The Canes played a very unintelligent first period. Stupid penalties! Gleason — 4 minutes for roughing and mouthing off. Ward — 2 minutes for tripping. Jokinen — 2 minutes for what wasn't goaltender interference. 8 minutes in penalties in the first. 2 minutes the rest of the way. Has it occurred to Mo and his band of merry coaches that, if the Canes play smart hockey right out of the gate, they might actually win a game? They looked like the Carolina Hurricanes in periods 2 and 3. What they looked like in period 1 is probably better left unsaid, as is any reference to the gaffe that led to Okposo's overtime goal with 14.4 left. Bottom line is this — take away that fluke Tavares goal and we win 3-2 in regulation, despite an "F" in the first period, two stars on the shelf and confidence at an all time low. Trades, healthy scratches and call ups will come. Until they do — and, of course, after they do — the Canes need to play smart hockey right from the puck drop.

I thought Rodney played well, despite the error. Young players make mistakes. Let's get used to it, because Boychuk will make his share too.

I thought Pitkanen also played well. He generated some much-needed offense even though he was -2 for the game. Also, I followed the often-maligned Wallin closely during the game, and I thought he played better than average. On the other hand, Corvo seemed very uncertain when he had puck possession.

The Islanders tried to provoke Gleason into a penalty, and it worked. This had to have been a tactic from the Islanders' coaching staff. Gleason has problems keeping his temper. I'm not saying that he deserved two minor penalties, and he did score a goal later. But he's got to control his temper better.

Some of the Canes like LaRose are just not natural goal scorers. They generate chances, but they don't have an eye for the net like Whitney does -- or like Staal does, when he's on one of his streaks. Cullen has developed into a good all-around player, and he has more goal-scoring talent than most of the Canes' forwards. But he's not likely to make an all-star lineup.

I also followed Brind'amour on the ice when possible. I have to agree that he doesn't have the wheels like he used to. Wesley saw the same thing happening, and he retired with full honor.

Ruutu was a man on a mission trying to will the Hurricanes to win. Sutter was fantastic with speed, intelligence, and grit. Sutter battled in front of the net, all 175 lbs of him, and worked to screen the goalie. Bryan Rodney's give away in overtime was really unfortunate because he had played well during the game -- moving the puck with confidence and making crisp passes. Every young defenseman is going to have those moments of very poor puck decisions. Tim Gleason's double penalty was insanely poor. It sucked all the energy out of the team. Wallin was again terrible in positioning and incredibly slow as usual. Brind'Amour needs to retire. There is not a less productive $3,600,000 cap and $3,000,000 expense player in the NHL -- perhaps in the history of the NHL. He might as well bring his scrapbook and show it to the other team during the game. Aaron Ward continues his incredibly subpar play. LaRose continues his slump and continues to miss passes with regularity. I think other than Brind'Amour LaRose has the worst hands on the team. He was trying to spark the team and was aggravating the Islanders; but really, I'd rather have Kostopoulos filling that role when Staal returns. The crowd was great. The thing about the fans who choose to come to the RBC with the Hurricanes' extremely disappointing season is virtually all are there to try to help get the Hurricanes back to playing Hurricanes hockey. As such, the crowd was energetic and loud, even when the Hurricanes were down 3 to 0. I for one am very weary of hearing Forslund say the Hurricanes have to crash the net -- no kidding. Sutter and Ruutu and Jokinen get to the net. Cole gets to the net. Cullen works the net as best he can. I'd like to see Samsonov simplify his game and go North to South and shoot rather than looking for great passes. If the Hurricanes weren't so desperate for two points, it would have felt like a victory given the comeback. I'd rather the Hurricanes coaches and management now take this year as a chance to (1) help Sutter grow even further as a second line forward; (2) give Rodney key minutes and let him learn under fire what plays will and won't work in the NHL; (3) trade Aaron Ward if anybody will have him -- any kind of draft choice would be fine; (4) healthy scratch Wallin and bring up Carson for some games and McBain for some games; (5) put Brind'Amour on the fourth line until he can take some games off for maintenance -- it really doesn't matter whether or not he wears a "C" as long as he is not on the ice much if at all; (6) trade LaRose and let the players from Albany such as Boychuk come up or let Kostopoulos get more minutes; (7) consider trading Corvo for a power forward if one can be found; and (8) see what the team will look like next year by giving the players that are warriors teammates who share their desire to compete and battle. In my mind, I envision this game as it would have been without Wallin, Aaron Ward, and Brind'Amour; and I see a victory. That vision of the game that should have been keeps me optimistic for next year and helps me ward off feelings of being let down by the team in general. The plain truth is that the other players have to play with the teammates they are given. They can't help it if Brind'Amour used to be a world class player and is taking advantage of the situation by hanging on. They can't renegotiate Wallin's no trade clause. They can't bench Aaron Ward. In my view, the character the rest of the Hurricanes players have shown by continuing to fight under circumstances in which it would be easy to give up speaks volumes of the long-term success the Hurricanes will enjoy. Those victories will be even sweeter with the sour memories of this underachieving season.

    I know that I am NOT paranoid but why is everyone against me-tonight is Friday the 13th and the Islanders record is 6-6-6-Yikes-this darkness got to give !-Engy