Storm Tracking: A Blustery Holiday Week

First off, I hope everyone had a safe and happy holidays.  The week started out with a home game against the Penguins.  The wind blew back and forth with each team having the upper hand at some point.  In the end, Pittsburgh came away with the victory in OT.  Then the Canes headed north to Toronto, where the wind knocked them down and wouldn't let them back up.  While controlling possession, the couldn't control keeping the puck out of the back of their net.  That followed with the trade winds sweeping in, picking up Kevin Westgarth and depositing him in Calgary.  A prospect and some salary savings came back Carolina's way.  The week ended with a strong 3rd period gust that helped propel the Canes past the Canadiens.  While things were definitely gloomy, that 4 goal 3rd period was a small ray of sunshine or glimmer of hope heading into the new year.  Here are the stats for the week of 12/25/13 through 12/31/13.

Canes Weekly Stats

Weekly Advanced Stats

Here is a little key to some of my abbreviations. F - For, A - Against, CF% - Corsi For Percentage, FF% - Fenwick For Percentage, SF% - Shots For Percentage, OZst% - Offensive Zone Start Percentage, NZst% - Neutral Zone Start Percentage and DZst% - Defensive Zone Start Percentage. If you would like more advanced statistics, this information was collected from www.extraskater.com.

Who's Hot

• Alexander Semin - Semin was the hero with the game winner on Tuesday, but he really put together a solid week.  His 3 points were tied for 3rd on the team and led the team with 16 shots.  His +3 was a team high and he was on the ice for 7 goals for and only 2 against.  And while the Canes possession numbers were excellent, Semin topped every category.  He was over 70% in 4 of the 6 categories I account for and was somewhat even in his zone starts.  The only stat that really looks bad is his 7 giveaways.  Let's just hope Semin has turned the corner and these type of weeks become more common for him.
• Zach Boychuk - Boychuk might or might not deserve to be on this list, but I thought I should recognize his solid play this week.  He averaged less than 10 minutes a game and only accounted for 1 point, but he was the only Cane that was not on the ice for any goals against.  And that says something when 13 goals are scored against you.  Half of his possession numbers were above the team average and all were 50% or better.  He was 1 of 4 Canes that finished with a plus rating and he did register 7 shots on goal.  But the stat that really got me was the 7 hits he delivered.  That tied for 2nd for the week and really speaks to Boychuk taking direction and trying to play a more complete game.
• Jeff Skinner - Skinner was a home run hitter this week.  He was either hitting a home run or striking out.  He really carried the team to victory against Montreal, but he was pretty ineffective against Pittsburgh and Toronto.  His 2 goals, 4 points and 6 takeaways all tied for the team lead.  He was also in the top 5 in shots on goal and 4 of the 6 possession categories.  He did have the highest offensive zone start percentage and tied with Eric Staal for a team worse -6 rating.  It was quite a month for Jeff, 12 goals, 16 points, but was also a -10.  We see what he can do, now we need to see if he can be more consistent doing it.

Who's Not

• Cam Ward/Justin Peters - Generally when goalies have poor stats, it has a lot to do with the team around them, not just them.  But when your goalies combine for only a 0.844 save percentage and a 3.93 goals against average, you need them to be better than that.  Carolina did limit the number of shots on goal against them this week and did control possession a high percentage of the time.  It's actually funny, it always seems as if the Canes goaltenders do better when they see a lot of rubber instead of having limited shots against.  With Anton Khudobin now back, the Canes have 3 goalies (even though Cam does have a minor injury) and none are particularly hot right now.  If the Hurricanes are going to have any chance of clawing their way back into the playoff picture, they need someone to step up and keep the puck from going into the net.
• Eric Staal - Eric has been on this list far too often this season.  As seen in the 3rd period of the Habs game, when he is skating, this team becomes more dangerous.  The captain is the straw that stirs the drink here in Carolina and the drink needs to be stirred!  Statistically, his week was good and bad, but the eye test certainly put him in the negative column.  The good - he had 3 points (all in 1 game), was 65.5% in the dot and was in the top 5 in 4 of the 6 possession categories.  The bad - he tied for a team worse -6 rating, was on the ice for a team high 8 goals against and he had a team high 8 penalty minutes.  He showed some passion at the end of regulation against Montreal, but he has to be smarter and learn how to direct the energy to benefit the team.  And he needs to tell himself before every game; skate, drive the net and play with fire!  This team's results depend heavily on Eric Staal.
• Ryan Murphy - Other players had worse statistics, but Murphy's defensive inability had a hand in 2 Pittsburgh goals and where was he on the scoresheet?  I understand he's a rookie, but he is also the Canes only pure offensive defenseman.  It is the hand Jim Rutherford has dealt the team, so it's what he/we have to live with.  Murphy only has 1 point this month and the team needs more than that from him.  This kid has a ton of potential, but right now his best asset is his skating.  Carolina needs him to improve on his passing, his shot and his defensive play.  I wouldn't be surprised if Murphy is given a little time in Charlotte to round out his game.  It just seems that he's sort of hit a wall and his next challenge is figure out a way to get over it.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• Carolina didn't really have much problem scoring this week, averaging 3.33 goals per game, good for a tie for 7th in the NHL.  The bigger issue was keeping the puck out of the net.  Their 4.33 goals against per game was ranked tied for 28th in the league.
• While the Canes did fail on 10 PP attempts, they were successful 3 times.  The 23.1% was considerably better than their season average and put the Canes in a tie for 11th for the week.
• The PK was right around average for Carolina on the season at 77.8%.  That is still too low and ranked tied for 19th in the league with St. Louis and Anaheim.  All 3 teams the Canes faced this week ranked in the top 10 for the season on the PP.
• In the shots for and shots against categories, the Canes had a pretty good week.  The averaged 39.7 shots per game (tied 1st) and gave up 26.0 shots against per game (5th).  While the results might not have been there, if this can continue, the Canes should give themselves a shot at winning most games.
• The Hurricanes finished in the top 10 in 3 categories and bottom 10 in 2 others.  They finished tied for 1st in takeaways (44), 3rd in turnover margin (+12) and 8th in hits (78).  They finished tied for 25th in giveaways (31) and tied for 26th in blocked shots (28).
• The Canes were pretty good in the faceoff circle, ranking 3rd for the week at 55.7%.  Eric led the way at 65.5%, Manny was next at 55.9%, Jordan was at 53.9% and Nash came in at 34.8%.
• Team Stat of the Week - Corsi For % & Fenwick For % - 62.3% & 60.4% - these are pretty spectacular numbers.  These 5 on 5 possession numbers would be #1 in the league in both categories and are 10% higher than the Canes season average.  Normally possession stats like these would mean the Canes had a pretty successful week, but the team is still struggling "finishing" the job.  But if they can keep this up, results should be just around the corner.

Former Canes Weekly Stats