Don't look now but the Hurricanes have outchanced their opponents in each of their first three games this year and they managed to do it last night without the "aid" of score effects, as they were playing with the score tied or with a lead for most of the contest. Yesterday's game was easily Carolina's most impressive performance in this still very young season. Not only did they get the win, they also recorded a season-high 22 scoring chances and outplayed Buffalo in all three areas.

They didn't completely mow the Sabres over at even strength (chances were only 15-13 during 5v5 play) but they more than made up for it on special teams by completely shutting down the Sabres powerplay. Losing the special teams battle was one of the main problems for the Hurricanes in their first two games and they did a great job of improving on it against Buffalo.

Scoring chance breakdown coming after the jump.

Calling any game a "must win" situation is silly when it's only three games into the season but tonight was a game that Carolina really needed to win for their fan's sake. After starting the season with two blowout losses, scoring a grand total of two goals in the process, they really needed to play a good game tonight to at least lift the spirits of the fanbase and they did just that and more tonight. Not only were the fans treated to an exciting game, they got to see the Canes net six goals and see their captain Eric Staal record the 13th hat trick of his career. This was far from a perfect game, but this is exactly the kind of performance the Hurricanes needed to give their team a much needed confidence boost.

Everyone was wondering when Carolina's offense would break out and after scoring on only 2 of 78 shots in their first two games, they lit the lamp on 6 of the 38 shots they took tonight (technically 5 of 37 not counting Staal's empty netter). They also continued to win the shot battle tonight at even strength 27-24 and also outchanced Buffalo overall 22-20. It just goes to show you that shooting percentages can't stay low forever and good things will come as long as the team continues to win the shot battle and consistently produce quality chances on top of that. Going a perfect 6/6 on the PK and scoring a shorthanded goal also helped matters, as the Canes finally had a good special teams performance.

Carolina got a bit lucky tonight, which is great because nothing went right for them in the first two games, but they also had a very strong performance from just about all of their top players and earned every bit of this win.

Breakdown coming after the jump.

Buffalo Sabres at Carolina Hurricanes
PNC Arena, 7 p.m.
TV: SportsSouth, MSG Buffalo

With every team having to deal with a shortened training camp, there are bound to be a lot of roster and lineup changes throughout these first few weeks. Carolina's head coach, Kirk Muller made a few adjustments to the lineup before Tuesday nights game by subbing Jeremy Welsh and Kevin Westgarth in for Zach Boychuk and Zac Dalpe but the move he made today was much bigger. In an attempt to get Jamie McBain into the lineup, Joe Corvo will be sitting tonight in favor of the young defenseman which surprised some fans because many thought it would be Bobby Sanguinetti sitting instead of Corvo.

My take on this situation is that the Carolina coaching staff still wants to evaluate Sanguinetti since they didn't have much time to do so in training camp. He has looked bad so far, but it's hard to judge a defenseman's body of work with only two games, so this kind of puts them in a tough spot. He and Corvo play similar games on the third pairing, so I don't see much harm in keeping him in the lineup tonight in their first game of a back-to-back series against the Buffalo Sabres.

It's too early in the season to call this a "must win" game for Carolina, but since their first two games went so poorly, it would really do a lot for the fanbase to win these next two games or at least have a good showing in them. Getting outscored 2-9 clearly isn't the best way to start the season.

Opponent scouting report and line combinations coming after the jump.

For the second game in a row, the Hurricanes outchanced their opponents only to come out on the losing end of a blowout. Despite outchancing both Florida and Tampa Bay by a combined 40-34 and 32-23 at even strength, the Canes have been outscored 2-9 and now find themselves starting the year with an 0-2-0 record. This is frustrating to watch, but the fact that Carolina has been winning the battles at even strength should mean that better days are on the horizon. I mean, simple regression should tell you that the Hurricanes aren't going to continue to shoot at less than 3% forever and Ward won't continue to let in more than 20% of the shots he faces in the long-run. So this team isn't as bad as their -7 goal differential through two games would lead you to believe.

There are some problems with this team, though and the main killer in both games has been slow starts. They had a parade to the penalty box in the first period against Florida resulting in three powerplay goals against. The same trend continued against Tampa Bay, as the Hurricanes created only three scoring chances (despite several offensive zone draws) and allowed two early goals to put themselves in a 2-0 hole heading into the first intermission. Carolina managed to wake up after that and ended up on the right side of the shots and scoring chance ledger, but the slow starts are something that really needs to be fixed. Cam Ward hasn't been playing well enough to bail them out of it and they can't keep spotting teams 1-2 goals five minutes into the game.

Scoring chance breakdown coming after the jump.

There are a lot of things I could say about the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. I could talk about how the Hurricanes, once again, got off to a slow start and allowed a goal on the first scoring chance of the game. Then, I could explain how they outshot Tampa Bay 36-26 but ended up losing because of being outplayed in the special teams department and getting worse goaltending than the opposition. After that, I should mention that a couple of Carolina's top guns in Eric Staal and Alexander Semin had a combined 13 shots on goal and 26 shots attempted but came away with no goals to show for it. That would provide a nice transition into how the Canes, as a team, have scored only two goals on 78 shots in their first two games. In the end, though it doesn't matter because this team has been outscored 2-9 on the season and remains winless.

Anyone with common sense knows that the Hurricanes aren't going to continue to convert on 2.5% of their shots in the long-term but teams go through stretches like this all the time. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, it's happening at the beginning of the year against divisional opponents, which is exactly what they didn't want to happen. This is only two games and there is time to make up for lost ground but this is probably the exact opposite of how Carolina wanted to start their season and there is still plenty of work to be done before this team is in full-form. Much like their opening night loss to Florida, there are positives to take away from this game but there are more areas for fans to be concerned with.

Tampa Bay Lighting at Carolina Hurricanes
PNC Arena,  7 p.m.
TV: SportsSouth, Sun Sports

We are only one game into the season and the overreactions have already begun. Fans everywhere are calling for players to be benched, coaches to be on the hot seat and front office decision are already being questioned. Yes, the season opener for the Hurricanes didn't go as planned but let's remind ourselves that it was only the first game of the year and the Canes weren't the only team who played poorly. Just take a look around the league right now and you'll see a lot of teams who didn't get off to great starts and are going through the same thing as Carolina. It might be a shortened year, but fans will have to be a little more patient with things this year because not every team is going to be up to shape due to training camp being rushed. Besides, the Hurricanes actually had a few more positives to take away from their game on Saturday than other teams.

Head coach Kirk Muller probably isn't going to make any drastic changes for tonight's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning but he has been trying out some new lines in practice. Drayson Bowman has been moved up to the first line with Eric Staal while Zach Boychuk will be taking his spot on the fourth line.This change might be the most justified because Bowman was one of Carolina's best players on Saturday night while Boychuk was largely ineffective on the first line. One game is a little too soon to change things up, as it takes longer than that for players to develop chemistry but Muller is all about rewarding those who perform and that's what Bowman did on Saturday. Only time will tell if he is able to produce on the top line but hopefully Muller gives this line more than one game before he elects to switch it up again.

This line and the rest of the Hurricanes have a good chance to make a lasting impression in their home opener as they take on a Lightning squad that is playing their second game of a back-to-back. We'll talk more about the Lightning and this matchup after the jump.

It was a bad opening weekend for the Hurricanes, but one thing that fans can perhaps take solace in is that their CHL prospects all had terrific weeks for the most part. What does this mean? Well, not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things but it's hard not to get excited when you hear that one of your team's prospects had four goals in three games like Brock McGinn did for the Guelph Storm this weekend. It took McGinn awhile to get going offensively but he has been on quite a roll these past few weeks and is on fire and has now pushed his point total up to 34 in 45 games. Not the best for a junior player but a vast improved compared to where it was earlier in the year.

While Keegan Lowe didn't have four goals like McGinn, he did have three points in three games for the Edmonton Oil Kings this past week including a pair of goals. One of the goals came shorthanded in Edmonton's blowout win over Red Deer and the other was their only strike of the competition in a 2-1 loss to Medicine Hat. With the Oil Kings getting most of their top players back from the WJC ending, it's great to see Lowe continuing to perform well.

Speaking of which, the two Carolina players who were in the WJC had two points in two games this week, as Ryan Murphy notched a pair of assists for the Kitchener Rangers and Victor Rask had a goal and an assist for the Calgary Hitmen. Both of Murphy's assists came in one game, as he was inactive for the Kitchener's first game of the week due to being in Carolina's training camp but he appears to have rebounded after a tough showing at the Wolrd Juniors. Rask's two points came in a 5-3 win over Prince George's as he has not missed a beat since missing a week after the World Juniors.

Also in action this week was Tyler Stahl of the Victoria Royals, who picked up two assists but his penalty record may have been more impressive. He had 14 penalty minutes in three games and all but one of them were roughing calls. Obviously this isn't a good thing since penalties never are, but it's something I can't recall seeing in recent history. At least Stahl is getting some points to go along with his "impressive" penalty numbers.

Carolina's two prospects fro the Plymouth Whalers had uneventful weeks for the most part as defenseman Austin Levi was held pointless in both games and Matt Mahalak allowed six goals on 40 shots. He was also chased in Plymouth's 7-3 loss to Sault Ste. Marie after allowing four goals.  It sounds like he might see some time on the bench since the Whalers have been riding the hot hand in goal this year for the most part.

On that note, Carolina's other goaltending prospect, Daniel Altshuller of the Oshawa Genearls, did not start any of his team's games this week and Trevor Carrick was also inactive for the Mississauga Steelheads. Although he is out for injury reasons.

So aside from Levi, every Carolina CHL prospect who played this weekend recorded at least two points in two or more games, which could make this past weekend less of a stinker for Hurricanes fans.

Despite having a roster that lost most of their top players to injury and NHL graduation, the Charlotte Checkers managed to win two out of their three games this week and maintain a record that puts them tied for first in the AHL's Western Conference. None of these wins came easy, though as the Checkers had to make do with few players who were only recently called up from the lower levels and were vastly outplayed in two of their three games this week, getting outshot 65-101.

Given that piece of information, it's pretty easy to give the first star of the week to goaltender Justin Peters, who was phenomenal in stopping 95 of the 100 shots he faced and earning a 1-0 shutout over the Grand Rapids Griffins. The only goal scored in that game was by the newest member of the Charlotte Checkers, Luke Pither. You may remember that Pither what the Hurricanes got back from the Flyers in the Brian Boucher deal last Sunday, and he was initially thought to be a throw-in and not much more. It's safe to say that he has blown away most people's expectations thus far, as he had an outstanding week scoring three goals and notching two assists. Pither was acquired to provide depth to a Checkers club that needs it in the worst way right now and he seems to be doing that just far. It's a nice start to his career in the Carolina organization, but I kind of have my doubts about him maintaining a shooting percentage of 50% for the rest of the year.

Another player sporting a 50% shooting percentage this week is defenseman Michal Jordan, who was one of two Charlotte players who will be participating in the AHL's All-Star Classic. He had three goals on the week, two of them coming in the 5-3 loss to Grand Rapids. Jordan is going to be arguably the Checkers key defenseman going forward with Sanguinetti in Raleigh and Gragnani's injury problems.

Riley Nash was another big performer for the Checkers this past week with one goal and three assists. He was Charlotte's best player in their 5-3 loss to Grand Rapids, as he recorded a team high four shots on goal and had a pair of assists, as well. He also had a two-point game in the Checkers 6-1 win over Norfolk on Sunday. Nash was one of the players initially called up for Carolina's training camp but was sent down after one day. He's getting more ice time now that a few of his former teammates are now with the big club and he's definitely making the most of it.

The Checkers are going to have much less talent for the rest of the year barring poor NHL performances from Zac Dalpe and Zach Boychuk, so they are going to have to make the most out of what they have. The fact that they got vastly outshot could be a sign of trouble to come down the road unless Peters continues to be as outstanding as he was this past week. At the same time, they got two out of three wins and are in a good position to make the playoffs with the rest of the AHL experiencing the same things that they are. Wins are wins after all and it's good to see the Checkers banking them while their roster is going through a transition period.

It's a new year, which means that it's time to restart our regular breakdowns of the Hurricanes scoring chance numbers. Wish that I could begin this on a happier note but the Hurricanes didn't get off to the start they planned last night, losing their season opener 5-1 to the Florida Panthers. I know that breaking down the gruesome details of a blowout loss is never fun, but it's a necessary evil that us statisticians have to do and the numbers from last night's game actually aren't as the score indicates. This was something I refuted a few times in the recap and on Twitter, but Carolina played a fairly strong game at even strength and ended up on the ugly end of a loss thanks to terrible discipline, penalty killing and sub-par goaltending. It would have been a completely different game if a few more breaks went their way in the second and third period. That's just the way the puck rolls sometimes, though.

Scoring chance breakdown is coming after the jump.

A night that began with excitement and tension ended in disappointment and frustration as the Carolina Hurricanes dropped their first game of the season in a blowout loss to the division rival Florida Panthers. With the schedule being so heavy on divisional play, getting wins or at least strong performances against teams like Florida, Washington, Tampa Bay and Winnipeg is going to be important and the Hurricanes got off to possibly the worst start imaginable. This is only one game, though and the Hurricanes certainly were not the only team to lay an egg on opening night. I know that they need to avoid a bad start, but this is just one game out of 48, so the most they can do now is put this loss in the back of their mind's and move onto their home opener on Tuesday night against Tampa Bay.

Blowouts have an odd way of working because what is shown on the scoreboard isn't always indicative of what happened during the game. This was the case tonight as most people who watched the game would agree that the Hurricanes played better than the 5-1 loss may lead some to believe. They outplayed Florida at even strength, doubling them up in shots 33-16 and had plenty of good chances that were brushed aside by Jose Theodore. The problem was that the Hurricanes fell behind early, took bad penalties and Florida made them pay for just about all of them, resulting in the Panthers getting a 4-0 lead in the first period. In addition to that, they couldn't make the Panthers pay for the mistakes they made and went 0/6 for the night on the powerplay. After Alex Kovelev scored a soft goal at the side of the net to kick off the second period, the lead was insurmountable and all the Canes could do was peel away at the lead. They had a few good chances to make the game somewhat competitive including getting a few powerplay opportunities, but Theodore had other plans and they ended up taking home a 5-1 loss.

This is a crappy way to start off the year but if anyone is planning on jumping off the bandwagon now then you probably haven't been watching hockey very long. Special teams and goaltending were the main differences tonight and this is just one game in a long season. It's too early to claim that the sky is falling but this game did cause some major concerns for Carolina, specifically on the penalty kill.