Wow ... November was a blur, at least for me. Carolina closes out Turkey Month with a visit from a different kind of fowl, the formerly Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. It's another "Black Friday" but only for wardrobe reasons, unlike last week. The Canes have made some roster moves so there's big shakin' afoot in West Raleigh.
Carolina ... ding dong, Darling's gone. For now, at least, although pardon me for hoping that he's gone for good. Curtis McIllhenney has cemented himself as the defacto No. 1 keeper, and even if that wasn't a thing anyone contemplated to start the year ... it's gone fairly well. He's not an elite goaltender, but he's calm, mature and predictable and that's a nice change of pace around here. Likewise, the Canes waived Val Zykov for the same general reason they waived Darling ... disappointment. It was a low bar for Zykov, too. Chip in with basic positional and defensive stuff and we'll let you stand in the crease on the power play and tip in as many goals as you can manage. Nope. He couldn't get it right and has been sent down to get his head together ... I guess. I think they might just be hoping he gets claimed. Bishop is back as insurance in case Ferland can't go tonight. So long as Ferland can dress, look for the much the same on the roster. Pesce MIGHT be close to return, but they put Fleury on retroactive IR and he's not eligible to return until after this game.
Anaheim ... once Corey Perry went out with injury in the pre season, pundits buried this team pretty deep in the Western predictions. But the Ducks have been quite good early on. At 12-10-5, they're within a point of the top of their Division and have been bubbling along pretty well, aside from a disastrous 5 game losing streak to end October. Losing Perry took a predictable toll of their goal scoring, but the Ducks have hunkered down in the defensive zone and currently sit 8th in the league in goals against. Both John Gibson and Ryan Miller have been stellar in net, and Ryan Getzlaf is off to a rare, for him, solid start. This is not a fun team to play against ... big, aggressive, fairly mobile and a little bit surly.
So. Outlook ... slight boredom if Carolina can't manage to get the pace up to their liking. Anaheim is perfectly happy to much about and win a 2-1 with 20-something shots for each team kind of game. They aren't the Islanders, with their relentless passion for sluggishness, but they're closer to that than they are to the go-go Canes who want to fly around and jack up 40 shots from all angles. In general, you'd think the team that gets something closer to their preferred pace will prevail.
Carolina ... ding dong, Darling's gone. For now, at least, although pardon me for hoping that he's gone for good. Curtis McIllhenney has cemented himself as the defacto No. 1 keeper, and even if that wasn't a thing anyone contemplated to start the year ... it's gone fairly well. He's not an elite goaltender, but he's calm, mature and predictable and that's a nice change of pace around here. Likewise, the Canes waived Val Zykov for the same general reason they waived Darling ... disappointment. It was a low bar for Zykov, too. Chip in with basic positional and defensive stuff and we'll let you stand in the crease on the power play and tip in as many goals as you can manage. Nope. He couldn't get it right and has been sent down to get his head together ... I guess. I think they might just be hoping he gets claimed. Bishop is back as insurance in case Ferland can't go tonight. So long as Ferland can dress, look for the much the same on the roster. Pesce MIGHT be close to return, but they put Fleury on retroactive IR and he's not eligible to return until after this game.
Anaheim ... once Corey Perry went out with injury in the pre season, pundits buried this team pretty deep in the Western predictions. But the Ducks have been quite good early on. At 12-10-5, they're within a point of the top of their Division and have been bubbling along pretty well, aside from a disastrous 5 game losing streak to end October. Losing Perry took a predictable toll of their goal scoring, but the Ducks have hunkered down in the defensive zone and currently sit 8th in the league in goals against. Both John Gibson and Ryan Miller have been stellar in net, and Ryan Getzlaf is off to a rare, for him, solid start. This is not a fun team to play against ... big, aggressive, fairly mobile and a little bit surly.
So. Outlook ... slight boredom if Carolina can't manage to get the pace up to their liking. Anaheim is perfectly happy to much about and win a 2-1 with 20-something shots for each team kind of game. They aren't the Islanders, with their relentless passion for sluggishness, but they're closer to that than they are to the go-go Canes who want to fly around and jack up 40 shots from all angles. In general, you'd think the team that gets something closer to their preferred pace will prevail.
