Things are looking up!

If you have followed the last couple of games for the Hurricanes, you have to be cautiously optimistic that the Canes are finally over the early season jitters that led to fourteen games without a win.

There have been a number of things to feel good about. Clearly, their confidence is returning and it shows in their overall play. The offence has finally started to come-to-life and Manny Legace has been a calming influence in goal.

What a game against the Leafs! The Canes showed their resiliency, much like the play-offs last year, and pulled out some last minute heroics to earn the two points in a must-win game. It was great to see the Canes tough it out and not give-up when the Leafs' Ian White scored with less than thirty seconds remaining. It would have been easy to close up the tent. But, they didn't. And it was great to see Erik Cole finally contribute offensively. Many nights this season, Cole has been persona non grata. Absolutely invisible. With Eric Staal still on-the-shelf, it is up to players like Cole and Ray Whitney, to step-up and fill the void. Tuomo Ruutu certainly did his part. How about this performance - four assists, seven hits, the game winning goal in the shoot-out, and a plus-three on the night. Not a bad night's work, wouldn't you say? Jussi Jokinen also played a solid game for the Canes, scoring yet another shoot-out goal. Both he and linemate Matt Cullen were plus-two, giving that line a composite plus-seven in this game.

And how about Tim Gleason! This was Tim's first two-goal game in the bigs as he was effective at both ends of the rink, loggong almost five minutes of powerplay time, and ending at a plus-one in over 24 minutes total playing time. Defence partner Joe Corvo logged over thirty-three minutes and also ended at a plus-one. These guys are really starting to come around.

A couple of other things caught my attention. Manny Legace, although somewhat inconsistent in regulation time, was outstanding in the shoot-out when he had to be. And Brandon Sutter just continues to do it all, playing a solid twenty three minutes in this one. I don't think anyone would have expected the level of improvement he's shown thus far. The Canes game with Southeast conference rival Tampa Bay was perhaps their best outing of the year. They outperformed the Lightning in virtually all aspects of the game and came out with a well-deserved 3-1 victory. Manny Legace had a strong outing, continues to fill in admirably for injured Cam Ward and has given the rest of the Canes the confidence to play their game.

The line of Cullen-Ruutu-Jokinen is clearly the Canes best right now. Both Ruutu and Jokinen scored key goals for the Canes and Cullen played a solid sixteen minutes of plus hockey. It was also encouraging to see Chad Larose finally get the monkey off his back with his first goal this season, scoring the insurance goal with just over four minutes remaining to seal-the-deal.

But, this night belonged to Joni Pitkanen. He played an outstanding game, leading countless rushes for the Canes, firing six shots, while playing over 23 minutes of plus-one hockey. His impact on the offence is huge and changes the dynamic of this team in a major way. Interestingly, he was partnered with Niclas Wallin, who I thought played his best game of the season. The Pitkanen-Wallin pair along with the resurgent Corvo-Gleason tandem gives the Canes two solid defence pairs. Improvement is still needed on the third pairing and hopefully, the Canes will have some more options when Staal returns. Bryan Rodney's return would help.

Speaking of Staal. He has returned to practise and should be ready in about a week. That will make things interesting for the Canes. With Brandon Sutter improving every game and with Matt Cullen starting to hit stride, the Canes should be set a center. You have to believe that Staal will be re-united with Ray Whitney and Erik Cole to form the top trio and the Cullen-Ruutu-Jokinen troika will line-up number two. That will leave Sutter to head the third unit, most likely with Sergei Samsonov manning the left side. Chad Larose probably earned the right wing following his strong showing against Tampa.

I guess the million-dollar question these days is what to do with Rod Brind'amour. He is a shadow of his former self and, other than his solid face-off contribution (56%), he has been largely ineffective with a team-high minus 18 on the season and a meagre two goals. His ice-time continues to decline and his role diminish. So, what are the Canes options? Continue to play him on the fourth line, move him to the wing on the third line, trade him (no way that will happen), or simply ask him to hang them up. This is a tough one for sure. There's no question that when Brindy is playing his game, he is a key cog in this Canes machine. But how long can the Canes wait? This situation will be an interesting one to watch in the days and weeks to come.

Next up for the Canes, a brief two-game western tour, with Dallas kicking-it-off tomorrow night.