Nobody wants to lose, but Wednesday’s exhibition wasn’t supposed to be about the final score. In the Canes’ only chance to get up to game speed before the Qualifying Round series against the New York Rangers, the most important thing was knocking the rust off.
And in a few areas, the Canes seemed to do just that. The physicality level was raised pretty quickly into the contest (which bodes well for playoff hockey), the team dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 66% of draws (Jordan Staal was a perfect 9-for-9) and a few select players, (Ryan Dzingel, Haydn Fleury, James Reimer and Vincent Trocheck) showed great compete levels right away.