While the Carolina Hurricanes made an 11 point improvement in the standings over last season, 2010-11 will still be considered a disappointment after the Canes failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

The ending was particularly painful.  Had the Paul Maurice’s club won their season finale at home against division rival Tampa Bay, they would have qualified for the postseason. Instead, the Carolina defense allowed too many odd-man rushes and quickly fell behind 3-0 en route to a 6-2 loss and an early trip to the golf courses.

Despite the bitter disappointment, there are some real positives that can be taken from this season:

1) The play of goalie Cam Ward: Ward served as a workhorse for the Canes, starting 74 of the club’s 82 games.  He finished with a 2.56 GAA and a save percentage of .920.  Most importantly, he kept his team in a lot of games they had no business being in. Ward faced more shots and made more saves than any goalie in the NHL this season. That being said, team defense has to improve next season if the team is to take the next step forward.

2) The emergence of rookie Jeff Skinner: Skinner led all first year players with 63 points and is the favorite for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Skinner was his consistency despite the fact that he was one of the youngest players in the league. He never seemed to hit the infamous “rookie wall.” He has the chance to develop into a special player but can he avoid the sophomore jinx?

3) Eric Staal: Staal was by far the Hurricanes best skater and team leader. He led the team in goals, assists, points, power play goals, shorthanded goals and shots. He missed only one game all season and if the Canes lost him for any length of time, they’d be in deep trouble.

4) The play of rookie defenseman Jamie McBain: McBain scored seven goals and 30 points in his first full season with the club. While he was inconsistent at times, he showed the potential to develop into a very good defenseman in Raleigh for a long time to come.

5) The coaching of Paul Maurice: Maurice had a team with little depth but managed to keep them in contention for all 82 games.  The Hurricanes stuck together through some tough times and because of their lack of scoring depth, Maurice had to do a lot of line juggling. More often than not, he found the right combinations.  He kept the club winning down the stretch when the pressure was on, at least until Game 82.

Team Awards:

MVP: It has to be Ward although Staal would be a close second.  Without the stellar play of their number one goalie, the Canes are an also-ran team.

Rookie of the Year: Skinner has to be the choice with McBain a distant second.  Not too many 18-year-olds score more than 30 goals in the NHL.

Unsung Hero: Erik Cole had 26 goals was second on the team in hits and led the team in game winning goals. Fans outside of Raleigh may not know much about him, but he was an important cog in the Canes machine this season.

Looking Ahead:

The Canes are not known for having large amounts of money to spend but there are plenty of needs to fill including a banger on defense and as much secondary scoring as GM Jim Rutherford can find. Rutherford will have his hands full trying to re-sign his own UFA’s, which include Corey Stillman, Cole, Chad LaRose, Jussi Jokinen and Joni Pitkanen. Brandon Sutter and Jiri Tlusty are RFAs so the team may look drastically different next season. Considering how much Maurice got out of this team and how few injuries they suffered, that may not be a bad thing.

The Carolina Hurricanes had their playoff destiny in their hands entering Saturday’s regular season finale against the Tampa Bay Lightning: win and they were in.  Unfortunately, the Canes got off to a slow start and never recovered, falling to the Bolts 6-2.

Dominic Moore got Tampa Bay on the board first at the 6:45 mark. The Canes seemed tight and tentative on defense and gave up too many odd man rushes which even star goalie Cam Ward couldn’t stop.  It was goals by Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos scored just 1:58 apart that broke the game open and made it 3-0 just 13:17 into the first period.

“I think there’s a chance it was shock at 3-0,” Canes Coach Paul Maurice said. “Not the pressure. It felt right going out, and to come off a good night and felt good, and then, boom. It happened so fast that you’re shell shocked a little bit, and then the enormity of how much you put into it and where it’s at, I think that made it difficult for us.”

The Lightning extended their lead to 4-0 midway through the second period on a goal by defenseman Brett Clark before the Hurricanes made a last gasp attempt at a rally. Corey Stillman scored on a 5-on-3 power play with 6:29 left in the second period and a hard wrist shot by Chad LaRose pulled the Canes to within two goals with 11:27 remaining in the third period.

The Hurricanes played desperate hockey later in the game and fired a total of 17 shots on the Tampa Bay goal in the third period but backup goalie Mike Smith made 16 saves to preserve the Lightning’s lead.  He finished the game with 42 stops.

When Tampa Bay’s Dana Tyrell was called for boarding with 4:16 left in the third, Maurice took a gamble and pulled Ward for a sixth attacker in a desperate attempt to tie the game.  Simon Gagne and Martin St. Louis added empty net goals to put an end to the Hurricanes 2010-11 season.

The Hurricanes played valiantly down the stretch of the season, going 9-2-1 in the 12 games prior to the season finale.  But they had just dug themselves too big a hole to climb out of and they fell two points short of a playoff berth. They finished the year with a 40-31-11 record, good for 91 points, an 11-point improvement over last season.

Highlights of the season included hosting the All-Star Game, the stellar play of goalie Cam Ward and captain Eric Staal and a surprising 31 goal season for rookie Jeff Skinner.  Skinner has to be considered the favorite for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.

For now, though, the disappointment of missing the playoffs lingers for the Hurricanes, especially since they seemed poised to capture the final Eastern Conference playoff berth going into their final game.

“Everyone in this room wanted to be in the playoffs,” Staal admitted. “[It's] not a nice feeling in the stomach. We obviously worked our butts off all year to have this opportunity at home, and we didn’t get the job done tonight.”

It will certainly leave the Hurricanes hungry for next season.

With their season literally on the line, the Carolina Hurricanes best players came through to lead them to a clutch 3-0 win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings Wednesday night in Raleigh. Cam Ward made 42 saves to earn the shutout while Eric Staal assisted on all three goals to lead Carolina to victory. It was the first time the Hurricanes defeated the Red Wings since 2006.

The Canes are now just two points behind the New York Rangers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Each team has two games remaining.

Despite the shutout, this was not a stellar defensive performance by Carolina.  Instead, it was Ward who kept the Wings off the board until his team was able to take the lead.  Detroit had plenty of great scoring chances in the  the first period, but Ward made 18 saves and it was 0-0 after 20 minutes.

“He [Ward] was great, especially early,” Corey Stillman said after the game. “We rely on him, sometimes way too much, but he came up big tonight, made some saves and in my eyes was the first star.”

The game winning goal came on the power play just 4:04 into the second period. Defenseman Derek Joslin let go a low slap shot to score his first goal as a Hurricane.  The play was set up by Stillman who won a battle for the puck along the boards and fed Joslin.  The Canes also had some traffic in front of the Red Wings goal to screen goalie Jimmy Howard.

“There were some nerves on our part in the first 20 [minutes],” Carolina Coach Paul Maurice admitted. “We settled down after Joslin’s goal. We skated better and moved the puck better, too.”

Rookie Jeff Skinner added to the lead when he put home the rebound of a Staal slap shot with 1:13 left in the second stanza.  It was Skinner’s 30th goal of the season. He leads all rookies with 59 points.  Skinner corralled the rebound and went behind the goal to beat oward on a wraparound.

Detroit had a golden opportunity to get back in the game early in the third period when Canes winger Drayson Bowman was assessed a double minor for high sticking.  The Wings had a four minute power play and had several quality chances but Ward made five saves and the Carolina penalty killers blocked four shots to prevent the Wings from staging a comeback.

Immediately after the penalty kill, Staal led an odd man rush for the Canes and fed Erik Cole who let a shot go from the right circle that beat Howard and made it 3-0 Hurricanes. That iced the win for Carolina and kept the club’s playoff hopes alive.

The Hurricanes return to action Friday night when they travel to Atlanta to take on the Thrashers.  Winning both of their final games is essential if Carolina is to qualify for postseason play.

The Carolina Hurricanes scored three times in the third period to down the New York Islanders 4-2 and pull to within one point of the eighth place New York Rangers in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Joe Corvo had a goal and two assists while Cam Ward made 29 saves to earn the win. Erik Cole netted the game winner while Eric Staal added a goal and an assist.

Jussi Jokinen gave Carolina a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game but goals by Jesse Joensuu and John Tavares gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.

The Hurricanes were one period away from a devastating loss that could hurt their playoff hopes but took control of the tempo in the third period. The Canes managed only six shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, but they made them count by crashing the New York net and shutting down the Islanders attack.

“That was their season, the third period,” Islanders goalie Al Montoya admitted. “They just came hard.”

Joe Corvo tired the game just 3:02 into the final period when he redirected a shot by Tim Gleason from about five feet out. Carolina had two players in front of the net to screen Montoya on that play.

Then just over three minutes later, Cole netted the game winner when he tipped a Staal shot past Montoya just seconds after a Hurricanes power play had expired.

“I just stopped in front, and he [Staal]  fired one at me,” Cole said. “I was able to get a stick on it, get it up top, over his [Montoya's] shoulder.”

The Islanders had a chance to tie things up when defenseman Jamie McBain was penalized for delay of game with 1:32 left in regulation time.  Ward stopped Matt Martin’s shot before Staal scored a shorthanded empty net goal to clinch the victory with 47.6 seconds left on the clock.

Coach Paul Maurice said his top line came through when it counted. “They were good in the third [but] the first two periods, just OK,” Maurice said. “The Staal line has carried us for long parts of the year. Right now, they weren’t at their perfect mesh but when we needed them, they score the game winner and Staal scores the 4-2 goal, so we’ll take their performance.”

The Canes don’t have much time to enjoy their victory over the Islanders. They host the Buffalo Sabres Sunday evening at 5:00 PM.  Buffalo is two points ahead of the Hurricanes in the standings.

With their playoff hopes on the line, the Carolina Hurricanes’ youngest player came through to  lead them to victory.  Rookie Jeff Skinner scored the tying goal in the third period and the winner in the shootout to lead the Canes past the Washington Capitals 3-2.  It was the Hurricanes first triumph over the Capitals in six tries this season.

The win, combined with the Buffalo Sabres regulation 4-3 loss to the Maple Leafs pulled Carolina to within three points of Buffalo in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Goalie Cam Ward was also vital to the Canes win, making 38 saves including both Washington attempts in the shootout.  Ward came up especially big in overtime when his club was outshot 5-0. He also kept Caps star Alex Ovechkin off the scoreboard in his first game back from an undisclosed  injury including a save late in the game with the butt of his stick.

Ward knows his club faces long odds to qualify for the playoffs, but is sure they aren’t giving up. “We realize the hole that we’re in and the adversity we’re facing,” he said. “But there is that belief in the locker room that if we just take it one game at a time, we’ll have a chance here and there’s no better group to do it with.  We still believe we can.”

Jussi Jokinen got Carolina on the board just 2:29 into the second period with a tap in from the slot.  Joe Corvo set up the power play goal with a perfect pass from behind the net.

Alexander Semin and Marcus Johansson scored 3:17 apart late in the second period to give Washington a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes and put the Canes backs against the wall.

That was when Skinner came through to tie the game just 1:46 into the third period.  He let go a shot that wasn’t very hard but dipped enough to get past Caps’ goalie Semyon Varlamov.

“This Skinner kid’s a pretty special shooter,” Coach Paul Maurice said. “So before I qualify that shot as not real strong—he’s put enough by goalies from strange angles, that now you just accept it and say maybe he saw it.”

The Hurricanes held on to force overtime and then the shootout where Skinner and Tuomo Ruutu scored while Ward stopped Ovechkin and Niklas Backstrom to clinch a huge win for Carolina.

The Canes don’t have much time to celebrate the victory.  They return home to host the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday night.

The Carolina Hurricanes seemed to have everything going for them heading into tonight’s re-match with the Tampa Bay Lightning.  They had won three straight and the Lightning was winless in their last four contests.  Defenseman Jamie McBain was returning to the lineup and the Hurricanes were back home after a big road win in Tampa Friday night.

Things quickly got better for the Hurricanes seven minutes into the game when Eric Staal scored a power play goal on a wrist shot from the right circle to give Carolina a 1-0 lead.

But instead of cruising to a victory, the Hurricanes watched their old nemesis, Simon Gagner, lead a Lightning comeback which resulted in a 4-2 loss for Carolina. Gagner now has six goals in five games this season against the Hurricanes.

The loss, combined with the Buffalo Sabres win over the New Jersey Devils places the Canes five points behind the Sabres in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with just seven games to go.

“Now we’re going to need help,” Hurricanes Coach Paul Maurice admitted. “We’re going to have to come pretty close to running the table from here on out.”

If the Sabres play .500 hockey the rest of the season, the Hurricanes would need to go 6-1-0 in their final seven games just to match their season point total.

Martin St. Louis started the Tampa Bay comeback, scoring just seconds after a Carolina power play expired.  Vincent Lecavalier led an odd-man rush and set up St. Louis for the game-tying goal.

Gagne gave Tampa Bay the lead on an unassisted goal which saw him steal the puck from Joe Corvo and rushed in to beat Cam Ward with a hard shot that made it 2-1 Bolts.

To their credit, the Hurricanes did not quit. Corey Stillman found Erik Cole in front of the net and Cole poked the puck past Mike Smith to tie the game at 2-2 in the final minute of the opening period.

The second period was a tight, physical and fairly even battle, but the only goal came with just 2:07 left and it proved to be the game-winner.  Dominic Moore scored on the power play off a pretty pass from Lecavalier to net his 15th goal of the year.

The Hurricanes fired 13 shots on Smith in the third period, but the Tampa Bay goalie held his ground and maintained the one-goal lead until Gagne’s empty-netter clinched it with less than a minute left in the game.

The desperate Canes return to action Tuesday night when they travel to Washington to meet the Capitals.

Erik Cole scored twice while Cam Ward made 18 saves as the Carolina Hurricanes hung on for a crucial 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The win kept the Canes just three points behind the Buffalo Sabres in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  Buffalo downed the Florida Panthers Friday night 4-2.

Coach Paul Maurice was pleased with the way his club played in this critical game. “Regardless our situation in the standings, that would’ve been a tough loss, given how our hockey club played for, oh, I don’t know, 56 minutes,” Maurice said. “I was real pleased with the effort we got out of everyone.”

Although Carolina fell behind 1-0 when Simon Gagne scored on the power play at the 7:11 mark of the first period, they quickly fought back to take control of the tempo of the game.  The Hurricanes outshot Tampa Bay 16-7 in the first period and evened the score when Calder Trophy candidate Jeff Skinner scored at 12:52.

The Canes defense played one of its best periods in the second stanza, holding the home team to just three shots on goal.  Cole scored his first of the night on the power play to give Carolina a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.

Cole increased his team’s lead nearly seven minutes into the third period on an unassisted backhander.  He stole the puck from Eric Brewer behind the net and spun around to beat Dwayne Roloson before Eric Staal’s team leading 30th goal of the year made it 4-1 Carolina with just 7:40 left in the game.

Just when it seemed the Hurricanes were skating to a dominating and decisive victory, they had some breakdowns and let Tampa Bay right back into the game. Carolina didn’t allow the Bolts a shot on goal until nearly 13 minutes had gone by in the third period but when they finally got a puck on net, they scored. First Vincent Lecavalier scored and Gagne less than a minute later, Gange’s second goal of the game pulled the Lightning to within a goal with 5:51 left in the third period.

Tampa Bay had a final chance to tie the game in the final seconds when Gagne got the puck during a scramble in front but Ward came up big in the clutch and Carolina held on for a very big win.

The Canes did what they had to do in this game.  Their power play, which has struggled of late, went 2-for-6 tonight.  In addition, Carolina played a strong, physical game, outhitting the Lightning 22-13 and forcing Tampa Bay to take some bad penalties.

The same two teams meet again Saturday night in Raleigh in another must win game for Carolina.

Joni Pitkanen netted the winner with 1:02 left in overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders.

The victory gave the Canes two crucial points in the standings and ties them with the Buffalo Sabres for the eighth and final playoff spot  in the Eastern Conference, although Buffalo still has two games in hand.

Early on, it was goalie Cam Ward who came up big for the Hurricanes.  Three times in the first period Isles rookie sensation Michael Grabner had breakaway chances and three times the Carolina goalie came up with big stops.

The Hurricanes have their own Calder Trophy candidate in Jeff Skinner and it he put the home team up 1-0 with 3:27 left in the opening period when he tipped Jussi Jokinen’s centering pass behind Isles goalie Al Montoya.

The Isles struck back just 1:19 later when Frans Nielsen backhanded a rebound of a Grabner shot past Ward from behind the goal line and the two teams ended the first period tied 1-1.

Things looked desperate for the Hurricanes when Grabner gave the Isles a 2-1 lead early in the second period.  Ward made the initial save on Travis Hamonic’s shot from the point but the defense failed to pick up Grabner who easily backhanded the rebound into the net before Ward could get back into position.

While the Canes struggled to solve Montoya, Ward kept them in the game with several clutch stops in the third period.  The biggest was a glove save off Matt Moulson who fired a one-timer from between the circles midway through the third which Ward caught after making a full extension.

With less than five minutes left in the game, things were getting desperate for the Hurricanes when Corey Stillman forced Nielsen to cough up the puck behind the goal and then found Erik Cole in front for the tying score. Cole’s shot went just over the shoulder of Montoya and just inside the cross bar.

“As a team, it’s really important that you can find a way to get to that desperation level,” Carolina Coach Paul Maurice said. “Then we found it, were able to change gears and good things started happening.”

In overtime, it was Pitkanen who played the unlikely hero, scoring just his third goal of the season on a one-timer from the top of the circle off a nice feed by Skinner who showed patience by holding the puck until he found the open man.  Pitkanen’s shot went in off the far post and the Hurricanes postseason  push was still alive.

“Jeff made a nice play there, and I decided to shoot,” said Pitkanen, who is often criticized for not putting enough pucks on net. “I guess the other D-man [Derek Joslin] screened a little bit and the goalie didn’t see it. We need those points.”

It was the first time in seven contests that Carolina scored more than two goals in one game. They were 1-4-1 in that span.

The Hurricanes return to action Tuesday when they host the Ottawa Senators.

It’s been the same old song for the Carolina Hurricanes lately: they just can’t seem to score enough goals to win hockey games.  The same problem reared it’s ugly head again Wednesday night as the Canes fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 in a crucial game in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

While the playoff race enters the final 10 games, the Hurricanes are mired in a 1-4-1 slump and they haven’t scored more than two goals in any of those games.  Tuesday night, only the stellar goaltending of Cam Ward helped them eke out a vital 1-0 win over the Sabres.

Early on in this game, the Canes got a rare goal on the power play and seemed primed to replicate last night’s recipe for success.  Chad LaRose screened Leafs goalie James Reimer and deflected a Brandon Sutter shot to give Carolina a 1-0 lead midway through the first period.

The problem is that it’s unrealistic to expect Ward to pitch a shutout every night and tonight he did not.  Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf evened the game at 1-1 on his power play goal with 58.9 seconds left in the first period.  The shot was a blast from just inside the blue line.  In addition to the hard shot, Ward had to contend with two Leafs forwards screening him in front of his net.

Eric Staal had a great chance to give Carolina a 2-1 lead on a shorthanded breakaway early in the second period but he couldn’t lift the puck over Reimer’s pads with Nikolia Kulemin draped on his back.

Phaneuf’s second power play goal of the game put the Leafs ahead to stay midway through the second stanza.  Phil Kessel’s initial shot was topped by Ward but the rebound came way out to the right point and Phaneuf blasted the puck high over Ward’s glove and off the far post.

It took only 12 seconds for Toronto to add to their lead when Tyler Bozek slipped between Jussi Jokinen and Joni Pitkanen and tipped a Darryl Boyce pass past Ward to make it 3-1 Leafs.

The Canes put pressure on in the third period, outshooting the Leafs 15-4 but Reimer kept the frustrated Carolina attack off the board.

“We’re offensively frustrated,” Carolina Coach Paul Maurice admitted. “We’ve got a lot of pucks sitting around that crease, we’re just having a heck of a time banging them in, and that gets frustrating.”

The loss leaves the Hurricanes in 9th place in the Eastern Conference, just two points behind Buffalo and just two points ahead of 10th place Toronto.  The Sabres have a game in hand.

The Canes return to action Friday night when they host the New York Islanders.

Anybody who doubts the importance of special teams in hockey didn’t watch the Carolina Hurricanes frustrating 3-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday night.

The Canes had nine power play chances against the Blue Jackets including four chances with a 5-on-3 advantage, but failed to score a goal.  In fact, their power play was a minus one as Columbus opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal by Samuel Pahlson just 4:44 into the contest.  Carolina has scored on just three of its last 61 power play chances and if they miss the playoffs, clearly that will be a big reason why.

This was a painful loss for the Hurricanes who were facing a Blue Jackets team that is barely still in the Western Conference playoff race and had lost its last seven games (0-4-3).

It was the fourth straight loss for the Hurricanes who find themselves falling further behind in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Blue Jackets doubled their lead to 2-0 42 seconds into the second period on Derek MacKenzie’s first goal of the night.  Strong goaltending by Steve Mason kept the Hurricanes off the board making 20 of his 29 saves in the first two periods.

Rookie sensation Jeff Skinner cut the Jackets lead to 2-1 when he took a good pass from Erik Cole and cut behind the Columbus defense before ending Mason’s shutout bid by beating him low to the glove side with 10:44 left in the third period.

The Canes put some pressure on the Columbus net in the third period but Mason made several big saves to preserve the one goal lead until MacKenzie put one in an empty net to make it 3-1 Jackets with 1:01 left in the game.

Tuomo Ruutu scored with 35 seconds left to pull Carolina back to within a goal, but time ran out before the Canes could get the equalizer.

Hurricanes Coach Paul Maurice tried to keep his team’s spirits up. “It’s not Game 80,” Maurice said. “There’s still time on the clock. We feel the urgency, so everyone understands exactly where we’re at.”

The next two games will be critical for Carolina as they face two of the teams they are fighting with for a playoff berth.  The Canes travel to Buffalo on Tuesday before hosting the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night at the