The Hurricanes finally got their first victory since October 9th beating the Minnesota Wild 5-4 in the shootout.  The Hurricanes came out firing scoring three goals in the games first thirty minutes leading to a 3-0 lead.  However, like the Hurricanes always seem to do they let the Wild back into the game.  Once the Hurricanes took a 4-1 lead on a Brandon Sutter goal it seemed like they just shut down, allowing three goals two by Rob Earl and one by John Scott.  The Hurricanes had a couple of good penalty kills in the third period to send it to overtime.  In overtime there were not any great chances, maybe a couple of goods ones but that is it.  In the shootout the only player to score for either team was Jussi Jokinen giving the Hurricanes their first win in over a month.

Now that the Hurricanes have gotten over that hurdle lets see if they can put something together.  The Hurricanes have the Montreal Canadians tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.  These are all winnable games for the Hurricanes, the question remains how many bodies will be out of these games with all the injuries they have suffered.  Tonight they are likely to be missing Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Scott Walker, Joni Pitkanen, and maybe Aaron Ward.  I have never seen a season where the Hurricanes have lost so many top line players.  If the Hurricanes can dig deep maybe they can win all three of these games this week and things will seem a little better.

Tonight’s game against the Canadian will be the first matchup of the season between the two struggling teams.  The Canadians are 4-6 in their last ten while the Hurricane managed their first win in over a month.  The Canadians are coming off a 2-0 loss at Nashville in which the Predators put 55 shots on goal.  Montreal is facing a similar injury problem as they are without their top defenseman Andrei Markov.  They are also missing notable players such as Brian Gionta and Hal Gil at this moment.  The Hurricanes seem to play good in Montreal and let’s hope that can continue tonight.

News & Notes:  First meeting of the year between the Canadians and Hurricanes

Erik Cole has averaged a point a game against Montreal in his career

Injuries:    CAR Eric Staal  Upper Body

CAR Cam Ward  Lower Body

CAR Scott Walker  Day to Day

CAR Aaron Ward  Day to Day

CAR Joni Pitkanen  Day to Day

MTL Andrei Markov  Ankle

MTL Hal Gil  Lower Body

MTL George Laraque  Upper Body

MTL Brian Gionta  Day to Day

Prediction:  CAR 4 MTL 3

Take a look at Erik Cole who always seems to play well against Montreal.