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I'm out. Check in tomorrow sometime. Gonna watch some football. Good night, gents.

Shut-out coming. Canes look like today is the 2nd game of the b2b. Can't imagine how much worse they'll look tomorrow. A true Jekyl & Hyde team.

Horrible start. All Minnesota in the 1st 10 minutes, even with a Canes 4 minute PP.

Washington clubbed the Rags earlier today. I don't know how Washington is doing it because Ovechkin doesn't even play D anymore. It's like being on the PP when he's on the ice. He's playing about 150' of a 200' rink.

Saw her doing the Hannah Yates job on a PWHL game today. I think she's still doing some work for ESPN, is co-hosting a show on the MLB Network and doing work for the PWHL.

I enjoy some of the article on the score, and their game casts aren't bad, either if you're trying to catch a score when you're out somewhere... https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/3165975/the-all-nobody-team-6-nhlers-quickly-becoming-somebodies Jackson Blake, Hurricanes, F Icon Sportswire / Getty Images One way to decipher how serious a team is about winning is to peruse its list of rookies. How many have appeared in at least one game? Any full-timers? Edmonton is the only team without a single rookie on the books this season. Four other clubs, including Carolina, have dressed just one. The Hurricanes are firmly in contention mode and look every bit like a legitimate Stanley Cup threat in 2024-25. Blake, a 21-year-old all-around winger, is their lone youngster, essentially the kid brother in a dressing room filled with veterans. It's a fitting dynamic for someone who frequented players-only spaces as a boy (his dad, Jason Blake, played in the NHL from 1998 to 2012). The younger Blake has suited up for all 38 Canes games, pitching in eight goals and four assists despite logging only 11:38 a night. Carolina has outscored the opposition 13-10 in his 360 five-on-five minutes - no small feat for an unheralded rookie. Star forward Marty Necas leads the team with five game-winning goals; Blake is second with four. Here's a clip of the University of North Dakota product unleashing a lethal wrist shot for the eventual winner back on Nov. 27: Blake possesses silky hands. However, what's really endeared him to head coach Rod Brind'Amour is his non-stop motor and 200-foot sensibilities. This tenacious brand of hockey has blended well with the Hurricanes' patented style and led to a ton of penalties - 13 drawn and 10 taken, which rank first and fifth, respectively, among NHL rookies. Surely, Brind'Amour would love it if those numbers were more lopsided in the direction of "drawn." Blake made his NHL debut last year in the Canes' final regular-season game. It allowed the Hobey Baker Award finalist to get a feel for the pros and also burn a year off his entry-level contract. He's a restricted free agent in 2026.

Wild are without Kaprisov, Lauko, Middleton, Grosenick and Spurgeon, who fell victim to one of the worst slew-foot moves I've ever seen.

Martinook... for, like, the 3rd or 4th game in a row for me.

Thought I'd post this for everyone to see.... Oh, by the way, all 3 goals scored by the Canes in the Florida win Thursday were assisted by Panther players. Burns goal 30 seconds into the game was a deflection off Barkov, Slavin's shot went off Bobrovsky and the empty netter was deflected off Verheghe's stick before Necas finished it. The best part of the Tkachuk assist was the announcer, "The refs refuse to blow the whistle..." Gimme a break, maybe read the rules at some point and then, to make matters worse, he doesn't even acknowledge the refs announcement/explanation of the allowed goal.

Also remember who was in net for both games as #52 was hurt. Martin was in for the first and most of the 2nd until Perets came in.

Watching highlights this morning, last night was a lot of Kochetkov. The Panthers had many grade As and got behind the Cane's D more than once. 3-4 breakaways and several shots from the front porch #52 made some great saves on. Tripp mentioned a few times how goalie coach Jason Muzzatti is working to "quiet" Kochetkov's game. It showed last night.

An all-around masterpiece against the reigning Cup champions. 60 minutes of hard hockey. No real defensive lapses, no glaring mistakes and the team looks like they're finding their way without the production from the top guys. And nothing makes me happier than seeing Tkachuk screw up like the asshole he is allowing Slavin to score the game winner. An unexpected win!

Burns scores inside 45 seconds.

Canes don't fare well against their former coach and I don't expect a win against Florida tonight or Minnesota. Maybe against Pittsburgh in a few days.

Carrier.

The Canes decided to ring in the new year with a second shootout loss to Columbus Tuesday night. Same team, same building. The only 2 shootout losses of the season and both to a team who was below .500 at the start of the night. After a 7-2 start of the season in October- remember, most of that was on the road- winning 4 in a row in Edmonton, Calgary, Seattle and Vancouver; returning home to curb-stomp the Bruins 8-2. Freddie Andersen was lost to injury on October 26. November was a second good month with a few more home games to make up for the NC State Fair road trip. Late in the month things began to slide the wrong direction. A loss to NJ on the 2nd game of a b2b followed by the first shootout loss to Columbus. But things might have looked a little better following wins over Dallas and the Rags at home... and then a b2b with Florida to end the month was a disaster, giving up 12 goals while scoring 3. A 9-5-1 month of November isn't enough to complain about, is it? A 63% point month? Not so bad? December was, based on the Canes winning history over the past 6 seasons, a nightmare. 6-6-1 to finish the month with a single 2-game win streak the entire month, beating Columbus and the Islanders. And, to match that effort, the Canes also had a single 2-game losing streak. A loss to Nashville heading into the holiday break and a loss to NJ coming back from the holiday break. A strong answer to that NJ loss was a 2nd game b2b win over NJ the next night. My 2025 starts with much lower expectations as the Canes will face Florida on the road Jan 2, followed by home games against a strong Minnesota team and the Pens. And so it goes. If I'm being honest, January looks like another .500 month. Three b2b sets, starting with Saturday-Sunday this weekend at home; next Thursday-Friday at home and a b2b road trip in Chicago and Dallas. I've got the Canes pegged for 7 losses in a January filled with 15 games. The trade deadline is March 8th this year. And don't forget the 4 Nations Face-Off with Canada, Finland, Sweden and the USA from February 12-20. The Canes play their last game heading into the tournament on Feb 8 and don't return until Feb 22.

Standings at the end of 2024: ABH-4; PF69-4; MDC-2; P81-2; OR1201-2; PC-2; DE-2; DamnIt-1; Stumpy-1

The highest paid players on this team, for the most part, have been absent for weeks. Aho, Necas, Svech. Jack Roslovic now leads the team in goals. Gostisbehere leads the team in PP points. Walker, Carrier, Robinson are grinding away trying to keep hope alive. Jarvis is getting hurt nearly every game, Chatty and Orlov are underrated and Staal needs to hold a players only meeting and right the fugging ship. It's time for some leadership.

I'll have a btter breakdown in the next couple days, but I don't see this team making the playoffs with the 95 points I think they'll finish with.

Columbus owning the 3rd.

Can we put out an Amber Alert for #37?

That Jarvy pass was epic. Highlight reel stuff.

2 defensive mistakes= 2 goals against.

Ty Smith with his first NHL goal on the PP. Update will be posted tomorrow sometime.

Staying with Martinook.