Snap! The Canes came up with a bad case of nasty last night in Tampa Bay. Nasty bounces, nasty defense, nasty passing, and a nasty outcome. I am not using the term "nasty" in a good way. Carolina looked like they had just played an overtime game the previous night, hopped right on a plane, and had to play again without even catching their collective breaths. The Lightning on the other hand looked like they had 4 days off since they played last. Oops, that's exactly what the real scenario was! If you looked at the schedule ahead of time, it was one of those games where you don't expect your team to win because of the back-to-back travel situation, but you hope for the best. Well, hoping didn't do the trick. Marty St. Louis had a hat-trick and the Boltz won 5-1, returning the favor from when the Canes beat them earlier in the year by the exact same score. Saturday night the 2 teams square off again in Raleigh and we'll get to see what these Canes are made of. They really need to put this bad game behind them and take charge.
It's tough to declare who is "Bubba's Star" of the game for last night because I don't think anyone played particularly well. It's tough to tell just by watching the game on TV, but while watching I thought Chad LaRose may have looked a step better than the other Canes. Checking the boxscore afterwards I noticed that he was the only Hurricane who finished in the plus, with a plus 1. So for what it's worth, "Bubba's Star" of the game is Chad LaRose!
Saturday night I would expect to see Cam Ward in goal again and hopefully a bit more jump on the Canes. We just can't allow the talented Lightning shooters the time and space they had last night.  Sunday morning the Canes are hosting an open practice for season ticketholders. Most of the Canes practices are open anyway, but they provide refreshments and try to make these events a bit more unique compared to the every day practices. All I can say is that if the Canes lose again Saturday night, Sunday's "open" practice won't be a happy or pretty sight.     Â
Bon Jovi