATEVER IT TAKES.

Tomorrow night his #17 will be raised to the rafters into a place of honor with Ron Francis and Glen Wesley. He deserves it. While bittersweet, it will be another defining moment, one of recognition, gratitude and faithfulness.

For all of those in attendance this will also be defining moment. A teachable moment, that through a lot of hard work, any one of us can attain anything we desire, if we want it bad enough. Rod is a living testament to the rewards of hard work. There is no better leader by example out there.

Thank you Rod for being our Captain, our leader, our inspiration and most of all... our neighbor. One of us.

Downed 3-2, the Canes will head home from the swamp tonight holding onto a razor thin lead over Atlanta for the 8th spot. Atlanta will play Phoenix tomorrow night and with a win, will be tied with Carolina in the points once again. Buffalo could have jumped over us tonight had they won, but fell to Toronto 2-1.

BTW - Moose Hedberg OWNS us. He always has, for some unknown reason, and continues to do so. A combination of some fairly lackadaisical play by us and the horseshoe buried up his rear end always ends up with him getting the win. I can't understand it, but that's how it goes. Going into this game I was wishing Marty was going to be in the net, since we have a knack for chasing him from the building.

As usual, we played the style of game the opponent plays and it cost us. We'll see where it goes form here...

Well that had a fun ending. Tlusty and Corvo score earlier only to have Andrew Ladd tally 2 for the Thrash and end up tied through pretty much the entire third. Erik Cole had one of his timely moments and ruined Atlanta's seeming bid for overtime with a goal with just over a minute left. We came away with both points and stole the OTL point from Atlanta.

In a "must-win" for both teams, the Canes pulled it out. The 8th spot is safe... for the moment.