A month into Kirk Muller’s tenure as coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, his players have reached the point where they’re no longer trying to grasp the changes Muller has made. Those have been internalized now. The hesitation on the ice is gone.

“You certainly feel like you know what you’re doing now,” Sutter said. “The first three or four games, there were a lot of gray areas. We were kind of hesitant and stuff like that. Now we’re kind of settled into how we want to play and what we’re supposed to do. We’re a little more comfortable around here and guys are starting to find it a little easier. It takes time.”

At this point, the best thing that can be said about the Second Mo Dynasty is that it’s over. The Carolina Hurricanes hadn’t clicked under Paul Maurice for two full seasons and they were working on a third by the time he was finally fired Monday.

If the Hurricanes had held him responsible for last spring’s collapse and hired Kirk Muller this summer, when Muller interviewed for head-coaching jobs in Dallas, Minnesota and Ottawa, maybe they wouldn’t be in this fix now.

Maurice did an excellent job fine-tuning the team that Peter Laviolette left him in December 2008, and a surprisingly good job of making adjustments on the fly in the 2009 playoffs, but given the chance to retool the team on his terms, it was back to business as usual.

It’s decision time on defense for the Hurricanes, and it won’t be an easy one -- for them, anyway. For anyone who has watched this team this season, the choice is simple.

Joni Pitkanen, who has been out for two weeks with a lower-body injury, is close to returning, perhaps as soon as tomorrow’s game at the Ottawa Senators. When he does, someone is going to have to come out of the lineup.

Will it be the little-used Derek Joslin, who has only played in five games this season?

Or will it be the astronomically compensated Tomas Kaberle, who has only generated five points this season?

If this were strictly a hockey decision, there’d be no debate at all.

NEW YORK — Having lost a game in New Jersey, the Canes have moved on to New York. New day, new city.

Canes coach Paul Maurice, very somber after the 3-2 loss Tuesday against the Devils in Newark, was more upbeat today in Manhattan. But some changes, he said, will be made before the Canes face the Rangers on Friday at Madison Square Garden.

Eric Staal's line, to name one. If Jussi Jokinen is ready to play, Maurice indicated he likely would have Jokinen back at center with wingers Jeff Skinner and Tuomo Ruutu on the "Finns and Skins" line.

"We could go back to the way we were when we were winning hockey games," Maurice said. "Before (Jokinen's) injury we were playing well. So that would be my first inclination. My second is more drastic but I think I will hold on to that one."

On Monday night, the Canes' Pat Dwyer took his kids around the neighborhood on Halloween. Even in the rain, that was a treat.

Tonight, he'll be on the ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning, trying to slow down the likes of Marty St. Louis, Steven Stamkos and Vinny Lecavalier. That's the, uh, trick.

"That is going from one side of the spectrum to the other," Dwyer said after today's morning skate at the RBC Center. "But I think those are the things that keep us balanced and keep it in perspective and keep us level-grounded."

The Canes are 0-2-1 after their first three games, but coach Paul Maurice said today he isn't planning any major changes.

The Canes, who face the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins on Wednesday, had a team meeting and a limited practice today at the RBC Center. Most of the players did not go on the ice.

Maurice indicated there would be no lineup changes for the Bruins, but left the door slightly ajar. Jamie McBain, Derek Joslin and Ryan Murphy were the only defensemen who skated today and appear to again be set to be healthy scratches for the Bruins, but Maurice said the coaches would "go through the video" and make a final decision tomorrow.

"When we look at our three games, there are big blocks that we really liked the things we're doing," Maurice said. "That's our challenge right now. It's not a matter of staying positive, it's staying together. We've got some things we can do better, but they were three, good, battling games and I think the battle was there."

Odds are, Jerome Samson will be heading to the Charlotte Checkers' training camp in a few days. Again, that may be his fate.

Samson won't like it. He hopes to be on the Canes' opening-day NHL roster. But if it happens, it happens, and the forward will accept it and continue to do what he has done with the Canes' AHL affiliates, whether in Albany or Charlotte -- work hard, score goals, wait for a callup to the big club and try again.

Says Samson, "It's been tough going from junior to the 'A' to here, but I just get there at some point."

UPDATE: Canes coach Paul Maurice said the roster would be cut to 27 players Thursday.

ATLANTA -- When Paul Maurice walked out of the RBC Center on Sunday, the Canes coach probably couldn't have envisioned standing in a hallway at Philips Arena today talking playoff possibilities.

The Canes' 2-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday, in overtime, was a body blow. The players were glum. Maurice's tone of voice almost seemed to have a bit of resignation in it as he talked of how the players had given all they could.

Did he mean in that game, or in the season? Would the Sabres' loss be a killer?

Turns out, it was not.

ATLANTA -- The Canes' Tim Gleason didn't want to watch the New York Rangers-Atlanta Thrashers game on Thursday night and hasn't tried to compute all the various playoff scenarios.

"If you do the matth you'll drive yourself crazy," Gleason said after today's morning skate at Philips Arena. "Our mindset is we've got to win."

Win tonight against the Thrashers, then again tomorrow night against the Tampa Bay Lightning: that's their goal. Do that and avoid shootout wins -- another one of those troublesome scenarios -- and the Canes will have hockey next week, in the playoffs.

Erik Cole, like a lot of Hurricanes fans, was watching Monday night as the New York Rangers played the Boston Bruins on Versus.

Needless to say, Cole didn't like what he saw. The Rangers fell behind 3-0 in the second period, then rallied for a 5-3 win that pushed New York into seventh place in the East and four points ahead of the Canes.

"You can't control what other teams are doing," Cole said today after practice at the RBC Center. "All the guys were watching the game last night. What can you say? It's out of our control. All the teams that are in our situation are playing that desperate game and it shows.

"You just have concentrate on what we can do. I think we just need to finish the season with three wins and let the chips fall where they may."