ACC Country

The NHL Trade Deadline came on Tuesday, and Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford decided to pull the trigger after all, dealing scrappy forward Andrew Ladd to Chicago for rough and tumble Tuomo Ruutu. Personally, I think the move was unnecessary, as Ladd was just beginning to find his niche up on the scoring lines, but the club was apparently looking for someone who could center – with the injury to Brind’Amour – and Ruutu can do that. Ruutu can also throw the body, as we found out during his Carolina debut Tuesday night, throwing out three thunderous shots in a game in which he arrived at the arena 12 minutes before the puck dropped. His night ended with a borderline high stick from the Devils’ Patrik Elias which left him with 40 stitches and a pat on the back for his efforts.

As for the game itself, Sergei Samsonov beat Marty Brodeur less than two minutes into OT to give the Canes to give Carolina a 2-1 victory, their sixth in eight games, the best stretch of hockey they have come up with all season. The Canes did drop tonight’s affair with the Rangers 4-2, Erik Cole scoring both goals for Carolina, but the Canes have bagged all but 5 of the available 20 points in the last ten games, and are 11-6-1 since getting slaughtered in Ottawa 5-1 on January 17. Carolina maintains a five point lead over the Capitals, with the last of this critical five game homestand on Saturday against the Lightning. A win there puts the Canes 4-1 over this stretch of games in Raleigh, a mark which I said was critical to their chances at taking the division. Despite the loss to New York tonight, the Canes played fairly well for the second half of the game, and I see no reason they can’t recharge the batteries and get after Tampa on Saturday.

Injury update: Tim Gleason got his bell rung on Tuesday, likely concussion and will be out at least thru the weekend. Ray Whitney, who has been nursing a sore groin for the better part of the last two months, left tonight’s game due either that or a foot infection. Nothing has been confirmed as to why the Wizard left the ice in the third period. Ruutu, despite the photo above, played 18 minutes Thursday night and should be good to go for the tilt on Saturday.