For the Canes, the season began with a home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. With a new month about to begin, the opponent again will be the Tampa Bay Lightning at the RBC Center.
What have the Canes learned about themselves since that first game?
"I think we're more comfortable in our own skin with each other," captain Eric Staal said today. "We've been together now for a couple of months. Obviously we're .500 (4-4-3) and we're still in the mix, but we want to get to that next level as a group.
"We believe we're slowly getting there. From there, you want to become one of the upper-echelon teams. We want to establish ourseleves as one of the elite teams, and you do that by putting together wins and kind of separating yourself.
"We're looking forward to hopefully having a big month in November and kind of getting that done."
The game against the Lightning tomorrow night is one of 10 that the Canes have at home in November. Carolina was 2-1-1 at home in October -- the one regulation loss to Tampa Bay, 5-1, in that Oct. 7 opener.
"We want to get a good feeling going and obviously put points in the column," Staal said. "We want to establish ourselves at home. It starts with coming out with energy in our building and using our crowd."
The Canes were at full strength today as they practiced at the RBC Center. Forward Zac Dalpe, out since Oct. 14 with a lower-body injury, was out of the yellow, non-contact jersey and in a white jersey, but Canes coach Paul Maurice said he is not ready to rejoin the lineup.
"He's not far from getting back into full contact and then it's going to be a conditioning issue for him," Maurice said.
Zach Boychuk continued to work with Tim Brent and Anthony Stewart on the fourth line. There were no line changes, as Staal centered Jiri Tlusty and Chad LaRose, Jussi Jokinen centered Jeff Skinner and Tuomo Ruutu, and Brandon Sutter was at center with Alexei Ponikarovsky and Pat Dwyer.
Maurice said there would be no changes on the back end for the Lightning, meaning Derek Joslin again would be a healthy scratch tomorrow. He did say everyone was "on notice" after the third period of Saturday's game in Philadelphia, when the Flyers scored four times for a 5-1 win.
The Canes put in some power-play work in practice. Staal, Skinner and Jokinen worked with Joni Pitkanen and Jamie McBain on one unit; LaRose, Ruutu and Ponikarovsky were with Tomas Kaberle and Jay Harrison on the other unit.
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at
Comments
Canes an Elite Team
Tue, 11/01/2011 - 16:20 — hockey101If Eric Staal wants this team to be an elite team, then he needs to go PK and tell him he'll take a pay cut and then tell him to spend some money on this team.
Yawnyou all are
Mon, 10/31/2011 - 19:38 — jgrant641Yawn
you all are ridiculous. We got it
you all haven't like coach Mo since he was brought back and you still don't.
so sick of hearing the same people saying the same thing in every comments section.
Your so sick of hearing the
Tue, 11/01/2011 - 13:53 — mokimanoYour so sick of hearing the truth about MO right? We got it...another MO apologist...another guy that is happy with barely .500 hockey...what a joke. Striving to be mediocre I guess jgrant641, boy, wake up from your slumber, if your tired of reading the same comments from the same posters then you must be afraid of the truth...the truth dont lie sport...the results on the ice are awful and ridiculous!!! Your loveable Coach MO is not going to be providing much more than he always has...a .500 record at best...sorry pal but that is not getting anyone to the playoffs.
Rediculous
Mon, 10/31/2011 - 20:12 — ptuckerI rarely post on this blog, so I take offense to the same old, same old comment. I actually supported Mo last year when others did not. I felt he did a decent job with a very young and inexperienced team. We should be building on last year however, and this is not happening. His stern approach and unwillingness to change when things aren't working is what has finally caused me to give up. There is not an analyst in the entire NHL world that would tell you it's ok for LaRose and Tlusty to be on the first line with Staal. Also, the PP continues to be atrocious. I'm not even judging it based on the number of goals they are scoring. They arent even getting good scoring opportunities, rebounds, etc. they are not challenging the other teams goalie. Yet Mo still will not change the approach because he is too proud and believes his style will eventually take over. His style hasn't worked for years, and it's not going to work now. We have enough talent on this team to make the playoffs. We need someone who knows how to use the talent so we can obtain this important goal!
Offense?
Mon, 10/31/2011 - 22:02 — CanarseIf you take offense to people disagreeing you might not want to post at all. I've rarely seen you post, so I doubt the guy was talking about you. Plenty here post "Mo must go" constantly.
I'm not a big Mo guy, but you have to consider that he doesn't have free reign to to whatever he wants. His boss picked these players and signed them to their deals. If Rutherford pays LaRose like a top 6 guy, then he thinks he's a top six guy. Making him a 4th liner, which makes sense to me, makes Rutherford look bad. As far as Tlusty goes I think he is better on the 1st line than LaRose or Poni. I think we would all rather see some of the young guys there, but again, Rutherford signed Poni, Tlusty, etc. so for Maurice to say "I don't want these guys" just spits in the face of his boss. Ask Peter Laviolette how Rutherford and Karmanos respond to coaches who tell them things they don't want to hear.
On Notice
Mon, 10/31/2011 - 16:09 — WAStoutWow. Mo has a lot of guff saying that. When is he going to be "on notice"?
On Notice
Mon, 10/31/2011 - 15:11 — ptucker"On Notice" after the meltdown in Philly! Why weren't they "on notice" during the meltdown. Why weren't you sitting players that weren't focused and playing the ones that were still giving effort. Why weren't you "coaching", yelling, screaming, throwing sticks, etc!!!! Because you're not a good coach, and your team has taken on your personality of being up and down, right around mediocre. That's why they don't play complete games. That's why they have awful periods followed by great periods. That's why Chad Freaking LaRose is still playing on the 1st line and is contributing to the slump of your top Forward. Please, MO.....just GO!
Funny you mentioned this
Mon, 10/31/2011 - 16:11 — WAStoutFunny you mentioned this about "during" the game. I thought his quote the other week about having to watch game film to identify the problem on the ice should have been his undoing right there. If you are a head coach and cannot make IN GAME adjustments....we sure don't need you.
Mo Must Go.