Necas' core ability as 18-year old draftee was his ability to skate and create with the puck on his stick. He struggled to do that in fast and sometimes dangerous NHL initially, but now up to NHL speed, he increasingly is getting back to his roots. Time to retry him at center.

I miss the Jaccob Slavin / Vincent Trocheck hug more than I expected. #LetsGoCanes

1/3 Carolina Hurricanes have had many worse games in terms of volume of errors, quality of play and sloppiness, but it's hard to recall many games where they were that sluggish and slow in the Brind'Amour era.

2/3 Timing is interesting with a back-to-back. Will be curious to see if it was just one of those games and if they can bounce back quickly. #LetsGoCanes

3/3 Bigger picture, the team struggling for awhile now has been camouflaged by OT skills competition success. If you back out the OT/shootout wins, the team is now 2-4-4 in its last 10 games. #LetsGoCanes

Just a hunch, but I think the #Isles dialing up the BS at the end of a 5-1 game is only going to help Carolina Hurricanes come Sunday.

Been awhile but with playoff hockey, I dusted off the Carolina Hurricanes keyboard... Thoughts on Canes on 3 levels (big picture, current #Isles series and more generally trying to figure it out). => bit.ly/43UXFeT

Well done with the anthem #Isles fans and Long Island!

That would be interference on Drury. Stepped into him with a shoulder with the puck nowhere near. #Canes

Generated absolutely nothing offensively and were outplayed for 20 minutes, but in a playoff road game, you take a 1-0 lead after the 1st period any day of the week and work to be better in the 2nd period. Carolina Hurricanes

Second pretty close quarters power play pass by Noesen to have a teammate shooting into an open half net.

Is it just me or is every single other NHL playoff series more fun to watch than #LetsGoCanes/#Isles series?

People think this series is about #NJDevils vs. #NYR, but the hockey gods just see this as a path to have Carolina Hurricanes play Haula in the playoffs as happens every year.

As it is written on the stone tablets that the hockey gods use to govern the NHL and especially the playoffs, "Let it always be that Carolina Hurricanes play against Erik Haula's team in the NHL playoffs."

Part 1 of 2-part series looks backward at #LetsGoCanes vs. #Isles series here=> bit.ly/3NrlLbr (Part 2 tonight or tomorrow will look forward to #NJDevils series.)

Part 2 of 2 looks at #LetsGoCanes vs. #NJDevils as very different challenge that first round series vs. #Isles. Read here=> bit.ly/3LpCvwZ

1/2 Impressive win! First period was most dominant playoff period that I can remember in recent history. That Devils shot on goal was really more of a dump in that happened to be on net. And #LetsGoCanes could have had 1-2 more goals easily.

2/2 ...That said, playoff series are rarely a straight line, so I am not reading too much into a first win.

Daily Cup of Joe part 1 of 2 looks back at #LetsGoCanes vs. #NJDevils series=> bit.ly/3pOsnXA

Daily Cup of Joe part 2 of 2 looks forward to Carolina Hurricanes vs. #TimetoHunt series=> bit.ly/3MChTmX