Storm Tracking: Will Winter Ever End?

As each day passes, it seems like it is getting harder and harder to watch the Carolina Hurricanes.  All 3 games this week saw the team come out flat for the first 10 minutes or so.  In Chicago, the Canes went the first 12 minutes without a shot, but kept the score knotted at 0.  Then after falling behind by 2 in the 2nd, they or should I say Alexander Semin, rallied to tie it on a 5-on-3.  30 seconds later, shorthanded goal for Chicago and another loss for Carolina.  Then they traveled to Winnipeg, where the Jets got off to a 9-0 shot advantage.  But the Canes ratcheted it up in the 2nd, scoring 3 goals in 3 minutes and holding on for the victory.  Then yesterday happened, the Canes faced a team they had beaten 6 straight times and was the only team below them in the Metro Division.  So what do you expect to happen, yeah, the Canes found themselves down by 4, 11 minutes into the game.  Thanks to some fabulous goaltending and Eric Staal's stellar defensive play, the Canes were in a huge hole.  But the team found a way to fight back and make it close, but the start was too much to overcome.  But on the bright side, Carolina did improve it's lottery chances.  Here are the stats for the week of 3/19/14 through 3/25/14.

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

• Alexander Semin - Semin continues to be one of the more reliable offensive forces for the Canes.  Since December 20th, Semin has 19 goals & 33 points in 37 games.  It seems as if he's picked up the Canes bug of not really starting the season until December, but might have an excuse with the wrist injury.  This week, Semin led the team in goals, tied for the team lead in points and was 2nd in shots on goal.  He also led the team with 5 takeaways and 0 giveaways, which goes against his norm.  Alex was also in the top 4 in 5 of the 6 possession categories, lead the 5 on 5 Close Corsi.  He has really been a very good player for the Canes since his arrival and has really worked well with both Staals.  While the team might be in for some changes this summer, I imagine Semin would not be one of them.
• Jordan Staal - Jordan is another player that continued his hot streak this week.  Since being teamed up with Semin, Jordan has been better than a point per game.  He has almost half the points in the last 10 games that he had in the 62 games before that.  He tied for the team lead in points and assists, was 2nd in takeaways and 3rd in hits.  He was also 2nd on the team in +/- at Even, which says a lot about the team this week.  And his possession numbers were quite good, ranking in the top 5 in 5 of the 6 categories, all north of 50%.  Overall this season, Jordan has been one of the better players, especially given for the roles that he has on this team.  If he can continue playing & producing like he has in the past 10 games, he has a shot at 20 goals and 50 points for the season.
• Jay Harrison - Harry doesn't get a whole lot of love on this board, but I thought he should be recognized for a solid week.  He only had 1 point for the week and was a -1, but that's pretty decent for this week.  He also tied for the team lead in hits, tied 4th in blocks and tied for 1st among defensemen in shots.  But the thing that stood out to me most was his 5 on 5 Close Corsi & Shots For.  He lead the team in these 2 categories at over 60%.  In the Shots For category, the next closest person (Semin) was 10% lower than Harrison.  And from the eye test, he was very effective working with the Jeff Skinner PP unit.  He might not be a typical PP quarterback, but the guy can somewhat hold his own.  Overall, he had a very balanced week and I think that is what were hoping for with a 3rd pairing defensive defenseman.  Good job Jay!

Who's Not

• Justin Faulk - We transition from 3rd pairing defenseman having a solid week to one of our top pairing defenseman having a poor week.  Well, I guess I can't say it was all poor for Faulk, as his new contract made him a rich man.  But Faulk had 0 points on the week and was a team worse -5.  His possession numbers were average, in the mid 50s to low 40s, which has been somewhat customary this season.  But the biggest thing was that he was 1 of only 4 Hurricanes (the other being the 4th line) to not be on the ice for any Carolina goal.  This season, Faulk has been on the ice for a Canes goal 75 times or 41.7% of the time.  To get a zero this week really speaks to his struggles as of late.  And the performance after signing the new contract is a tough way to answer critics.  I don't know if he's injured or what, but lets hope for a quick recovery.
• Cam Ward - This week Cam showed a little about who he was and who he is.  In Winnipeg, he made some incredible saves that should have been in the back of the net.  He kept the Canes in it early and held on late for the victory.  I can't really fault Ward for either goal against the Jets, but the first one was a tad weak.  Then he gets the start against the Islanders, trying to show he is still a capable goaltender and he plays horrible.  The 3rd and final goal he gave up was really on Eric Staal, but the first 2 are really inexcusable.  They were weak and showed the league that Cam remains consistently inconsistent.  His 0.889 save percentage and 4.53 goals against average are indicative of his game this season.  And with his buddy Jim Rutherford stepping down at the end of the season, I think everybody is wondering how much longer will Ward be here.
• Eric Staal - If you go by point production, Eric wasn't bad this week.  But the underlying numbers and eye test tell a different story.  He was a -3 against the Islanders and for the week.  He had a team worse 5 giveaways.  His 5 on 5 Close possession numbers were among the worst on the team, registering in the low 40s to mid 30s.  He was also directly responsible for the Islanders 3rd goal and his missed shot on the PP led to Chicago's game winning shorthanded goal.  Eric looks like a defeated man on the ice.  While it is typical for him to struggle at the start of the season, he normally finishes strong and that doesn't appear to be the case this season.  Is this still due to his knee injury or some other ailment or is this the start of the decline of Eric Staal.  His body has taken a punishment over the years, probably just as much as any other player due to his role on this team.  I hope he can recuperate and find his game, because it's a little sad seeing him play like this.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• Goal scoring wasn't a problem this week at the Canes averaged 3.00 goals per game.  That ranked tied for 7th for the week.  But the goals against came in at 3.33 goals against per game, which was tied for 23rd.  You're not going to be too successful giving up more than you make.
• I don't know who these guys were, but I wouldn't mind seeing them more often.  The Hurricanes PP was 4 of 13 on the week, good for 30.8%.  That's 2.5 times better than what we've done on the year and was tied for 5th in the NHL.
• And the PK was even better, going a perfect 10 to 10.  The 100% effective PK tied for the league lead with Vancouver, who only gave 5 PP opportunities to their opponents.  But even with effective special teams, the team still went 1-2-0.
• Faceoffs as a whole were solid, just above our season average at 54.1%.  That ranked 8th in the league for the week.  Manny was great, winning 75.0%, Eric came in at 61.3%, followed by Riley at 55.3%, Jordan fell to 46.0% and Loktionov was only 36.4%.
• Carolina finished the week in the top 10 in takeaways with 31 (1st), giveaways with 19 (tied 6th) and turnover margin at +12 (1st).  They were in the middle of the pack in blocked shots with 42 (17th).
• The shot totals were pretty average this week, but dropped compared to last week.  They averaged 29.3 shots per game, good for 17th in the league.  And they gave up 31.0 shots against per game, also 17th in the league.
• The 5 on 5 Corsi & Fenwick numbers jumped back to the positive.  The Canes 5 on 5 Corsi For percentage was 51.2% and their 5 on 5 Fenwick For percentage was 51.9%.  These are both nice improvements over last week and right around last year's numbers.
• Team Stat of the Week - Hits - 37 - The Canes finished 2nd to last in the NHL in number of hits this week, only beating out the Edmonton Oilers who had 35.  The issue is the Canes played 3 games and the Oilers only 2, so we were the least effective hitting team in the league this week.  I think we all understand we lost Tuomo Ruutu, Kevin Westgarth and Tim Gleason, but someone needs to step up and play physical.  This has been an issue for a while now and this is something I think HAS to be corrected this offseason.  We need to find some players that will throw their body around, battle along the boards and crash the net.

Former Canes Weekly Stats