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Posted at 11:00 AM EST.

10:35 PM EST. Regulation only. With a somewhat respectable 3-4 record over its last seven games, the Kings have have not hit rock bottom in this market quite yet but it’s coming. L.A. now returns home from a three-game, Canadian West Coast swing and the only way they’re going to win here is if their goaltender stands on his head. Cal Peterson took the loss in L.A’s last game so we’re hoping than Jonathan Quick gets this start. Quick is getting paid big money so he’ll get starts to be sure but he remains one of the NHL’s worst netminders playing for the NHL’s least talented and slowest team.

You have missed it in the NHL’s news feed but there it was that Scott Darling cleared waivers and was sent down to the minors. Chances are great that he’ll never be heard from again.  On Friday night, the Hurricanes received continued star-like goaltending from Curtis McElhinney, who stopped 27 of 29 shots in the eventual 2-1 OT loss to the Ducks. John Gibson stopped 33 of 34 of the Hurricanes’ shots. On Tuesday, McElhinney stopped 48 of 49 shots and the Cames beat Montreal, 2-1.

Regular readers of this section know we’ve been big a big supporter of McElhinney when he played for Columbus and Toronto and now for the first time in his career, he’s been handed the #1 job. More than that is the different mindset of the team. Carolina’s goaltending has been so dreadful for years that the players have been programmed (in their own minds) to not make a mistake. They fear that once they fall behind, they cannot come back with weak goaltending and it’s true. Carolina’s lack of offense has long been a thing and it’s indirectly attributed to goaltending. When players trust their goaltending, it’s a game changer and now for the first time, the ‘Canes do. Carolina has picked up three of a possible four points with McElhinney in as its #1. After both games, the players were emotionally gathered at the net, hugging McElhinney, as if to say, “Fucking finally”, we have a goalie.

Both Brett Pesce and Haydn Fleury have been activated from the IR, which gives the team even a little more confidence. Don’t be surprised to see the ‘Canes start opening up their game a bit and start burying some pucks because that fear they had has been removed. Carolina is the top possession team in the league and now they have goaltending. Start investing.

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