Tuesday night's 4-3 overtime win over the Washington Capitals goes down as one of the most exciting Carolina games I have seen this year. With 85 combined shots and 44 scoring chances between both teams, you would expect an exciting contest. However, "exciting" and "good hockey" are not synonymous and this certainly was a sloppy played game by both teams. There was a lot of bad defense, poor puck-handling (although it was par for the course for Verizon Center) and careless turnovers that led to odd-man rushes. It makes for an entertaining game but it's not the kind of hockey I would like to see Carolina play on a regular basis. In the end, the Canes took advantage of their opportunities and got the job done in overtime despite being outchanced 25-19.

Washington is not the team you want to give up 25 scoring chances against but Cam Ward came up big when he needed to and Carolina turned just about every Washington miscue into something positive, including three goals. The final one being Justin Faulk's game-winner. It was a thrilling game and a nice win but the Hurricanes are going to need to clean up their play in the defensive zone because giving up 40+ shots and 20+ chances at even strength per game isn't going to lead to many win streaks. 

Whenever I post the team's scoring chance numbers at the end of the month, it is important to remember that those are raw numbers and every player is used in different situations. For that reason, I make sure to include their offensive zone start percentage to give some context for their situation. For instance, Brandon Sutter and Patrick Dwyer are constantly sent out in the defensive zone and their raw numbers are always around .450-.460 as a result. Those numbers look pretty brutal at first glance but it's important to remember that they are playing with the least favorable conditions on the team so they are actually doing a lot better than their raw scoring chance number indicate.

Players like Sutter and Dwyer are the reason why we need to adjust scoring chance numbers for zone starts, because that will give us more context on the situations that these players are being used in. Thanks to George Ays of Blue Shirt Banter, we can do this. He came up with an equation which determined that an offensive zone start is worth approximately .425 in scoring chances and we can use that formula to see how Carolina's players have been performing. It will be nice to know how guys like Sutter, Gleason & Allen are doing relative to their situations and we will look at those numbers after the jump

A great effort from the Hurricanes tonight went to waste as they dropped their fourteenth overtime decision this season in a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. When playing at five-on-five, the Canes were doing just about everything they needed to do to win. They were getting the puck in deep, winning battles along the boards and generally outplayed the Lightning. Their hard work was rewarded in the second period when they took a 3-1 lead but bad luck and a couple third period penalties ended up shifting things in the Lightning's favor.

The Canes found themselves in another overtime game and an absolutely atrocious roughing call on Brandon Sutter gave the Lightning a four-on-three, which they scored on. Given the Canes horrible luck and play in overtime this year, an outcome like that was inevitable but it's disappointing to see the team play well enough to win but come away with only a point because of some mental miscues and a couple bad breaks.

The Hurricanes performance tonight was nothing to sneeze at but the mental mistakes, penalties and bad breaks are getting very frustrating. Things like this are expected with a growing team and we have seen them improve so much since the beginning of the year, but tonight's game showed that there are still problems that need to be fixed.

Scoring chances & more after the jump

The Hurricanes losing streak to the Rangers continued tonight as they dropped their third game of the year to them tonight 3-2. Despite the shot count indicating that the Hurricanes were grossly outplayed, this game was actually pretty close for most of its duration. Still, the Rangers were unquestionably the stronger team tonight as the Hurricanes struggled to create a lot of good scoring chances. Entering the offensive zone wasn't much of a problem for Carolina, the issue was that once they entered the zone, they ran into a wall of New York players and couldn't seem to maneuver around them. The lone exception being Jeff Skinner, who looked like the best player on the ice.

In the second period, I noticed more players were just opting to dump the puck in and hope something would come of it and that's not the best strategy to go with when you're playing the Rangers. They thrive on capitalizing on other team's mistakes and that's exactly what they did on all three goals. The first goal was due to a blocked shot leading to a turnover, the second goal happened because Derek Joslin could not clear the puck and the third goal was due to Jaro Spacek's clearing attempt hitting the linesman which led to an odd-man rush. The Rangers aren't a dominant possession team but they are very solid fundamentally and defensively, which means they will jump on every opportunity they get. Alll New York had to do in the third period was sit back and play good defense and they executed that strategy to a T.

Carolina played a good game for the most part, but the mental mistakes and terrible powerplay (1/5 with four chances) put them in a bit of a hole and they couldn't do enough offensively to lead a comeback. A regulation loss had to happen sooner or later.

Scoring chances & more after the jump

When you take a look at the roster the Hurricanes dressed tonight, you will see that they had three forwards who have never played a full-season in the NHL before, two of whom would likely be playing top-six minutes and their 7th/8th defenseman was being used as a forward. To the casual fan, this looked like an easy win for the 5th place Nashville Predators but that wasn't the case as the Hurricanes took home a 4-3 victory. The best part about it was that they outplayed Nashville for most of the game but a main reason for that was due to the Preds constantly digging their own grave with penalties.

Carolina had six powerplay opportunities tonight and scored twice, two of which were goals that either tied the game or gave them the lead. The Canes ended up outshooting and outchancing the Preds overall but they ended up trailing them at even strength. That's largely because Carolina was playing with a lead in the third period and elected not to play too aggressive. It wasn't exactly a pretty finish but it's another win. Besides, special teams is what help decide the last game when the Preds scored four PPGs so it only made sense for the roles to be switched this game, right? I'll go with that.

Scoring chances & more after the jump

If you've following the Hurricanes this month, you should not be surprised that all five of their losses have been by only one goal. To add to that, four of those losses have come in overtime or the shootout with their second shootout loss coming tonight at the hands of the Florida Panthers. It is their sixth loss in the breakaway competition this season and they have still yet to win a game that has gone this far.

Before we talk about how silly the shootout is, let's back up and look at the rest of the game and see why the game even went to extra time in the first place. The Canes had a 2-0 lead entering the third period but they also were being outshot 30-19 and outchanced 14-9 at the time. With how well Justin Peters was playing, all the Canes had to do was not sit back and try not to lose the game. Unfortunately, that's what they did and Florida ended up tying the score with goals from Tomas Fleischmann and Wojtek Wolski. You can say that the shootout has been a problem for the Canes all season but the truth is that horrible territorial play and lackluster showings in the third peirod are bigger problems that need to be fixed. It's been going on all season and it reared it's ugly head again tonight.

Florida was the better team but Carolina got the bounces and the goaltending they need to get at least a point. What they didn't get was the strong defensive play and territorial game that you need to secure a regulation win.

Scoring chances & more after the jump

The shootout hasn't exactly been the Hurricanes strong point this year as they have yet to win a game that has gone that far and dropped yet another decision via the shootout tonight with a 3-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. You can debate all you want about how silly the shootout is and how it determines whether or not a team gets an extra point, but that's unfortunately how the game works now. Overtime play in general has been a problem for Carolina this year as this puts them tied for the league lead in OTL's with Los Angeles and Florida. Carolina's point total enjoys those 12 charity points, but the team's inability to play well four-on-four has been exposed many times this year and it's usually in games that go to OT.

Tonight's game, however, was not one of those times. Carolina played a fine game at even strength and outchanced the Ducks 23-16. They were outshot overall, but that was mostly due to the Canes inability to stay out of the box and the Ducks taking full advantage of their powerplay opportunities. Carolina was able to test Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller numerous times but he was constantly up to the challenge and shut down most of the Canes best opportunities. At the other end, Justin Peters played another solid game for Carolina as he had to make quite a few impressive saves himself, which is why this game ended up going to overtime and eventually a shootout.

I know Carolina is only eight points back, but in order to make the playoffs the Canes would need to go on a miracle run. When I say that, I mean they need to win 18 of their next 21 games in regulation to get in. The odds of that happening are highly unlikely, so there's no need to get upset about losing in a shootout. Carolina played a good game tonight, they got another quality start from their #3 netminder and they are figuring out who fits into the team's plans going forward. That's what matters right now.

Scoring chances & more after the jump

Last night's game was the first time this season that the Hurricanes truly dominated their opponent. They've had a lot of great games and big wins, but their 5-0 shellacking of the Caps was the first time that I can remember them walking all over another team. Everything seemed to be firing on all cylinders yesterday. They outshot the Caps 40-17, outchanced them 15-7 at even strength, scored on both the powerplay and penalty kill and they got one of the best efforts of the year from Eric Staal. Like last Monday's game against Montreal, Staal seemed to be playing on another level that we haven't seen much of this year and added another two goal, three point performance to his resume this year. With Ward, Pitkanen and Ruutu out of the lineup, Staal needs to be the team's best player and he was last night. Granted, Washington looked awful on so many different levels but the Canes took full advantage of that and bulldozed them.

Congratulations also go out to back-up Justin Peters who earned his first NHL shutout last night even though he didn't have do to much. I have been begging for the team to give him a lighter workload for awhile and they did just that as he only had to stop 17 shots and 10 scoring chances in a rocking chair, shutout performance. The team always seems to give up 30+ shots with Peters in net anyway, so this was a refreshing change.

Every year, there always seems to be that one player who has your teams number whenever you play against them and for the Hurricanes this season, that player is John Tavares. The former number one pick scored two goals and had an assist tonight which now gives him six goals and twelve points in four games against the Hurricanes this year. Carolina has had some difficulty containing dangerous liines (Neal-Malkin-Kunitz come to mind) but none of them have come close to what Tavares has done. The Hurricanes aren't the only team that Tavares' line has walked all over this year, but his domination of them shows that the Canes defense could use some improvement. Gleason, Allen, Faulk, Nodl, Sutter, Dwyer & Harrison have all done a solid job this year but they have their limitations and we saw that tonight. It's a big reason why they lost tonight and why they are 0-2-2 against the Isles this year.

Aside from getting run over by the Islanders first line, the Canes played well tonight and had the advantage in scoring chances 19-17 despite taking the loss. Carolina didn't get off to a good start but they eventually shook off the cobwebs and were able to keep up with the Islanders for most of this game. A horrible stretch of play to begin the third period is what ended up dooming the Canes, though as they had to play from behind for the entire third period and couldn't do enough at even strength to tie the game.

Again, a good effort from Carolina even if it resulted in a loss (only the second loss in regulation in the last month) but the Canes had poor starts to the first and third period and it ended up hurting them. An injury to Cam Ward before the third period didn't help either.

Scoring Chances & more after the jump

Today marks the first time this season that a Carolina goalie not named Cam Ward recorded a win. After performing below replacement level last year, many wondered if we would see back-up goalie Justin Peters even play a game in Raleigh this season. He did start the year in Charlotte but an injury to Brian Boucher led to him being called-up and because he doesn't get to play much, Peters needs to make the most out of his starts. Tonight, he did just that in stopping 35 of 37 shots and playing a huge role in the Canes winning tonight's game 3-2. I know that he got a two-goal cushion to start things out but Carolina's offense fell asleep in the third period and Peters was the main reason why the Sharks didn't break this game wide open. He earned every bit of this win.

While I am happy for Peters, I have to say that I wasn't pleased with Carolina's overall effort tonight. I know the Sharks are a great team but seeing the Canes come out flat in the third period with a 2-0 lead was very discouraging. They were playing so strong defensively for the previous 40 minutes and then they just let the Sharks walk all over at the beginning of the third period and they tied the game. A good shift and a deflection goal from Jussi Jokinen put Carolina back on top but this win could have come a lot easier than it did.

In the end, a win is a win and after how many bad bounces the Canes got last week, I will gladly take a victory like this. Carolina managed to only hang on by the skin of their teeth but it's still two points in the standings and another step out of the cellar of the Eastern Conference.

Scoring chances & more after the jump.