Carolina Hurricanes Stats Review: Deja Vu Caniac Style
The Carolina Hurricanes once again let the third period get the best of them against the Anaheim Ducks
The Carolina Hurricanes so far this year have a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Whether in one-goal games or five goal games, the Canes somehow, someway find a path to a loss. Not really sure how much more I can thrash this expired equine so we’ll just dive right into the stats.
Shots and Corsi
— Matthew Barlowe (@matt_barlowe) December 9, 2016
Other than the first period and OT, the Canes held their own with the Ducks in terms of shots and Corsi both 5v5 and all situations. The first period looked rough 5v5, but due to Carolina drawing some penalties they were able to hang on and leave the period tied. This is much different from the Rangers and Bruins games where the third period leads evaporated due to an offensive onslaught. In this game, the Hurricanes held their own against the Duck yet still lost the lead.
Corsi Differential
CARvsANA 12/7/2016 pic.twitter.com/mxqornobAg
— Matthew Barlowe (@matt_barlowe) December 9, 2016
Once again Pesce and Slavin are topping the charts like Celine Dion in the mid 90s. Near, far, or where ever the opponent is on the ice, Pesce and Slavin are able to shut them down. Aho and Teravainen are also molding the couch of high Corsi differentials to their body as well. On the bottom though it gets pretty ugly.
There is no denying that Faulk and Hainsey played a bad game against the Ducks, but it’s pretty unfair to heap the blame all on them. Our top line of Rask and Skinner find themselves in the bad area along with the entire fourth line. Could some of this be score effects given that the Canes led for a good portion of the game? Sure, but a lot of it has to do with these lines getting pinned into their own zone for long periods of time especially at the end of the game.
We can save the overreactions and analysis on player deployment and possible flaws in strategy for another article. But needless to say our top three players played an awful game, and it’s hard to win hockey games when your top talent isn’t showing up.
Usage Charts
— Matthew Barlowe (@matt_barlowe) December 9, 2016
— Matthew Barlowe (@matt_barlowe) December 9, 2016
However, since these aren’t rate-stats they could be heavily influenced by TOI. Still compared to where the Carolina Hurricanes’ third pairing was at the beginning of the year, this is one good sign of progress with the team. Hopefully, the game against the Kings tonight is a different story. It will need to be because the Kings are much better at shifting the shot differential in their favor.
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