San Jose Sharks 4 - Carolina Hurricanes 2

Sharks Knock Wind Out Of Hurricanes in Home Opener
The Canes seemed to have lost the same passion that drove them to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, as they lose 4-2 at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

The goalies Ward (CAR) and Nabokov (SJ) seemed a bit unnerved as the game opened,   each one giving up bad passes each resulting in embarassing goals against. Once they settled in however, both performed strongly, as expected.

Despite the slowness of the ice (lag), the Sharks spun circles around the Canes' defence as they opened up the ice and left the opposition looking like pilons with hockey sweaters attached to them. Were it not for the heroics of Ward late in the second and third periods, the score could have easily tilted to 3 or 4 more goals in the Sharks' favour.

The real "tale of the tape" can be seen in Carolina's inability to win a faceoff draw. Their one and only clean faceoff came with 0.02 seconds left in the game. Clearly, Coach Laviolette has some work to do if he is going to get his team heading in the right direction.

San Jose                  Carolina
      24          SHOTS          13
      27             HITS           21
      22      FACEOFFS         1

Goals:
1st Period
  (SJ) Cheechoo 9:52
  (CAR) Williams 11:28
  (SJ) Greer 16:41
2nd Period
  (SJ) Traverse 17:23
3rd Period
  (SJ) Thornton 1:15
  (CAR) Staal 15:28

Stars of the Game:
  1st Star: Grier (1G 1A)
  2nd Star: Cheechoo (1G)
  3rd Star: Traverse (1G)

Thanks for the game Angry Rasputin!