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.

Carolina Hurricanes vs. Florida Panthers
BankAtlantic Center, 7:30 p.m.
TV: FS-Carolinas, FS-Florida

The long wait is finally over and the much anticipated 2013 season will begin tonight for the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina comes into this season with a new-look offense and greater expectations than they've had in a few years. It's definitely an exciting time to be a Hurricanes fan right now, as there are a lot of rumblings about this team making a strong playoff push and maybe even a division championship. Before we begin to think about that, the Canes have some business to take care of the next few months and it starts tonight with a showdown against the defending Southeast Division champions in the Florida Panthers.

Regardless of what happens tonight, I'm sure the fans will be happy just that the NHL is back, after it looked like we may not have a season this year. Many of us have turned to other outlets to get our hockey fixes, but it's hard to match the thrill and excitement that the NHL brings night in and night out. Plus, Carolina fans will finally get to see Jordan Staal and Alexander Semin in regular season action for the Hurricanes, which is going to be a treat no matter what.

We'll take a closer look at these two teams and talk about possible matchups after the jump.

Well, after a very long wait the big day is finally here and the NHL season is ready to get underway starting at 3 p.m. Saturday. Today was the last day of training camp and teams had until 5 p.m. to finalize their rosters for opening night. We've spent the last week or so going over which players might make the roster and the final 23 are now set in stone.

After the jump, we'll look at which players made the team, go over the lines being used in camp and how the coaching staff could utilize each unit.

Winnipeg Jets Season Preview

Record Last Year: 37-35-10
Goal Differential: -21
Team 5v5 Fenwick: 51.05% (11th in NHL)
5v5 Sh%: 8.1%
5v5 Sv%:  .912
PP SF/60: 45.6 (21st in NHL)
PK SA/60: 51.4 (11th in NHL)

If you have looked at Bovoda's betting odds for who will win the Southeast, you will see that the team with the worst "chance" at winning the division is the Winnipeg Jets at +700. Those aren't terrible odds by any means but most people have the Jets as the "underdogs" in the Southeast and the least likely to make the playoffs. To me, this is surprising because Winnipeg wasn't that bad of a team last year. They weren't exactly a "good" team either, but compared to the rest of the Southeast, the Jets were pretty much in the thick of things until the latter part of the season. They had only one fewer win than the Southeast champion Florida Panthers, two more points than Carolina and the same amount of points as Tampa Bay. It's just kind of hard to believe that the odds of them winning the division are so much lower than them.

A possible reason why Winnipeg hasn't been receiving much love from the writers and oddsmakers is because Carolina and Tampa Bay both had very active off-seasons while the Jets didn't make much noise that caught the national media's eye. The Jets may have not broke any headlines but GM Kevin Chevyldayoff made a few good signings and it could help Winnipeg surprise a few people this season.

Florida Panthers Season Preview

Record Last Year: 38-26-18
Goal Differential: -24
Team 5v5 Fenwick: 50.35% (13th in NHL)
5v5 Sh%: 7.2%
5v5 Sv%:  .925
PP SF/60: 48.8 (13th in NHL)
PK SA/60: 54.3 (26th in NHL)

Aside from the Phoenix Coyotes and maybe the Ottawa Senators, no team exceeded their expectations more than the Florida Panthers did last season. Pegged by most to be a bottom-feeder in the Eastern Conference, the Panthers ended up winning the Southeast Division and making the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. They went onto give the New Jersey Devils a hard run for their money in the first round before being eliminated in seven games, ending what was one of the best seasons this franchise has ever had. Despite this, there haven't been many people picking Florida to repeat their title and there are many reasons for that.

For starters, they still had a terrible goal differential of -24 and had the same amount or fewer wins than non-playoff clubs such as Tampa Bay, Dallas, Colorado and Buffalo. One of the reasons why they got into the playoffs was due to their 18 points gained from shootout and overtime losses. It should also be mentioned that Florida was involved in 40 one goal games and they gained points in all but five of them. When your place in the standings is decided that much by one-goal gains, it's usually a sign that good fortune played a role in it. 

In addition to Florida's own flaws, the rest of the teams in the Southeast each made their own improvements and appear to be more dangerous than they were a year ago. Florida isn't as bad of a team as some would lead you to believe, but they are going to need a few things to go right if they want to have a chance at repeating.

Washington Capitals Season Preview

Record Last Year: 42-32-8
Goal Differential: -8
Team 5v5 Fenwick: 49.71% (16th in NHL)
5v5 Sh%: 8.6%
5v5 Sv%:  .920
PP SF/60: 47.5 (18th in NHL)
PK SA/60: 49.4 (14th in NHL)

The Washington Capitals fall from grace last season was fascinating to watch. Many projected this team to win the Southeast Division for the fifth year in a row and be a favorite for the Stanley Cup. They ended up barely making the playoffs and rode a hot goaltender to the conference semi-finals where they lost in seven games to the New York Rangers. A team with as much talent as them was expected to have a much easier path to the playoffs and rely on more than just ridiculous goaltending to make a strong run but sometime last season, the once dominant Capitals team saw their ability to control possession plummet and their scoring dry up along with it. Some blamed the coaching change while others pointed to injuries as the main cause. Others put the blame on the star players simply not getting the job done but whatever the case was, the Caps didn't look like their usual selves last season and still managed to turn in a good season all things considered.

The Caps now find themselves with yet another head coach, a slightly different roster and expectations that were lower than they were in years past. Luckily for them, the Southeast Division is wide open and Washington could regain their title if they stay healthy and rebound from their second-half slump last season.