RALEIGH -- In the NHL, it's always a 60-minute (or longer) game, an 82-game season (at the least), a year-round conditioning routine and an endless commitment to heavy lifting and hard knocks.
But for the Carolina Hurricanes, opening night 2009-10 was little more than a 22-second briefing in bewilderment.
That quick time frame at the outset of the second period in the RBC Center was all the Philadelphia Flyers needed Friday night to undermine weeks and months of unbridled optimism in the Hurricanes camp.
Two power-play goals in the blink of eye -- on a hockey time line -- by Jeff Carter and team captain Mike Richards staked Flyers goalie Ray Emery to a 2-0 lead that he protected relentlessly against an ensuing onslaught of Carolina power-play opportunities.
The result was a long, hollow thud to a night that Hurricanes fans fully expected to be a celebration of big things to come.
Over the course of a marathon that won't conclude until April 10, the foul taste of Friday's experience won't last long, of course. In fact, the Canes likely will have put it to rest by the time they reach Boston for a shot today at the Bruins.
And in truth, opening games in most professional sports are more about the ceremony than actual ramifications.
Keep in mind that it was just a year ago that the Hurricanes began 2-0 and had eight wins by Nov. 7.
About a month later, Peter Laviolette was fired and replaced by Paul Maurice as coach.
A season that seemed to be a complete wipeout at times wound up with a run to the Eastern Conference finals and set the stage for the high expectations of this season.
That said, it's not too early for Maurice and his players to pay some attention to the specifics of the loss.
Although Emery was at times spectacular in his ninth career shutout, the Hurricanes' eight fruitless power-play opportunities sounded a disturbing note.
For most of the game, the Canes appeared to be a step slow and a second late, particularly when it came to creating traffic in front of Emery.
Numerous second-chance opportunities slipped just past Carolina's reach. Even what at first looked like a Canes goal by Eric Staal was waved off by officials after an illegal hand pass was involved in creating the score.
The false alarm of the moment was somehow symbolic of the entire night for the fans. The team that looked so good on paper in preseason and for that one moment instead faded into an opening-night mirage.
