Canes are feeling good
SUNRISE, Fla. — It's often said that a healthy team is a happy team, and that's true for the Carolina Hurricanes. And, yes, a four-game winning streak helps, too.
With the return of forward Patrick Eaves for Tuesday's game against the New Jersey Devils, the Canes had a fully healthy roster for the first time since the Feb. 6, 2007 game at Montreal. The Hurricanes had suffered at least one man-game lost in 140 consecutive regular-season games.
In the past two-plus seasons, the Canes have had their entire active roster available just seven times. The first six were from Oct. 22-Nov. 3, 2005, and then the 2007 Montreal game.
This season, the Canes have had 135 man-games lost, including Justin Williams (28 games), Frantisek Kaberle (24), Niclas Wallin (12) and Scott Walker (15).
"We've had guys hurt, in and out of the lineup, but finally we're getting healthy guys back," said defenseman Tim Gleason, who was out eight games with an ankle injury. "We can start rolling here, having some fun and continue the winning streak."
The Hurricanes topped the Devils 3-2 at the RBC Center, outlasting a team that had won four of five and is among the Eastern Conference leaders, pushing the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers in the Atlantic Division.
"New Jersey has been playing well lately and it was a good chance to show what we've got," said forward Tuomo Ruutu, who scored the winning goal. "In this league, it's so tight right now that if you don't keep playing well, you're going to be in the 9, 10 or 11 spots. We've got to keep it rolling."
Chip Alexander
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is in his second season as the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at chip.alexander@newsobserver.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @ice_chip.
Comments
Feeling Good
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 15:35 — esteban1949Is great % wonderful, but we need to stay focused, and practice more passing, and stick Control when passing. When i was playing in the city leagues in chicago, our coachs made it a point to use beer or tin cans ( empty too) that were filled with water and frozen.And had to pass them back and forth...( some cans were half full orthers were quarter of the way full...to get us used to balancing out our level of strength and power/force used in passing, as well as shooting when we "cashed" the net. As corny as that sounds, it looked stupid to us kids (7-10 year olds) but after being forced to practice like that for over half theseason..we had better shots on goal, and was getting more quality shots in the corners and over the pads of the goalie. But that's when we was kids..not the Pros like we have today...besides...do you really think the people who over see the rink would allow the Canes to play "Garbage pass" (what we called it then) there at the practice or RBCC rink ?? I don't think so. Go Canes !
agree- time to roll
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 10:45 — HockeydogThe team is playing well right now and have bought into Coach Mo's game plan quite well. They are thriving under the new coaching and seem pretty happy with the change of leadership. All 4 lines are playing well and that 4th line is due to break out.
No excuses
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 06:44 — CanenutOK, it is time to really put the pedel to metal. Love what I am seeing with all 4 lines and the D is playing great. Even though 10 of next 13 are on the road most are against teams behind them so they should be able to make up some ground. Can not believe that we are half way through the season already.
Go Canes
Boomer Sooner
That Montreal game doesn't
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 03:09 — James_That Montreal game doesn't really count either, if I remember correctly either stillman or kaberle suffered a semi-severe injury midway through the game.