Cole came close to tying the score himself at 14:31 of second period; Dennis Seidenberg had to hook him to keep his former teammate from swooping in on goal and taking advantage of three years’ worth of practices with Cam Ward.
On the ensuing power play, Cole was standing just in front of the crease while teammate Shawn Horcoff scored. Horcoff fired from the circle and although Ward stopped the initial shot, he closed his legs and kicked the puck in inadvertently.
The Hurricanes were looking for their first complete effort of the season, but they won’t find it tonight. The second period was sloppy enough that Laviolette felt the need to use his time-out midway though it. They’re also 0-5 on the power play…wait, make that 0-6. A Steve Staios interference penalty just passed harmlessly by. The Hurricanes desperately need to work on this. They have been one of the more disciplined teams in the league so far this season, but these missed opportunities will come back to bite them sooner rather than later.
Seconds after the power play ended, Chad LaRose whiffed on another sure goal. Have you ever had a moment when you’re absolutely sure that the puck would have been the opponent’s net…if the person taking the shot had been anyone else on the team besides Chad LaRose? LaRose is a valuable player and he performs his duty on the team to great effect, but he cannot find the scoring touch that came so easily to him in the juniors but has, so far, eluded him in the NHL. Some of it’s luck and obviously more of it is size, but LaRose would be a 20-goal scorer if he could convert his chances, because he always seems to be in the right place at the right time. But right now, if someone sends the puck just wide of the empty net, more often than not you will see the number 59 skating away, cursing quietly to himself.
The Hurricanes just killed off 38 seconds of an Edmonton 5-on-3 in the third period, and the score is still knotted at 1-1.
