– Tara Hun-Dorris –

Note – I am filling in for Gabriel, who is at a debate competition for Enloe High School all day. He will be back to predict the next game.

Last Time Out

Gabriel says this is a family friendly blog and I’m not allowed to use bad words, which makes it difficult to recap last night’s 5-2 debacle, I mean game. What a way to end a win streak and give us all flashbacks to the nightmare that was last year’s Eastern Conference Finals series versus the Florida Panthers. Those cats toyed with us, especially in the third. My boyfriend and I watched part of the game over dinner at the Relish bar. I will confess to stress eating donuts dipped in raspberry and chocolate sauce in the second period. It just didn’t feel right. And this was with Brett Pesce on ice (welcome back!) and a healthy line-up (minus the so very much missed goalie Frederik Andersen) for the first time this year. And then things just got worse in the third. I’m not going to get into the technical aspects of misery. I’ll just quote Rod Brind’Amour:

“They were good. We were bad. That’s not going to work.”

Stars aren’t really my thing either because I always want to give them to my favorite players. Objectively, though, I’d give them to the three Panthers with a goal and an assist each: Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, and Carter Verhaeghe. If I absolutely had to give a star to a ‘Cane it would either be to Jesperi Kotkaniemi (****) or the ‘Canes fans in the Panthers arena, but those lucky ducks get to be in Florida in November so strike that. KK it is! And he is a bright light as he continues to come more and more into himself, looking better each game.

The Overview

Tonight at 7:00 pm EST, the ‘Canes play a second consecutive night in Florida. My fear is that Lightning will strike, as we have been an ugly road team this year. We are 8-6-0 overall, though it feels worse because we are 4-6-0 away from the warmth and magic of PNC (“it’s so RED,” a Kraken friend said when I texted her a pic of the home opener). The Lightning by the way are 6-4-4 and 4-1-2 at home.

Antti Raanta has played three consecutive games for the team, and Pyotr Kochetkov is expected to start in his place with a 0-0-3 record with a 4.33 GAA and a .836 GAA. Still, to quote Gabriel, “those games were some of the worst played by the team this year, and it’s hard to argue those stats were completely his fault.”

Things to Watch

Kochetkov is a fan favorite but does he yet have what it takes to be a goalie on a team with playoff expectations and cup aspirations? We’re all rooting for you, Pytor, but we’re nervous too! Also, the ‘Canes defense – including my favorite player Jalen Chatfield – needs to step it up and find their mojo. Maybe it’s in the locker room somewhere? They were out of sync last night and have been lackluster this year. At this point, the entire country has probably seen the ESPN clips of goalie Raanta trying to join our D. We need these guys to be the solid machine they were last year. With KK, Martin Necas, and Sebastian Aho and others generally playing very well and Andrei Svechnikov continuing to un-rust from his long injury break, we also need to figure out our offensive pairings and find that magical chemistry. We truly do have the talent to win; we just need to sync.

Prediction

The Lightning are not spectacular, so why does this feel like another big fat L?

We are probably the better team, but we have looked bad on the road, and Kochetkov is still an unknown. It breaks my heart to predict Tampa 4, ‘Canes 3, although if we can get into overtime, we may pull out the W thanks to the nimble finesse and accuracy of Aho and Necas on open ice (I swear these guys dream in skates).

Record (Tara): This is my first attempt at this. Crystal ball analysis is difficult when you’re not stats minded! Gabriel does it so much better. I prefer writing up ‘Canes related events and observations, heartbreaking hockey tributes, and other hockey-meets life fluff.

Oh, and Freddie, get well soon! We’re wishing you all the best and miss seeing you on the ice here at ‘Canes Express.