What a let down. Carolina made their second appearance on OLN tonight, and while work kept me from catching the majority of the game, what I did see was pretty disappointing. Granted, Buffalo has put together a pretty impressive stretch run (I think they have, at least. Talk about an annoying freaking website to get information from!), but that’s no reason to get blown out with the conference title on the line at home. All they needed was to get to OT, and they lose 4-0. Of course, the post that never made it out of my fingers this weekend, they were in OT against Tampa Bay, 15 or so seconds left, and turned the puck over.

Shoots. Scores. Game over.
No chance to turn a two-goal comeback into a chance to grab the extra point in the shootout that would have clinched the East, making tonight meaningless. Also, thanks to the Rangers for continuing to turtle and let Ottawa take the top spot.

However, there is a silver lining, Canes fans.

With the loss, they play Montreal. A team that followed a ridiculous eight game winning streak to get into playoff contention with a 2-4 stretch to finish the year. The Canes took all four from the Canadiens-with-an-E this year, by a total of 25 goals to nine. Ouch.

The alternative, with a win tonight, would have been Tampa Bay. The defending Cup champions and division rival that pretty much had their number all year (Carolina was 3-5 vs. the Lightning this year). Now if we could only get Michel Therien back behind the bench for a third period playoff meltdown like we saw four (!) years ago, we’ll be set.

I would love to take the rest of this space to talk smack to my Hab-fan dad, but with Carolina limping to the finish line, including the still-infurating loss of Erik Cole for (???), I think I’ll wait until the Canes are up 3-0 in the series to talk…