RALEIGH – After a tumultuous offseason, the Carolina Hurricanes finally took to the ice this week to test their mettle in pre-season action. Though there were glimmers of optimism to be found, clearly this is the beginning of a season which will do more to highlight what the team has lost than what it has gained.
Although GM Norm Donovan was sincere and diligent in his attempts to improve the team via free agency, the vast majority of quality players available simply refused to play for a team so far removed from contender status. As a result, the acquisitions made were largely second and third tier players who will fill roster spots, but not necessarily garner the team wins.
In their first matchup, the Hurricanes came out with all guns – such as they were – blazing against the Atlanta Thrashers. Although their highly criticized defence allowed 34 shots, their equally criticized offence exploded with 38 shots against a blueline that included Rob Blake, Marcus Ragnarsson and Al MacInnis. Leading the charge were newcomers Robert Reichel and Lasse Pirjeta, with bombs from the blueline being dropped by Mathieu Biron and, surprisingly, Nolan Pratt. The home crowd in Atlanta were livid early as a nasty hook by Taylor Pyatt knocked Dany Heatly out of the game – and out of the lineup for the next few weeks – which then set a rowdy tone for the rest of the game. After trailing by two halfway through the first period, the new top line of Reichel, Geoff Sanderson and Ales Kotalik tied things up with a pair of goals against Atlanta's Roman Cechmanek. The Canes took the lead in the second with a power-play goal by Craig Adams, but goals by Robert Lang and Henrik Zetterberg in the third handed Carolina the loss.
The following night, Carolina opened at home against the Florida Panthers, who hammered the Canes early and often in front of the home crowd – potting 3 goals in the first period against a shaky Robert Esche. The second period had no goals, but plenty of goons as rough play and misconducts seemed to take precedence over offensive production. This carried over into the third, but Eric Staal still managed to pull the team to within one with a goal halfway through the period – only to have Sergei Fedorov put the nail in the Canes coffin with his second of the night just over a minute later.
Indeed, it looks like it may be the start of a very long season for the Hurricanes, but at least their fans have a good sense of humour about it. Already, several have shown up to the game wearing Phil Kessel jerseys.