Storm Tracking: Cool Air Still Hovering Around

Another week down and the Carolina Hurricanes find themselves further out of the playoff race than any other point this season.  They had 3 games against division rivals this week and after losing the first 2 games, they put together a very solid effort on Tuesday night for the victory.  They started the week at home against the Rangers and had the lead with about 7 1/2 minutes to go, but a own goal and a 5-on-3 due to back-to-back delay of game penalties did the Canes in.  They then traveled to Newark to face the Devils and the man they traded just a couple days beforehand helped the Devils jump out to an early lead and sealed it with the game winner late.  A couple days rest and the Canes returned to again face the Rangers at home.  This time, the team put together a solid all-around effort, lead by the Jordan Staal line and got Cam Ward his first win in over 2 months.  It's probably is a little too late for Carolina to get back in the playoff picture, but seeing this team fight to the end does speak to their character.  Here are the stats for the week of 3/5/14 through 3/11/14.

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

• Jordan Staal - What a rebound week for Jordan!  He went from being on the "Not" list last week with 0 points and a team worse -7 to a team best 5 points and +4 this week.  This was the Jordan Staal that Jim Rutherford traded for at the 2012 NHL Draft.  With some true top 6 wingers beside him, Jordan's line was the best on the ice for the Hurricanes.  He led or tied for the team lead in goals, assists, points and +/-.  He finished 2nd on the team in hits, tied for 3rd in takeaways and was on the ice for the most Carolina goals.  He also was strong in the possession department, finishing in the top 4 in all possession categories.  He ended up leading the team in both Shots For categories and 5 on 5 Close Corsi.  If this is how Jordan can truly produce and play with "meshing" talent beside him, the Canes need to keep this line together or find him some similar style wingers in the offseason.
• Jiri Tlusty - You could argue Alexander Semin belongs in this spot and he deserves recognition for his play, but Tlusty had a very solid week beside Jordan and directly resulted in the Canes Tuesday night win.  He had a goal and an assist and tied for 2nd on the team with a +3 rating.  Tlusty was the only Canes that played in all 3 games and was not on the ice for any goal against.  He also finished in the top 3 of all possession categories, leading the team in All Situations Corsi, Fenwick and 5 on 5 Close Fenwick.  This is even more impressive considering that Jiri had less than 19% of his zone starts in the offensive zone while his line mates each had over 30%.  He might not be the unbelievable goal scorer he was last season, but he is proving to be a solid top 6 player.
• Cam Ward - I'm going a little out on a limb here, but based on his performance lately, Cam had a real nice week.  His record was only 1-1-0, but he only gave up 2 goals on 34 shots.  He had a 0.941 save percentage and 1.39 goals against average, both of which are much better numbers than the majority of games Ward has played this season.  Does this mean he's back, I wouldn't go that far, but it is a step in the right direction.  If Cam can continue to play like that for the rest of the season, he might draw some interest in the offseason or he gives the Canes a dynamic (yet expensive) duo in goal for next season.  But again, the key will be for Ward to put together another solid performance when he takes the ice next.

Who's Not

• Mike Komisarek - Komisarek has only seen very limited time this year, but I thought he generally looked ok when he did get to play.  That was not the case this week.  Komisarek was pretty much a disaster when on the ice and was getting scored on often.  He tied for a team worst -3 despite only playing in 2 games and only being on the ice for less than 18 total minutes.  He delivered a couple of hits, but didn't really do anything that stood out, except allowing golden chances to the opponents.  He was the team's worst defenseman in 5 of the 6 possession categories and all of his numbers were in the mid to low 30s.  At this rate, I don't see Komisarek seeing much more time unless playing for an injured person.  It's sad this guy's career has fallen so much over the past couple of years that he is now a questionable 7th defenseman.
• Patrick Dwyer - Dwyer has generally been asked to do more than he is capable of for the Hurricanes and he goes out and always gives it his all.  But for a forward that averaged the 5th most minutes on the team, there needs to be some production.  Dwyer has 0 points, was a -1 and was not on the ice for any Carolina goal this week.  Add to that he was the Canes worst 5 on 5 possession forward and you have to wonder how he keeps getting so much time on ice.  Dwyer is a good PK guy that has some speed that sometimes results in shorthanded chances, but he really needs to be slotted on the 4th line where he belongs.  If he had more offensive ability, I can understand why he warrants more ice time, but he simply does not have that.
• Anton Khudobin - You have to say it was a pretty poor week for Dobby.  He was pretty solid in the first game against the Rangers and stopped 40 shots in the loss, but the New Jersey game was his worst of the season.  It was the first time he allowed 4 goals in a game this season and he had a couple that could be considered weak.  He gets a little pass because he has been outstanding this year, but maybe all the work has finally caught up to him and he needs some time on the bench?  If Cam has truly rediscovered his form, then we might have an interest dual for the Canes starting job.  I just hope that Dobby is mental strong and doesn't allow a bad game become a bad string.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• The Canes picked up their scoring this week, led by the Jordan Staal line.  They averaged 3.00 goals per game, which was tied for 10th in the league.  The problem is their 3.33 goals against per game was 21st in the NHL.  So top 10 in goals scored and bottom 10 in goals against, not a recipe for success.
• The PK took a step back this week, coming in at 77.8%.  That ranked 22nd in the league and directly resulted in the Canes missing out on a point in the first New York game.  Of course that was 5-on-3, but if they could have gotten through that, the game would have likely headed to OT.
• Carolina's shot totals dropped this week, but they still averaged 30.7 shots on goal, good for 13th in the NHL.  And the shots against increased from last week, up to 33.3 shots against per game, which was 23rd in the league.
• Faceoffs again were a bright spot for the Hurricanes, coming in at 54.0% for the week.  Elias actually led the way at 70.0%, Manny was 2nd at 66.7%, then Jordan at 54.4%, Eric was at 53.3%, even Riley clocked in at 51.7% and Andrei finished last at 33.3%.  5 of the 6 regular faceoff men above 50% is still quite impressive.
• The Canes finished in the top 10 for the week in takeaway with 31 (tied 5th) and turnover margin at +6 (tied 4th).  The were middle of the pack in blocked shots with 44 (tied 14th) and giveaways with 25 (17th).  They finished in the bottom 10 in hits with 56 (28th).
• The Canes 5 on 5 possession numbers were pretty bad this week.  Their 5 on 5 Corsi was 47.2% and their 5 on 5 Fenwick was 48.5%.  These are small drops from the previous week, but the results were pretty much the same.
• Team Stat of the Week - PP - 10% - The stat of the week is again the PP.  The Canes had 10 PP opportunities and actually scored on PP once this week!  Of course if the PP was even remote decent, they could have possibly won both New York games.  It the problem of all problems for the Canes and getting it fixed has to be Jim Rutherford's and the coaching staffs #1 priority this offseason.  10% is bad, but when it's an improvement over the prior weeks, it makes it even worse.

Former Canes Weekly Stats