looking forward to the three game series with Columbus and Carolina. The season series is tied at 4-4, and though I’m obviously biased, I believe Carolina is the better team.
1. At least two of the losses were short handed. Not only was Carolina without their top 4-5 players, in at least one game they only had 12 skaters. Carolina had several of their top players called up (Ford, Baker, Cavaliere, Kraemer, Firth) while Columbus has mostly kept their team together, other than a few exceptions.
2. Columbus has had a much easier schedule all year. They didn’t play Binghamton (Carolina went 2-2). They didn’t play Danbury (Carolina went 3-1 I believe). The two teams Carolina didn’t play was Elmira and Watertown (the bottom teams in their division). Columbus played Baton Rouge (worst team in the league) more than any other team.