Carolina Hurricanes: Takeaways from an insane game in Montreal

After the complete insanity of last night, what can the Carolina Hurricanes takeaway to have an optimistic feel towards the team’s future?

Wow that game was interesting. It was certainly entertaining. The Carolina Hurricanes seem to have retaken the mantle of Cardiac Canes once again.

The first thing we need to take away from this game is that goaltending is really not an issue. Anton Forsberg gave up all 3 goals before being pulled and replaced with Alex Nedeljkovic. None of which are on the big Swede, again this defense, that has the capability to be scary, was handing over scoring chances like candy on Halloween.

Last night also marked the first time a Carolina Hurricanes forward not from Finland had scored since Martin Necas against Toronto exactly a week ago.

Justin Williams would score with a little over a minute left in the 3rd period to tie the game up at three. There’s something else to take away, the depth in the team continues to struggle. We have the big three, and then really nothing until Necas is properly developed.

I did mention the defense being almost non-existent in it’s own end last night as seems to be the case almost too consistently, but with Joel Edmundson and Haydn Fleury both adding goals to their totals for the season, the defense is seemingly wanting to act as the forward depth. Which has been a long time coming.

But that comes with dangerous territory. Defense playing forward means noone is playing defense. Handing out chances like candy on Halloween may be acceptable if you can outscore the other team, I guess. But to do it in overtime, simply isn’t the way to go and will end up with points left on the scoresheet everytime.

Justin Williams still seems to be able to score when the team needs him most. Mr game seven has now bailed the team out of deficits in 6-on-5 situations on multiple occasions after doing it last year in Minnesota. He is still “Captain Clutch” despite the fact that it is now Jordan Staal who wears the big C over his chest.

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After the pulling of Anton Forsberg in the second period, the team really decided to fight. There was no quit from a team that could have just rolled over down 3-0 and decided that the game was over. This is a testimate to Rod Brind’Amour and his ability to motivate players when it seems like there is nothing they will play for. But playing from behind is getting tiring and not how Rod wants to play the game.

The next four days will be recovery and training days as the team pushes hard for a playoff spot in March. Luckily the teams they are competing against, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Rangers are almost in worse trouble than the Hurricanes. Can they turn things around in March and get the team to summer hockey?

Question for CC Readers: Which player exerted the Clutch last night outside of Justin Williams to get the team back into the game?