O Captain, My Captain, Hurricanes End 3 Game Slide

It still sounds kind of weird to say O Captain, My Captain and be talking about Eric Staal, but he sure led by example against Atlanta on Thursday. “It’s a challenge,” said Staal of his new role. “We’ve had great leadership here for a long time. I’m excited for the opportunity to learn from a great captain who won us a Stanley Cup.” Staal recorded his 10th career hat trick in the 5-2 win over the Thrashers. Staal got everything started last night by creating a turnover then executing a give and go to Jussi Jokinen for his first goal as captain just 3:31 into the first. Just three minutes later Samsonov would give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead when catching Pavelec out of position. In the second it was more Hurricanes as Jokinen scored a goal that was originally disallowed, but review confirmed that the goal was a good goal. Staal would score his second goal of the night on a laser to the top right corner at 2:19 of the second to make it 4-0 Carolina. However, the Thrashers would not lye down and kept coming getting a goal from Rich Peverly at 13:30 of the second period. In the third the Thrashers would inch closers on a goal by Colby Armstrong pulling Atlanta within two with eight minutes to go. However, Staal would seal it with the empty net goal with just under a minute to play to seal a 5-2 Hurricanes victory and end a three game skid.

The Hurricanes were simple put the better team on the ice Thursday night. They seemed to skate harder and looked determined to get to lose pucks. I kinda expected this type of game from the Hurricanes against the Thrashers for two reasons. Reason number one is when you make a move such as the change of a captain it usually motivates the teams and number two is Cam Ward always plays well in Atlanta and made some great save on Thursday to ensure a win. The big difference in the game was undoubtedly special teams. The Hurricanes were able to capitalize on the powerplay scoring three of their four goals with the man advantage. Meanwhile Atlanta went zero for six including zero for four in the third period.