Staff photo by Chris Seward

• First Look

What a way to open a season. The Carolina Hurricanes, after quickly falling behind the Florida Panthers 2-0 early in the game, surged to an exciting 6-4 victory at the RBC Center.

A second-period goal by defenseman Joni Pitkanen, Carolina's biggest offseason acquistion, gave the Canes a 4-3 lead, and Dan LaCouture's goal early in the third made it 5-3 and proved to be the game-winner.

The Canes were playing a Southeast Division rival and the team that kept it out of the playoffs last year with a victory in the final regular-season game. 

"There were some good things and certainly some things we can do better," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's a starting point. I thought it was important for us to come back from 2-0 and we showed
some character there."

NASCAR driver Regan Smith will wear a special Carolina Hurricanes-themed helmet on Saturday, Oct. 11, during the Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte. The race is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be telecast nationwide on ABC.

Smith is wearing the Hurricanes-themed helmet this weekend to draw attention to the start of the 2008-09 National Hockey League season, and will donate the helmet to the Kids ‘N Community Foundation for a charity auction following the race. The 25-year-old driver of Dale Earnhardt Incorporated/Principal Financial Group’s 01 Chevrolet, is in the hunt for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie of the year honors, and is coming off of a controversial finish in last weekend’s AMP Energy 500 at Talladega. Smith is a self-proclaimed “Caniac,” who moved to Mooresville, NC, in 1995 from his hometown of Cato, NY.

See the helmet here and here.

Three games, four nights. That's stressful for any NHL player, much less one who's 38 and coming off knee surgeries.

But Canes captain Rod Brind'Amour said he's ready for it and wants it. After tonight's opener against Florida, the Canes are at Tampa Bay tomorrow night and then back home Monday for the Detroit Red Wings.

"I'm here to play," Brind'Amour said today. "I told (coach Peter Laviolette) to just play me like he normally would. Hopefully I'll be good enough that he wants to keep putting me out there."

Questions, questions. There are so many questions about the Canes with the season starting.

Where to begin? How about:

Can Rod Brind'Amour's rebuilt left knee hold up?

Will this be Cam Ward's big year in goal? Or Michael Leighton to the rescue?

Can Ray Whitney stay healthy?

Can Matt Cullen stay away from another big hit, another concussion?

Will Joni Pitkanen be a big blueline scorer and worth the big trade?

Talking with the Hurricanes' players today, especially those not with the team this time last year, it was easy to detect their excitement, their anxiousness to get the season started.

"You want to start off on the right foot, on opening night," said forward Patrick Eaves, who began last season with the Ottawa Senators. "You've got to almost keep yourself emotionally in control because you're so amped up."

But what about the man behind the bench? What about Peter Laviolette, now in his fifth season as coach of the Canes?

"It's always special," Laviolette said Thursday. "You put a lot of work into training camp. I've got tremendous coaches and coaching staff that helps prepare this team. I think even with the injuries in camp, we got everything we needed to get in as a starting point."

Say this about rookie forward Zach Boychuk: the kid is a fast healer.

The Canes' first-round draft choice had a pin removed from his surgically repaired left wrist last week and said then he might be "on the shelf" for two weeks. But he was in practice Thursday, skating, stickhandling, shooting the puck.

Boychuk said he could be cleared for contact work on Monday and possibly could play when the Canes go to the West Coast next week to face the L.A. Kings (Oct. 17) and Anaheim Ducks (Oct. 19).

"I've been trying to hurry up as fast as I can," Boychuk said. "I wanted to play last week. But I can wait until Monday to get cleared and hopefully take part in contact, and if all goes well I'd love to play in L.A. That's kind of the plan."

The day before the opening game, the Canes took the ice at the RBC Center. The defensive combos are set:

Joni Pitkanen-Tim Gleason

Frantisek Kaberle-Joe Corvo

Anton Babchuk-Josef Melichar

Niclas Wallin-Dennis Seidenberg.

Not to be missed, NHL director of officiating Stephen Walkom goes over the points of emphasis for referees and linesmen this season.

Just a warning: They show Kurtis Foster getting his leg broken trying to touch up an icing early in the video. If you didn't know what happened, it doesn't look that bad. But since we all know what happened, it's pretty cringeworthy.

Also, the league makes clear any contact with the goalie -- deliberate, incidental, even some that could be interpreted as unavoidable -- will result in a disallowed goal. I disagree with the liberal interpretation of goaltender interference because I think defensemen will just start nudging forwards toward the crease hoping for a call, although I do commend the league for trying to protect goalies from crease-crashing.

Tim Gleason makes a cameo appearance with a gentle tug on Vincent Lecavalier's elbow on a breakaway that Walkom points out is still a hooking penalty.

The Canes have announced the 23-player active roster for the opening of the 2008-09 season. The NHL requires teams submit their season-opening rosters by Wednesday at 3 p.m.

The Hurricanes’ final roster includes two goaltenders, eight defensemen and 13 forwards. Right wing Scott Walker will start the season on the injured reserve list, and right wing Justin Williams is on the non-roster injured list.

Included on the roster is center Zach Boychuk, the team's first-round draft choice this year. Boychuk is recovering from surgery on his left wrist.

When forward Scott Walker went down this week with the hand injury, one of the names tossed around as a possible replacement was Matt Murley, who was in the Canes' training camp before being sent to the Albany River Rats.

Murley no longer is an option. General manager Jim Rutherford said Murley left the River Rats today, is headed to Russia to play in the Continental Hockey League, and has been suspended by the team.

Murley signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Hurricanes last month.

"We talked about it for a few days, he asked if we would release him from his contract and we wouldn't," Rutherford said. "We signed him to a contract and expected him to fullfill that commitment."