Canes Win Again

Carolina beat Nashville last night by a score of 4-2. I didn't watch the game or listen to it, so I won't attempt to give a review. It seems like Anton Babchuk had a good game though, as two of his blasts from the point ended up in the net. The first was tipped in by Brandon Sutter, as the rookie scored his first of the preseason. Eric Staal took care of the other.

Ryan Bayda scored a shortie and Staal put in an empty-netter near the end of the game to round out the scoring. Both goalies played well as Cam Ward allowed one goal on 13 shots while Michael Leighton allowed one out of 19.

The Canes finish out the preseason with another contest against Nashville, Sunday afternoon.

The roster was trimmed down to 28 as Bryan Rodney and Dwight Helminen were both re-assigned to Albany this afternoon. The team is hoping that Rod Brind'Amour and Ray Whitney will be available on Sunday, but that will probably be a gametime decision.

Zach Boychuk is reportedly close to signing a deal with the club. It looks more and more like the Hurricanes will keep him around to give him every chance possible to make the team, injured wrist or not. If he plays more than 10 games, this year would count as one against his three year, NHL entry level contract, so he will really have to shine to make his stay here longer than 10 games.

The Canes are rotating players for blogging purposes this season and Cam Ward took first crack at it today. You can see his first article of the year right here.

By the way, Drayson Bowman had a goal and three assists the other night upon his return to Spokane. Not a bad season debut!