The Flames are on a three-game losing streak. The Hurricanes had a five-game win streak snapped on Friday. Which team rights the ship tonight?

Carolina Hurricanes vs. Calgary Flames
January 13, 2014 - 7:00 pm ET
PNC Arena - Raleigh, NC
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 The Fan

SB Nation Rival Blog: Matchsticks and Gasoline (twitter @Matchsticks20)

Hurricanes Record: 19-17-9 (47 pts.)
Flames Record: 15-24-6 (36 pts.)

The Carolina Hurricanes and Calgary Flames wrap up their regular season series here in Raleigh tonight. The Flames come to town trying to end a three-game losing streak; meanwhile the Canes have won five of their last six. The two teams met a month ago, on December 12th, in Calgary, and the Flames prevailed with a 2-1 overtime win.

Hurricanes Notes

The Canes have been off for two nights after suffering a 3-0 shutout at the hands of the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Friday night. They returned to the rink on Sunday with a few previously-injured players poised to return to the lineup. Riley Nash, missing five games with a lower body injury, was activated from injured reserve on Saturday, and Jiri Tlusty, who missed eight games after an appendectomy, is expected to join the lineup tonight (although he has not yet been reactivated). Captain Eric Staal has missed three games with a lower body injury and is considered day-to-day until further evaluation after today's morning skate.

In anticipation of the returning players, both Brett Sutter and Zach Boychuk were reassigned to the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday.

There were quite a few line changes in yesterday's practice to work in the returning players. Manny Malhotra did not practice, but it was classified as a rest day and he should be able to play tonight. Cam Ward (IR, lower body) skated but has not resumed full practice with the team. Kirk Muller provided an audio update. Here's how they lined up:

Jeff Skinner - Eric Staal - Alexander Semin
Nathan Gerbe - Jordan Staal - Patrick Dwyer
Jiri Tlusty - Elias Lindholm - Radek Dvorak
Drayson Bowman - Riley Nash - Tuomo Ruutu

Andrej Sekera - Justin Faulk
Ron Hainsey - Brett Bellemore
John-Michael Liles - Jay Harrison
Mike Komisarek - Ryan Murphy

Anton Khudobin
Justin Peters

Tonight's starting goaltender has not been named, but all indications are that Anton Khudobin will continue to get the starts until he doesn't. Dobby has not faced the Flames in his NHL career. Should his services be required tonight, Justin Peters was in net for the overtime loss in Calgary in December, his only appearance against the Flames, where he a had a .933 save percentage with 28 saves on 30 shots in the overtime loss.

After being shut out Friday night, there are no scoring streaks to speak of, so here are a couple of other cool stats:

• Jeff Skinner is only one of two NHL players (Chicago's Patrick Kane is the other) to rank in the top ten in the NHL in goals, power play goals, and game-winning goals.
• Manny Malhotra ranks third overall in the NHL in faceoff win percentage (59.7%).
• The Hurricanes continue to lead the NHL in shorthanded goals with eight.
• The Canes have won 13 games by one point or less. Only Anaheim (17) and Pittsburgh (15) have won more one-goal games.

Eric Staal will be the guest of Mike Maniscalco for Canes Corner tomorrow night at Backyard Bistro. Visit there at 7 pm or join the conversation at 99.9 The Fan.

Calgary Flames Notes

The Flames were host to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night and suffered a 2-1 loss to the Eastern Conference leaders. That loss was the Flames' third in a row and brought their record to 2-8-0 in their last ten. Despite that run of bad fortune, the Flames were able to defeat the Canes just a month ago and hold a 6-1-1 record in the last eight meetings.

The Flames are having trouble scoring goals. Since the Christmas holiday break, they have scored six goals in eight games and have been shut out in five. Help may be coming with the recall of Ben Street, who is the leading scorer for the Abbotsford Heat with 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists). That recall may be coming at a price, however, as there are rumors that forward Mike Cammalleri, currently second on the team in scoring behind Jiri Hudler, may be injured (links here and here).

Captain Mark Giordano had to receive medical attention after suffering a high hit from Robert Bortuzzo Saturday night (which earned Bortuzzo a game misconduct), but Giordano did travel with the team and is expected to play.

The Hurricanes should see rookie Sean Monahan tonight for the first time. Monahan was chosen sixth overall by Calgary in last summer's entry draft, just one spot behind Elias Lindholm. They will also see the return of Kevin Westgarth, who was traded to the Flames on December 30th.

The Flames didn't practice yesterday since they were traveling to Raleigh. This is how they lined up for Saturday's game:

Mike Cammalleri - Mikael Backlund - Lee Stempniak
Paul Byron - Sean Monahan - Jiri Hudler
Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - TJ Galiardi
Kevin Westgarth - Joe Colbome - Brian McGrattan

Mark Giordano - TJ Brodie
Ladislav Smid - Dennis Wideman
Chris Butler - Shane O'Brien

Reto Berra
Karri Ramo

The Flames haven't announced their starting goaltender. Reto Berra was in net on Saturday for the loss, and Karri Ramo was in net for the win against the Canes in December. Ramo is 2-2-0 career against the Canes with a 2.82 GAA in four games. Berra has not faced the Canes in his career.

Curtis Glencross (high ankle sprain), Kris Russell (MCL sprain), and Blair Jones (meniscal tear) are all on Injured Reserve. David Jones is listed as day-to-day with an eye issue.

We'll have the game thread ready to go by 6:30 pm. See you at the rink.

Bob Wage, the lead blogger at Canes Country, took a little time to answer some of our questions in preparation for tonight's matchup. What does Semin, the Staal brothers and youngster Jeff Skinner have in store?

Kevin Kraczkowski (Matchsticks & Gasoline): Cam Ward usually ranks amongst the NHL's leaders in games played, and puts up better than average numbers while doing so. He's already missed a substantial portion of the season, and has put up less than stellar numbers while he's in, posting a 3.15 GAA and an .895 save percentage. Is he already trending downward?

Bob Wage (Canes Country): Cam Ward doesn’t fit in a system that’s reliant on a goalie clearing his own rebounds. Ward tends to kick to the slot rather than the corners and the defense has troubling clearing the zone and avoiding that quality second and third chance. The guy just wasn’t built to face a ton of rubber and do it on his own. That being said, is he trending downward? No, he’s just in the wrong system. He’s a fantastic second save goalie, being that he has amazing reflexes and quick recovery in most situations, but he relies on his defense to bail him out when he needs it and he isn’t going to get that support from an offense first team.

M&G: So, Kevin Westgarth. I feel like I should thank you, or something.....

CC: Westgarth is a heart and soul type of guy, great leader, great physicality, great on ice work ethic, should be a fantastic fit on a Calgary team with a ton of young talent that could use some focus. Change of scenery and all that.You are welcome.

M&G: It's hard to believe that Jeff Skinner is just 21 years old. Is he proving to be worth the money?

CC: Oh he’s always been worth the money. Skinner is an exciting player to watch, he’s fast, elusive, and has the ability to break open a game. With concussions being such a prominent part of his early career, he really lost some of that board work he was good at and he seemed to have lost a step coming up ice on the rush but watching him, you would see these glimpses of brilliance, reminiscent of Patrick Kane and then he would almost seem nervous with the puck on the next shift. He’s really come into his own and grown as a young man, the work ethic is there and barring good health, we should get to see him put the puck in the net a lot in the coming years.

M&G: Carolina’s power play is not exactly the best. What role has special teams played in the Hurricanes’ success this year?

CC: When it’s clicking, it’s clicking. It’s so important to score on those man advantages and there hasn’t really been someone that could step up and make that happen. The addition of Liles will obviously help and with Skinner on fire and Staal returning very shortly that will give the Canes an opportunity to spread the power play a little more evenly. It should also open up some opportunities for some of the younger underutilized forwards. There is one really great power play unit and one average unit, the scoring needs to be spread more consistently. When everyone is healthy this team is an offensive force and the power play can be very intimidating but unbalanced. It’s those opportunities given up when being too aggressive that have killed the momentum for the Canes and not being able to get back fast enough defensively or take the body to avoid those broken plays. The lack of power play has played a huge role for the Hurricanes, just not in a positive way, but over the last five or so games, there has been improvement and the Liles addition has opened up more options not only for Sekera, but for that second power play unit.

M&G: Hypothetical question: Calgary defeats the Canes. How did they pull it out?

CC: Empty net for sixty minutes. All kidding aside, the key would be to fire a ton of rubber at the leg pads, getting to the slot and creating traffic in front of the net, send everyone down low and whack at the loose pucks in the slot, take advantage of the pucks that aren’t cleared cleanly out of the zone. Second opportunities will come, they won’t be pretty, but you have to bury them. Goal tending will be a big factor in a game like this, it should be a wide open game and the goalies will have to be on their toes.

The Flames head down south to take on the Carolina Hurricanes in hopes of regaining their scoring touch.

Tonight the Flames hit the road to open up a two game road trip against the Carolina Hurricanes at 5:00 P.M. MST.

The Flames come into this game having been shut out in five of their last eight games. They're holding down 29th place in the NHL in goals scored, which may be causing a negative effect in the locker room with everyone banging their heads and trying to figure out a way to score. In the end, it all comes down to shooting and getting prime scoring chances. Through this treacherous stretch, Calgary has only out-shot their opponents in three of the eight games. There should be no surprise that they are having troubles scoring. They finally got back onto the scoresheet last night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, when Mikael Backlund shot it past Marc-Andre Fleury to give the good-guys their first goal at home in over a week. After the game Backlund talked about finally breaking the deadlock at home:

It was obviously nice to get a goal, since we haven't had too many at home here lately. Personally, obviously, it feels good too. But it doesn't feel good if you don't win.

The Flames are also expected to have Ben Street in the lineup for tonight's game which is sure to bring some much needed heart on the forecheck.

The Hurricanes on the other hand, have been playing great as of late. They are 5-2-1 in their eight games since the Christmas break, scoring 20 goals through that stretch. It doesn't necessarily translate to a high octane offense, but it sure is much more than what the Flames have in their past eight games. Now don't get me wrong here, Carolina is a red-hot team right now, but they have had their fair share of struggles throughout the season as well. They only have 10 more goals than Calgary, which makes them 25th overall in the NHL and they are coming off a 3-0 shutout loss to Columbus on Friday. And hey, many teams have been inconsistent this season (insert obvious Toronto Maple Leafs joke), so this seems like the perfect opportunity for both teams to display their scoring prowess.

Keys to Winning

Score, score, score! I don't even think this should be a key to winning considering it should be a given for every team in the NHL to score goals, but the Flames just aren't finding the back of the net. This has to be a team effort because even when the Flames win games it always seems to be because of the guys who usually always step up their game; Jiri Hudler, Mike Cammaleri, and Mark Giordano. Eventually, those players will need some support to back them up on a rough stretch of games, like the past few games the team's been having, and get some goals and help them produce. Those guys need their supporting cast of players to sometimes produce, Lee Stempniak (14), T.J. Galliardi (7), and Dennis Wideman (13). One more name that stands out in my mind is rookie Sean Monahan. He started off the season incredibly, and although he was not expected to keep that pace up, he hasn't been playing too well coming off of his injury to his foot.

One of the biggest momentum killers in hockey is when your goalie gives up a softy and it puts the other team ahead and this, surprisingly, is a weakness that Calgary needs to address. Reto Berra and Karri Ramo have been outstanding for the Flames in net this season, not saying they haven't, but it's always that one goal or those two goals that they should have saved, that always end up ruining it for the team. A perfect example of it was last night on the goal scored by Matt Niskanen in the second period that put the Penguins ahead 2-0. It was a floater that went five-hole past Berra, had that goal not gone, there very well may have been a different outcome in the game. The Flames could have counter-attacked and got a goal. If all went well, the Backlund goal would have been the tying goal that sent the game into overtime, the Pens could have scored again. But, since it went in, I guess we'll never know.

Fun Fact: Through the struggles that the Flames are having there are players throughout the league that have scored more goals than the team after the Christmas Break. John Tavares (7), Patrick Sharp (7), and Jeff Skinner (7) who they will be facing in tonight's game!

Be sure to catch this game live on Sportsnet West at 5:00 PM MST. Check back here for the GameThread, going live just before gametime, and check out Canes Country for more on Carolina.

A fantasized look at the NHL injury updates from Sunday

Ben Bishop appears to be nearing a return to the Tampa Bay lineup. Somehow he was left off the United States Olympic roster and he's probably looking to prove his critics wrong so get him into your lineups pronto. If Tuukka Rask continues to slide Bishop could become a Vezina favourite.

Bench Evander Kane as he'll miss Monday's game with a hand injury. Keep your eye on him as he could explode offensively under Winnepeg's new bench-boss.

Eric Staal will be in the lineup after resting for 3 with an LBI. Hopefully he can provide the Canes with some consistent offense because Lord knows Alexander Semin won't.

Speaking of a Hurricanes player that won't provide any offense, Jiri Tlusty (appendectomy) will return tonight as well.

Michael Cammalleri has been diagnosed with a concussion. You probably won't him very much as he only has a point in his last 8. He's drop worthy.

If the injured Dave Bolland is on your waiver wire you might want to take a look as he's resumed skating and was productive before his surgery.

Hart-trophy threat, Scott Gomez is a healthy scratch tonight. This will surely hurt his chance at shattering Gretzky's records.

As mentioned in the Daily Dosage, Cody Hodgson returned and was immediately productive in Buffalo's lineup.

Your Olympic starter Carey Roberto Luongo will be out tonight against Los Angeles.

Old man Elias is still out of the lineup with total body soreness and will hopefully return at some point during their four game road trip.

Ryan Getzlaf is expected to return on Wednesday after negative x-rays on his foot. He's been a monster so owners are probably breathing a sigh of relief.

Tonight, the Flames visit Carolina to take on the Hurricanes. Calgary has just two wins in their last 13 games, getting shut out six times during the span.

Karri Ramo gets the nod for the Flames, while the Canes will call on Anton Khudobin to man the net.

Starting Lineups

Flames

Forwards

Jiri Hudler - Matt Stajan - Lee Stempniak

Lance Bouma - Mikael Backlund - TJ Galiardi

Joe Colborne - Sean Monahan - Paul Byron

Kevin Westgarth - Ben Street - Brian McGrattan

Defensemen

TJ Brodie - Mark Giordano

Ladislav Smid - Dennis Wideman

Chris Butler - Shane O'Brien

Goaltenders

Karri Ramo - Reto Berra

Hurricanes

Forwards

Jeff Skinner - Eric Staal - Alexander Semin

Nathan Gerbe - Jordan Staal - Pat Dwyer

Tuomo Ruutu - Manny Malhotra - Elias Lindholm

Jiri Tlusty - Riley Nash - Radek Dvorak

Defensemen

Justin Faulk - Andrej Sekera

Ron Hainsey - Brett Bellemore

John-Michael Liles - Ryan Murphy

Goaltenders

Anton Khudobin - Justin Peters

Let's talk about the Flames, and keep it dialed in right here for the recap by M&G superstar Ruhee after the horn sounds.

Carolina is now scoreless in six straight periods after a lackluster loss to Calgary

Karri Ramo earned his first career NHL shutout as the Calgary Flames cruised to an easy 2-0 win over the listless Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night in front of 15,276 at the PNC Arena.

It was the second straight shutout for the Canes as they were also kept off the scoresheet in a 3-0 loss against Columbus on Friday night.

The loss gives the Canes a 19-18-9 record, good for seventh place in the Metropolitan Division.

The Canes were outshot 14-5 in the first period, which was scoreless thanks to the hard work of Anton Khudobin, who was sharp early.  But the Flames got on the scoreboard at 15:26 into the second period on a powerplay goal by Mikael Backlund, who was wearing the "A" in place of the injured Mike Cammalleri.

The puck took an unlucky bounce off the skate of a Hurricane toward the crease and Khudobin was unable to get a glove on it before Backlund knocked it in.

The Canes were able to generate a few chances here and there, but could not sustain consistent pressure as Calgary dictated play most of the contest.  Even in the third period when they really needed it, Carolina was outshot, 9-6 and they faced a 29-23 deficit for the game.

Sean Monahan scored the clincher 9:36 into the third period on a nice pass from Paul Byron.

The Hurricanes only drew two penalties for the game while they went to the box four times.  They were officially 0-1 with the extra man while the Flames were 1-3.

Coach Kirk Muller mixed and matched the lines throughout as he seemed to be searching for chemistry, but never found it.  He ended up shortening the bench as Riley Nash only played 6:06, Radek Dvorak played 7:41, and Tuomo Ruutu played 8:05.

Next up for the Canes will be the Florida Panthers on Saturday night at the PNC.

Game Notes:

• There is not much to say about this game as it could be the worst performance of the year for the Canes.  Ramo has been around a bit and has a career .894 NHL save percentage, but looked very good against Carolina as he earned his first career shutout.
• Carolina's 23 shots on goal will normally not get the job done.  The Hurricanes were led by Gerbe with four.
• Brett Bellemore was credited with a team high six hits.

The Flames scored some goals, Mikael Backlund wore an A, and Karri Ramo got a shutout! Hockey is fun again!

It's the one week-iversary of our revamping here at Matchsticks & Gasoline, and I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who's been here reading, jumping into game threads, and offering words of encouragement on Twitter and elsewhere. I'm having a great time so far and I hope everyone else on the masthead agrees when I say we're pretty happy with how things are going.

I think we're all pretty damn happy with how that game went tonight, too—Calgary finally pulled out a really great game, handed Karri Ramo his first NHL shutout (!!!) and in the absence of concussed Mike Cammalleri, Mikael Backlund wore the A, you guys.

The first period stayed scoreless throughout, but the Flames dominated the action, outshooting the Hurricanes 14-5 and creating a flurry of activity in the offensive zone. After 20 they'd won about two-thirds of the faceoffs and had managed nine blocked shots—a really good, active period for a team that had been lethargic for a long time.

Barely 90 seconds into the second period, Brett Bellemore hassled Jiri Hudler which led to a bit of a scuffle; Shane O'Brien stepped in to shore up and both Bellemore and O'Brien ended up getting two minutes in the box. Shortly afterward, one of the refs undoubtedly saw his life flashing before his eyes as Andrej Sekera knocked him over and Hudler and Manny Malhotra got all up in his business:

On a related note, I totally forgot Manny Malhotra was a Hurricane.

The Canes totally dominated for a brief period when the Flames' scintillating fourth line was on the ice (consisting of Brian McGrattan, Ben Street and Kevin Westgarth). It was nearly a disaster for Calgary but Karri Ramo and some quick defence kept the Flames from giving up a goal. A power play followed for Calgary on a hooking call against Patrick Dwyer, and then the magic happened: Hudler maneuvered the puck around and passed it back to Wideman, who quickly returned it. Hudler looked like he meant to pass it across the net to Mark Giordano waiting on the other side, but it tipped off Backlund's skate and he poked it past right Anton Khudobin in the five hole for the Flames' first goal. Shots favoured Calgary 20-17 at the end of the second.

It was the Flames' 15th time this season taking a lead into the third period—not many times, considering it's the second half of the season. Halfway through the third that lead would be doubled. T.J. Galiardi gained possession in the Flames end and took off down the ice with Byron and Monahan racing alongside (from the overhead camera it looked like Monahan was very nearly offside); past the blue line he fired a pass to Byron, who tipped it to Monahan, gliding beside a wide-open net. Bam! 2-0.

The Flames made a few great defensive plays on Jeff Skinner late in the third to preserve their lead. During their offensive action Carolina tried to pull Khudobin, but he had barely made it to the bench when he was forced to race back; the Byron-Monahan-Colborne line, on fire tonight, had forced their way back into the Carolina end and very nearly scored a third goal. They managed to pull him shortly afterward, though, and poor Lee Stempniak hit the post as squarely as one can hit it on the empty net. His time is coming, it's coming ...

Karri Ramo made a wild save in the dying seconds to preserve his first-ever shutout in the NHL, earning him the hard hat for the evening and the probable starter position for the Flames' visit to Nashville tomorrow. It was a terrific performance that saw him make 23 saves, including a handful of highlight reel moments. And it was fun! The whole time!

Other things:

• The Canes have the most shorthanded goals in the league, so the Flames did a great job keeping the pressure on when they had a powerplay, continuing to generate shots and keep the puck out of their own zone.
• The Byron-Monahan-Colborne line was flat-out awesome. The fourth line wasn't, but what do you expect from McGrattan and Westgarth.
• Calgary is now 9-5-2 when they score first.
• The Canes have the lowest number of fighting majors in the league, which helped this game end up being much more fun to watch—more skating, less stoppage. I think Calgary looked great here without bothering to get too scrappy (they were still physical and laid down a lot of hits, but kept the action moving, which was a welcome change from the last few stinkers).
• Monahan is currently 11th in rookie scoring with 13 goals and 6 assists.

(sparkles by Ari!)

That was a good one, Flames. Thanks.

Next game action happens tomorrow night against the Predators; puck drops at 6:00 MT! Be sure to drop in during the day for our game previews and chat.

For the second time this season, the Carolina Hurricanes couldn't solve the Calgary Flames, losing 3-0 at PNC Arena and suffering their second consecutive shutout defeat.

The Carolina Hurricanes got Eric Staal, Jiri Tlusty and Riley Nash back in the lineup for Tuesday’s home game vs. the Flames, but they could not find their scoring touch. For the second straight game, the Canes were held scoreless and dropped to 19-18-9 and seventh place in the Metropolitan Division, four points out of third in the division and three out of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Three Observations

1. With Jay Harrison out of the lineup, the Hurricanes lacked some toughness in their lineup, and the Flames took advantage. Shane O’Brien pestered the Hurricanes and tried to goad Brett Bellemore into a fight several times, a tradeoff that wouldn't have made sense given that Bellemore plays in a top-four role and O’Brien is a 10-minute-a-night agitator. Which raises a larger issue: the Hurricanes lack the kind of grit and toughness that allows them to dictate play — see Monday’s game and the loss at Columbus — and Jim Rutherford needs to address the fact that the Canes’ last two "agitators" were Chad LaRose and Nathan Gerbe.

2. So how does Rutherford correct this problem? He needs to go and get a gritty player who can contribute in ways other than fighting (ie. not another Kevin Westgarth). Who better than Steve Ott, the Buffalo captain who is overpaid ($3.2 million salary this year and next, $2.95 million cap hit) but could be exactly what the doctor ordered for the oft-uninspired Hurricanes? The Hurricanes need a player like Ott, and also haven't found an answer at third-line center. With Ryan Miller likely headed elsewhere, couldn't the Hurricanes package Justin Peters and a pick or prospect to get Ott? It's a move worth exploring, and perhaps even doing as soon as possible.

3. Carolina’s 26th-ranked power play is much discussed and oft-maligned, but the penalty kill has been just as inefficient this season. At 79 percent, the Hurricanes’ shorthanded unit is 25th in the league. While the team’s league-leading eight shorthanded goals are more than half the number of power play goals (13) the team has this season and help bolster the penalty kill’s reputation, it doesn't mask Carolina’s mediocre kill rate. The Flames opened the scoring on the power play and it proved to be the game-winning goal.

Number To Know

8:05 — Minutes for Tuomo Ruutu, whose role with Carolina seems to be slipping away as the Hurricanes get healthier. Ruutu finished with no hits and can't seem to find a home on any line. With $5 million left on his contract for two more years, it's doubtful Ruutu is going anywhere. So if he's going to be in the lineup, he needs to be physical and hope he finds a way to contribute.

Plus

Anton Khudobin— Khudobin was Carolina’s best player, keeping the Hurricanes in the game while his teammates failed to generate a sustained attack. Despite back-to-back losses — his first defeats this season — Khudobin still sits at 6-2 with a .935 save percentage and 2.02 goals-against average.

Minus

Riley Nash — In his first game back, Nash played only 6:06 and didn't see the ice in the game’s final 23-plus minutes. Perhaps Nash wasn't ready to get back in the lineup, but his benching and Kirk Muller’s late-game line shuffling further expose the fact that Carolina is lacking a No. 3 center.

If Carolina's recent slide with back-to-back shutouts isn't bad enough, the issue is compounded by the play of rest of the Eastern Conference. The polar vortex has hit the Canes offense, while most of the Eastern Conference is warm and toasty since the new year.

It was a week of highs and lows for the Carolina Hurricanes. The scored a season high 6 goals in a blowout victory over the Maple Leafs and followed that up being blanked by the Blue Jackets and Flames. 1 and 2 is a poor week, but it's made even worse by the rest of the Eastern Conference. While the West is certainly the best, since 2014 rolled around, the East has had it's day in the sun. Since January 1st, the Eastern Conference is 56-30-12 overall and 27-11-3 against the Western Conference. Only 2 teams in the conference have records below NHL .500 since the 1st and both of those are currently in the playoff picture. And the teams the Canes are competing against for playoff position (teams within 5 points of the Canes) are 26-13-5 this month. So Carolina needs to recover quickly, start scoring again and put W's in the win column if they have any hope of ending their playoff drought. Here are the stats for the week of 1/8/14 through 1/14/14.

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

• Jordan Staal - It's tough finding 3 good players when you only have 1 win and 2 shutouts, but Jordan had quite a game against Toronto and was solid in the other 2 games. He led the team with 4 points, 3 assists and tied for the team led at +2. He was also tied for 5th on the team in shots and was 2nd in hits with 6. He was on the ice for 4 Carolina goals and 0 goals against. The 0 goals against is especially impressive due to his role going up against the opponents top line. His All Situations possession numbers were quite good, ranking in the top 5 in each category. His 5 on 5 Close possession numbers did take a dip, but he was pretty average for the team. His faceoff numbers were really good, having to take a more significant role with Eric Staal out, he posted a 61.8% win percentage. This is the Jordan the Canes traded for and the one they want to see more often.
• John-Michael Liles - Liles again had a solid week and was able to score a goal against his former team. That in itself is probably worth it's weight in gold to him. Liles also tied for the team high +2, was 2nd with 6 blocked shots, tied for 5th in hits and tied for 3rd in takeaways. Like Jordan, Liles was on the ice for 4 goals for and 0 against. Even though it is a only 6 games, he leads the Canes for the season with a +7. Liles was also the top defenseman in 4 of the 6 possession categories, finishing as the 2nd best defenseman in the other 2 categories. All of his possession numbers are above 57% and one of the most surprising things is that he had the highest percentage of defensive zone starts of any defenseman. While this trade might have been a swap of extra defensemen when it happened, Liles is really appearing to be a good piece for the Hurricanes.
• Elias Lindholm - Lindholm came back from the World Juniors feeling confident and it translated in his first game back. He scored a PP goal and added 2 assists for his 2nd 3 point game in 5 games for him (even though there was a month between those games). He was 2nd on the team in points and assists. Lindholm also 3rd in shots and tied for 3rd in blocked shots. He also averaged over 15 minutes a game and had 5 possession stats 50% and above. While consistency still isn't there for this rookie, you can see his game coming around. It appears that Lindholm will be a special player in this league, the question is when is that going to happen on a regular basis.

Who's Not

• Tuomo Ruutu - Ruutu is a really nice guy, but his game has left him and there aren't any signs of it returning. While he didn't always put up points, he could be counted on to do other things. But as this week shows, Ruutu isn't doing the "other things" as much anymore. He only had 3 hits for the week. This guy use to average over 3 hits a game! He isn't as effective on the forecheck and hasn't really been much of a net presence either. All of his All Situations possession numbers were below 45% for the week, ranking in the bottom 6 on the team. His 5 on 5 Close numbers were even worse, they were around 35% and were in the bottom 2 on the team. His -2 for the week had him overtake Eric for the team low and his ice time has been cut to under 12 minutes a game. At this point, I can't see any team trading for him and he might end up being a buyout candidate. I know he made the Finnish Olympic team and it is a honor to respect your country, but it might be best for himself and the Canes for him to respectfully decline and rest his body.
• Alexander Semin - Semin has had a difficult year and it continued this week. He went pointless, was a -1 and tied for a team high 5 giveaways. This team is depending on Semin being a pretty big point producer and come up big when the team needs him to. As in the Calgary game, he had a great opportunity to put the puck in the net or at least create a good scoring chance, he over thought the play, trying to get it to Eric and ended up with a turnover. While his All Situations possession number were good at around 55%, his 5 on 5 Close were horrible. For the season, Semin ranked 2nd on the team in 5 on 5 Close possession numbers, around 52%. This week, all of his numbers were in the 30s, between 12% and 18% lower than his season average. I don't believe injury is a factor anymore, but I'm also not sure what needs to be done to get Semin's game on track. Maybe as someone else suggested, he should go back on a line with Jordan, because he was doing well there.
• Ron Hainsey/Brett Bellemore - The Canes 2nd pairing had a rough week. They combined to go pointless and a -5 for the week. They were not on the ice for any goals for and their Corsi For & Fenwick For numbers were in the low 40s. They were the only defensemen to end up a minus in the Toronto game and their poor decisions resulted in the back breaking 2nd goal against Calgary. Bellemore was saw his time on ice reduced in each of the shutouts and I wouldn't be surprised if he was healthy scratched for one of games this upcoming week. Hainsey continued his poor play, he is now a combined -7 over the past 2 weeks. I thought it might just be a bleep on the radar, but maybe not. This pairing is critical to the Canes and must rediscover their form from earlier in the season. Weeks like this will quickly make Carolina sellers at the trade deadline and that could spell an end for 1 or both of these guys.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• I wish the Canes could have spread out their scoring a little more evenly this week. They only averaged 2.00 goals per game (all from 1 game), that put them tied for 19th in the league. But Anton Khudobin had solid week in net, only allowing 2.00 goals against per game. That was good for a tie for 11th with 4 other teams. Typically that would get the job done most weeks, but not with the consistently inconsistent Canes offense.
• The PP numbers look pretty good for the week, as Carolina went 2 for 9 (22.2%). That was aided by a late 5 on 3 against the Leafs and ended up putting Carolina in 10th place in the NHL.
• The PK on the other hand was worse than normal at 71.4%. They allowed PP goals to 2 teams in the bottom half of the league, but were perfect against a top 5 PP. They even scored their 8th shorthanded goal of the season against the Leafs.
• The Hurricanes finished 5th in the NHL in faceoff percentage at 55.4%. Manny topped the team at 62.2%, Jordan was a close 61.8%, followed by Brett at 57.1%, then Eric at 53.3%, Lindholm came in at 41.2%, Skinner at 38.5% and Nash rounded out the list at 20.0%.
• Carolina finished tied for 2nd in takeaways with 38 and 23rd in hits with 55. The also finished tied 17th in blocks with 43 and 18th in turnover margin at -5.
• The shots for and against were in the Canes favor this week, finishing in the top 10 in both categories. They averaged 31.7 shots per game (7th) and 26.3 shot against per game (tied 8th).
• The possession numbers ticked up some, but are still below where they need to be. The Hurricanes Corsi For was 47.1% and their Fenwick For was 49.5%. The only surprise here is that the Hurricanes usually have a lower Fenwick For than Corsi For.
• Team Stat of the Week - Giveaways - 43 - Carolina was 26th in the NHL in giveaways. They typically are a team that turns the puck over a lot, but at some point they need to adjust. Passing and control the puck are 2 things each player needs to work on during this 4 day break. These turnovers lead to scoring chances, which lead to easy goals. And for a team that has struggled all year offensively, limiting easy scoring chances is key.

Former Canes Weekly Stats

The Canes are over half way through the season, are they playoff bound?

The Carolina Hurricanes are 46 games into their 82 game season and currently find themselves with a 19-18-9 record, good for seventh place in the Metropolitan Division.  They have earned a total of  47 points which puts them only four points out of a wild card playoff spot, but they have four teams to jump to get into that spot.

Fans have seen the good, bad, and ugly of this team, not only on a game by game basis, but from period to period.  At any given time, no one knows what quality of play will be seen on the ice.

The good news is that newcomers Andrej Sekera, Nathan Gerbe, and Anton Khudobin have performed better than expected.  Jeff Skinner has been one of the hottest shooters in the league.  Manny Malhotra is among the league leaders in face off percentage, which helps the club gain more possessions.

But there is plenty of bad news as well.  Eric Staal has more penalty minutes than points.  Alexander Semin is on pace this season to score the fewest goals in his NHL career, (per game average).  Tuomo Ruutu has a team worst (-16) and his goal scoring is also at a career low level.  Cam Ward has a losing record and team worst .895 save percentage, while currently resting with a mysterious ailment and no hint of when he will return.

What hurts even worse is that these struggling players are among the top paid players in the league and represent almost $28 million in salaries to be paid this season.  (Staal $9.25, Semin $7, Ruutu $5, and Ward $6.6.)

Each of these players have faced adversities and they have played through injuries.  Can they turn it around in time to salvage the season?  Will they be able to?

Due to the plethora of injuries, the coaching staff has had to juggle lines.  But at this point, there does not seem to be any chemistry within the line combinations and Kirk Muller was still mixing and matching lines in the most recent loss to Calgary.

Speaking of the coaching staff, one of their primary objectives this offseason was to improve the woeful powerplay.   Have they succeeded?

Last season the Canes finished 27th in the league with a 14.6% success rate.  So far this season, the Canes are 26th in the league and remarkably, still are at exactly 14.6%.

The team has improved the penalty kill slightly.  They are currently 25th in the league at 79%.  Last season they finished at 28th in the league at 77.6%.  The team also has a league best eight shorthanded tallies.

Another objective was to lower the shots against and goals allowed per game.  The team has succeeded in doing this.  Last season Carolina allowed 3.31 goals per game, 29th in the league.  They also allowed 32.2 shots per game, 25th in the league.

So far this season the goals allowed average has dropped significantly, to 2.76 goals per game, 18th in the league.  They have allowed 30.9 shots a game, 22nd in the league.

So, can this team cure what is ailing them and put themselves into a playoff spot?

Jim Rutherford seems to feel that changes need to be made and he has already made one deal, (Tim Gleason for John-Michael Liles), and is rumored to be trying to make other changes.  It will be interesting to watch him.

If the team can start scoring like they did last year, can stay relatively healthy, and the goaltending can hold up, they are certainly not out of the picture.  But there is a lot of hard work ahead and it won't be easy.

What do you think?

The Hurricanes forward line of Eric Staal/Alex Semin/Jiri Tlusty was dominant in 2012-13. Reunited again, can they capture last season's magic?

Carolina Hurricanes vs. Florida Panthers
January 18, 2014 - 7:00 pm ET
PNC Arena - Raleigh, NC
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 The Fan

SB Nation Rival Blog: Litter Box Cats (twitter @LitterBoxCats)

Hurricanes Record: 19-18-9 (47 pts.)
Panthers Record: 18-22-7 (43 pts.)

After four days idle since their 2-0 shutout loss to the Calgary Flames Monday night, the Hurricanes play a two-game Sunshine State series this weekend, hosting the Florida Panthers tonight and the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday night.

Tonight is the first season meeting between the Canes and the Cats, two teams that used to face each other with great regularity before conference realignment split them into separate divisions. They'll meet three times this year, once more here and once in Sunrise. They split the series last season with two wins apiece, the last one a 4-1 home loss in Raleigh on March 19, 2013.

Like the Canes, the Panthers are currently ranked seventh in their division, and also like the Canes, they enter tonight's game coming off a home shutout loss, 3-0 to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

The Panthers are led in points by rookie Aleksander Barkov, who was drafted second overall in the 2013 entry draft. Barkov recently returned from the World Junior Championships where his Finnish squad defeated Elias Lindholm and Team Sweden for the gold medal, and he'll represent Finland in Sochi as well. He has 23 points (8g, 15 a) in 47 games. Brad Boyes, acquired in the off-season, leads the team with 10 goals, six shootout goals, and has five points in the last six games. The Hurricanes will see interim head coach Peter Horachek behind the bench for the first time, having replaced former Hurricane Kevin Dineen after he was fired as Florida's head coach on November 8, 2013. Last but certainly not least, the Canes will likely face Tim Thomas in net for the first time as a Panther. Thomas is 10-10-1 with a 2.68 GAA and one shutout in 21 career games against the Hurricanes, the most notable of them being the Eastern Conference semi-final series in 2009 when Thomas was in net for the Boston Bruins for the series loss to the Canes.

Projected Panthers line-up (based on Thursday's game):

Sean Bergenheim - Aleksander Barkov - Brad Boyes

Tomas Fleischmann - Nick Bjugstad - Scottie Upshall

Jonathan Huberdeau - Marcel Goc - Tomas Kopecky

Krys Barch - Drew Shore - Jimmy Hayes

Brian Campbell - Tom Gilbert

Dmitry Kulikov - Mike Weaver

Ed Jovanovski - Erik Gudbranson

Tim Thomas

Scott Clemmensen

After reuniting the top forward line of Eric Staal, Alexander Semin, and Jiri Tlusty mid-way through Monday's game, Kirk Muller kept that line intact throughout this week's practices and will start them together tonight. Jeff Skinner was moved to a line with Elias Lindholm and Tuomo Ruutu. Otherwise the majority of the line-up has remained intact. Both Patrick Dwyer and Drayson Bowman missed a couple of practice days this week with a lower body ailments but practiced yesterday and will be in the line-up tomorrow. Cam Ward remains on injured reserve but has been involved in off-ice workouts and skating outside of formal practice.

Projected line-up:

Jiri Tlusty - Eric Staal - Alexander Semin
Nathan Gerbe - Jordan Staal - Patrick Dwyer
Jeff Skinner - Elias Lindholm - Tuomo Ruutu
Drayson Bowman - Manny Malhotra - Radek Dvorak
Riley Nash

Andrej Sekera - Justin Faulk
Ron Hainsey - Brett Bellemore
John-Michael Liles - Ryan Murphy
Mike Komiarek - Jay Harrison

Anton Khudobin
Justin Peters

Some quick Canes-related reading and listening links:

• Kirk Muller [audio] from yesterday's practice
• Tracking the Storm on the Top Line Reunion [article] and upcoming drive to the Olympic break, which by the way involves 11 games in the next 22 days [article].
• Mark Armstrong from WTVD sat down with Jim Rutherford yesterday for a feature that was aired on the evening news. The raw footage in its entirety, which features content that did not make the broadcast, can be found here [video]. If you've read this far, and you do one more thing today, click and listen to his comments.

We'll have the open game thread ready to go by 6:30 pm. See you at the rink.

As the Florida Panthers head out to start their three-game road trip, they'll first have to pass through Raleigh and deal with the Carolina Hurricanes.

It feels a bit strange to be deep into January and only be playing the Carolina Hurricanes for the first time this season, but thanks to the realignment, here we are. The Canes and Cats will be playing only three games against each other, and the Panthers want to make each of them count, as the Hurricanes currently sit four points ahead of Florida in the standings. Carolina has had just as much trouble as the Panthers when it comes to scoring goals this season, but the Canes have done a much better job of keeping the puck out of their net.

The Hurricanes have been enjoying the resurgence of Jeff Skinner this season, whose 21 goals leads the team, and whose 35 points ties Eric Staal for the team lead in scoring. Skinner had a rough go last year, dealing with a few injuries and the dreaded sophomore slump. He couldn't really get it going during the lockout-shortened season, but this year he's been mostly healthy and the Canes most dangerous player. How dangerous? He's played 35 games, and has 35 points, meaning he's playing at a point per game level. There are only 16 players in the entire league averaging a point per game or better, so Skinner is enjoying being a part of that list along with names like Crosby, Tavares and Stamkos.

The Panthers are going to have to bounce back from a crushing home loss against a vastly superior San Jose Sharks team that just controlled Florida's play throughout the game. Despite scoring four goals the game before, the Panthers couldn't manage a single tally against the Sharks and backup netminder Alex Stalock. The lack of scoring is a disturbing trend that is now becoming commonplace, and it's an outlier when the Cats manage more than two goals in a game. If the Panthers want to seriously talk about being in the playoffs and climbing the standings, they have to start scoring more, period. Relying on defense and goaltending on a team that has a -35 goal differential over halfway through the season is a recipe for failure.

Cancel all your plans and make sure you're front and center for the LBC GameThread, and when boredom strikes, I guess you can go visit Canes Country, but no one's twisting your arm.

Players to Watch

Elias Lindholm - The fifth overall selection in the 2013 NHL draft, Lindholm is getting bumped up to center Jeff Skinner and Tuomo Ruutu against the Panthers. He's another teenager playing in the NHL who would've likely benefitted from some more seasoning, but the Canes needed offensive talent in the lineup, much like the Panthers, and so Lindholm has suited up for 24 games this season. He's definitely a talented player, so the Cats will have to pressure the young center and play a physical game against him to keep him from making plays to the ever-dangerous Skinner.

Drew Shore - He's playing better and better each game and the coaching staff is noticing. Shore's out there getting PK time and playing some tough minutes for the Panthers, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him start climbing the depth chart. He's not going to score 20+ goals for the Cats this season, but he's showing that he may be ready for a regular role with the club as a solid depth player, and maybe more.

Eric Staal - With eight points in his last ten games against Florida, Staal is generally a Panther killer. He's always been a dominant center and the Cats will have to play physical hockey and keep Staal to the perimeter. The Panthers blew too many defensive coverages against the Sharks and if Staal is allowed to do the same in this game, he's going to end up on the score sheet. He's a top-end talent and Florida knows it, so we'll see how they handle Staal.

Dmitry Kulikov - For awhile after his benching and being healthy scratch, Kulikov simplified his game and became a pretty solid defenseman for Florida. Then, inexplicably, he reverted not too long ago to someone who doesn't play simple defense, trying to do too much with the puck and randomly being out of position without it. He's gotta simplify things again if he wants to avoid head coach Peter Horachek's doghouse, and he can start by making the simple plays in his own end rather than trying to skate around or through two or more opposing forecheckers.

Martin St. Louis put forth a historic and heroic individual effort but the team behind him wasn't up to the task, blowing a two-goal lead and losing to the San Jose Sharks 5-4 for their fifth straight loss at home.

The San Jose Sharks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 in front of a sell-out crowd of 19,204 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum Saturday afternoon.

Normally, when Martin St. Louis does something historic and the Lightning have a 4-2 lead in the second with Ben Bishop in net, Lightning fans can feel pretty good about the eventual outcome of the game. However, a substandard performance from Bishop, a lack of offensive production from anybody besides St. Louis versus one of the elite teams in the NHL and you've got what seems to be a disturbing new normal at the Tampa Bay Times Forum: lapses in intensity and sloppiness resulting in the Lightning coming up short.

"I thought we put ourselves in a good spot, up 4-2 against a pretty good San Jose team. We didn't keep pushing, we took penalties and next thing you know, we are down a goal, so it's deflating. We just didn't get it done." - St. Louis

The Lightning are now 0-3-2 in their last five home games and haven't experienced victory at home since before Christmas, a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on December 21.

The Sharks got on the board first, with Matt Nieto scoring at 9:46 on assists from Patrick Marleau and Tommy Wingels.

The Lightning tied things up at 11:56 on the power play, the first goal of the day from St. Louis with assists from Tyler Johnson and Teddy Purcell.

:Less than a minute later, San Jose regained the lead when Marleau scored at 12:52, getting help from Nieto and Wingels.

St. Louis tied the game again at 15:44 on an absolutely incredible second effort goal that saw the Captain reach behind himself with his stick, allowing him to tap his own rebound between his legs and across the goal line. Jean-Philippe Cote and goalie Ben Bishop were credited with assists.

St. Louis wrapped up the 1st period hat trick and gave the Lightning the lead at 19:30, getting helpers from J.T. Brown and Mark Barberio.

The Lightning pushed the lead to 4-2 at 2:07 of the second when St. Louis netted his fourth goal of the game, this time on the power play with help from Purcell and Johnson. In doing so, St. Louis tied the Lightning franchise record of four goals in a game, a record that has stood literally since the beginning of time in terms of Lightning history, equaling the four scored by Chris Kontos on October 7, 1992, opening night of the inaugural season.

Bishop, who has been rock-solid when not downright stellar this season, was not his usual self. He stopped 22 of 27 shots and was the beneficiary of a whistle that wiped out what would have been a sixth goal early in the game. His counterpart, Antti Niemi stopped 19 of the 23 shots he faced.

The Sharks bit into the lead at 12:48 with an extra skater on for a delayed penalty, Joe Pavelski scored on assists from Tyler Kennedy and Jason Demers.

They tied it at 13:09 on a power play goal. Again, it was Pavelski this time getting help from Dan Boyle and Marleau.

And at 19:00, they regained the lead again on what would turn out to be the game-winning goal that was reviewed and changed three different times but was eventually awarded to Pavelski, giving him a hat trick of his own. The assists were credited to Matt Irwin and Joe Thornton.

Game notes;

• The Bolts are now 7-7-0 all-time against the Sharks at home. Today's loss broke a two-game home winning streak for the Lightning over San Jose.
• This is the front half of a back-to-back weekend with the Bolts visiting the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow.
• The Lightning now hold a record of  2-5-1 in the first game of back-to-backs and  5-1-1 in the second.
• Could fatigue be a factor? This is the first time since the 1995-96 season that the Lightning will have played five games during a seven day span.
• Defenseman Victor Hedman went down with a leg injury at the 4:40 mark of the third period and did not return.
• St. Louis recorded his hat trick within the first 19:30, the second fastest in team history. The fastest, also by St. Louis, happened in 18:13 against the Hurricanes in 2006.
• St. Louis's personal point-scored streak is now at seven games (eight goals and three assists).
• Ben Bishop now has two assists this season.
• The Lightning honored Laura Marchetti as the 23rd Lightning Community Hero of the year during the first period of today's game. Marchetti, who received a $50,000 donation from the Lightning Foundation and the Lightning Community Heroes program, will donate the money to More Health. Marchetti has lived through tragedy and has found a way to turn it into a positive for everyone, especially in the state of Florida. Marchetti experienced the death of her teenage daughter, Katie, when she was ejected from a car. Katie was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. This motivated Laura Marchetti to join More Health in educating teens on the importance of wearing seatbelts. Through Laura's efforts with More Health, she was able to help develop the More Health Trauma Education Lesson. This education session is intended for high school teens to know Katie's story and learn the value of seatbelt usage and other safe driving habits. So far, over 69,000 students since 2006 have heard this important lesson. In addition to her work on the More Health Trauma Education Lesson, Marchetti helped enact the Katie Marchetti Safety Belt Law in 2009

Rutherford says Semin needs to get his act together.

It appears Alexander Semin is disappointing two teams this season.

The highly-paid Carolina Hurricanes winger is mired in a rather mediocre year with just 18 points in 34 games. Considering he's in the first year of a five-year, $35 million contract, you can imagine why Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford wouldn't be pleased with his performance.

The Hurricanes GM spoke with WTVD's Mark Armstrong about his team on Friday, offering up pointed criticism of Semin's lack of production this season.

He came off a great year, and we are all very disappointed with his production at this time. He's a guy who is paid to score goals and put up points, and he hasn't done that. He's trying to play an east-west game when the rest of the team is playing a north-south game, and he needs to get his act going pretty soon... I do think it's the focus and the will to do well. The same will to do well that he had in his contract year. He is probably the most skilled player on this team, and when he wants to play, he can do it. He needs to start."

A lack of focus and will, huh? Isn't that the same criticism he faced in Washington?

Rutherford also mentioned that, if Carolina hadn't offered Semin a contract, he would've bolted for the KHL. But he's not exactly in great standing in Russia either. Semin was left off of Russia's Olympic roster, with head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov stating that "he didn't play as we expected" after watching him in Carolina this season.

More from SB Nation NHL:

• Canadiens struggles aren’t going away without change

• Ryan Suter’s incredible, record-setting workload

• Potty Mouths: The SB Nation hockey blog profanity rankings

• Photo: Here’s Dodger Stadium with an ice rink

• Olympics:Injuries might alter Canada’s roster | USA roster analysis

• Olympic rosters shouldn’t be built with NHL restraints

The Flames scored some goals, Mikael Backlund wore an A, and Karri Ramo got a shutout! Hockey is fun again!

It's the one week-iversary of our revamping here at Matchsticks & Gasoline, and I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who's been here reading, jumping into game threads, and offering words of encouragement on Twitter and elsewhere. I'm having a great time so far and I hope everyone else on the masthead agrees when I say we're pretty happy with how things are going.

I think we're all pretty damn happy with how that game went tonight, too—Calgary finally pulled out a really great game, handed Karri Ramo his first NHL shutout (!!!) and in the absence of concussed Mike Cammalleri, Mikael Backlund wore the A, you guys.

The first period stayed scoreless throughout, but the Flames dominated the action, outshooting the Hurricanes 14-5 and creating a flurry of activity in the offensive zone. After 20 they'd won about two-thirds of the faceoffs and had managed nine blocked shots—a really good, active period for a team that had been lethargic for a long time.

Barely 90 seconds into the second period, Brett Bellemore hassled Jiri Hudler which led to a bit of a scuffle; Shane O'Brien stepped in to shore up and both Bellemore and O'Brien ended up getting two minutes in the box. Shortly afterward, one of the refs undoubtedly saw his life flashing before his eyes as Andrej Sekera knocked him over and Hudler and Manny Malhotra got all up in his business:

On a related note, I totally forgot Manny Malhotra was a Hurricane.

The Canes totally dominated for a brief period when the Flames' scintillating fourth line was on the ice (consisting of Brian McGrattan, Ben Street and Kevin Westgarth). It was nearly a disaster for Calgary but Karri Ramo and some quick defence kept the Flames from giving up a goal. A power play followed for Calgary on a hooking call against Patrick Dwyer, and then the magic happened: Hudler maneuvered the puck around and passed it back to Wideman, who quickly returned it. Hudler looked like he meant to pass it across the net to Mark Giordano waiting on the other side, but it tipped off Backlund's skate and he poked it past right Anton Khudobin in the five hole for the Flames' first goal. Shots favoured Calgary 20-17 at the end of the second.

It was the Flames' 15th time this season taking a lead into the third period—not many times, considering it's the second half of the season. Halfway through the third that lead would be doubled. T.J. Galiardi gained possession in the Flames end and took off down the ice with Byron and Monahan racing alongside (from the overhead camera it looked like Monahan was very nearly offside); past the blue line he fired a pass to Byron, who tipped it to Monahan, gliding beside a wide-open net. Bam! 2-0.

The Flames made a few great defensive plays on Jeff Skinner late in the third to preserve their lead. During their offensive action Carolina tried to pull Khudobin, but he had barely made it to the bench when he was forced to race back; the Byron-Monahan-Colborne line, on fire tonight, had forced their way back into the Carolina end and very nearly scored a third goal. They managed to pull him shortly afterward, though, and poor Lee Stempniak hit the post as squarely as one can hit it on the empty net. His time is coming, it's coming ...

Karri Ramo made a wild save in the dying seconds to preserve his first-ever shutout in the NHL, earning him the hard hat for the evening and the probable starter position for the Flames' visit to Nashville tomorrow. It was a terrific performance that saw him make 23 saves, including a handful of highlight reel moments. And it was fun! The whole time!

Other things:

• The Canes have the most shorthanded goals in the league, so the Flames did a great job keeping the pressure on when they had a powerplay, continuing to generate shots and keep the puck out of their own zone.
• The Byron-Monahan-Colborne line was flat-out awesome. The fourth line wasn't, but what do you expect from McGrattan and Westgarth.
• Calgary is now 9-5-2 when they score first.
• The Canes have the lowest number of fighting majors in the league, which helped this game end up being much more fun to watch—more skating, less stoppage. I think Calgary looked great here without bothering to get too scrappy (they were still physical and laid down a lot of hits, but kept the action moving, which was a welcome change from the last few stinkers).
• Monahan is currently 11th in rookie scoring with 13 goals and 6 assists.

(sparkles by Ari!)

That was a good one, Flames. Thanks.

Next game action happens tomorrow night against the Predators; puck drops at 6:00 MT! Be sure to drop in during the day for our game previews and chat.

For the second time this season, the Carolina Hurricanes couldn't solve the Calgary Flames, losing 3-0 at PNC Arena and suffering their second consecutive shutout defeat.

The Carolina Hurricanes got Eric Staal, Jiri Tlusty and Riley Nash back in the lineup for Tuesday’s home game vs. the Flames, but they could not find their scoring touch. For the second straight game, the Canes were held scoreless and dropped to 19-18-9 and seventh place in the Metropolitan Division, four points out of third in the division and three out of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Three Observations

1. With Jay Harrison out of the lineup, the Hurricanes lacked some toughness in their lineup, and the Flames took advantage. Shane O’Brien pestered the Hurricanes and tried to goad Brett Bellemore into a fight several times, a tradeoff that wouldn't have made sense given that Bellemore plays in a top-four role and O’Brien is a 10-minute-a-night agitator. Which raises a larger issue: the Hurricanes lack the kind of grit and toughness that allows them to dictate play — see Monday’s game and the loss at Columbus — and Jim Rutherford needs to address the fact that the Canes’ last two "agitators" were Chad LaRose and Nathan Gerbe.

2. So how does Rutherford correct this problem? He needs to go and get a gritty player who can contribute in ways other than fighting (ie. not another Kevin Westgarth). Who better than Steve Ott, the Buffalo captain who is overpaid ($3.2 million salary this year and next, $2.95 million cap hit) but could be exactly what the doctor ordered for the oft-uninspired Hurricanes? The Hurricanes need a player like Ott, and also haven't found an answer at third-line center. With Ryan Miller likely headed elsewhere, couldn't the Hurricanes package Justin Peters and a pick or prospect to get Ott? It's a move worth exploring, and perhaps even doing as soon as possible.

3. Carolina’s 26th-ranked power play is much discussed and oft-maligned, but the penalty kill has been just as inefficient this season. At 79 percent, the Hurricanes’ shorthanded unit is 25th in the league. While the team’s league-leading eight shorthanded goals are more than half the number of power play goals (13) the team has this season and help bolster the penalty kill’s reputation, it doesn't mask Carolina’s mediocre kill rate. The Flames opened the scoring on the power play and it proved to be the game-winning goal.

Number To Know

8:05 — Minutes for Tuomo Ruutu, whose role with Carolina seems to be slipping away as the Hurricanes get healthier. Ruutu finished with no hits and can't seem to find a home on any line. With $5 million left on his contract for two more years, it's doubtful Ruutu is going anywhere. So if he's going to be in the lineup, he needs to be physical and hope he finds a way to contribute.

Plus

Anton Khudobin— Khudobin was Carolina’s best player, keeping the Hurricanes in the game while his teammates failed to generate a sustained attack. Despite back-to-back losses — his first defeats this season — Khudobin still sits at 6-2 with a .935 save percentage and 2.02 goals-against average.

Minus

Riley Nash — In his first game back, Nash played only 6:06 and didn't see the ice in the game’s final 23-plus minutes. Perhaps Nash wasn't ready to get back in the lineup, but his benching and Kirk Muller’s late-game line shuffling further expose the fact that Carolina is lacking a No. 3 center.

If Carolina's recent slide with back-to-back shutouts isn't bad enough, the issue is compounded by the play of rest of the Eastern Conference. The polar vortex has hit the Canes offense, while most of the Eastern Conference is warm and toasty since the new year.

It was a week of highs and lows for the Carolina Hurricanes. The scored a season high 6 goals in a blowout victory over the Maple Leafs and followed that up being blanked by the Blue Jackets and Flames. 1 and 2 is a poor week, but it's made even worse by the rest of the Eastern Conference. While the West is certainly the best, since 2014 rolled around, the East has had it's day in the sun. Since January 1st, the Eastern Conference is 56-30-12 overall and 27-11-3 against the Western Conference. Only 2 teams in the conference have records below NHL .500 since the 1st and both of those are currently in the playoff picture. And the teams the Canes are competing against for playoff position (teams within 5 points of the Canes) are 26-13-5 this month. So Carolina needs to recover quickly, start scoring again and put W's in the win column if they have any hope of ending their playoff drought. Here are the stats for the week of 1/8/14 through 1/14/14.

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

• Jordan Staal - It's tough finding 3 good players when you only have 1 win and 2 shutouts, but Jordan had quite a game against Toronto and was solid in the other 2 games. He led the team with 4 points, 3 assists and tied for the team led at +2. He was also tied for 5th on the team in shots and was 2nd in hits with 6. He was on the ice for 4 Carolina goals and 0 goals against. The 0 goals against is especially impressive due to his role going up against the opponents top line. His All Situations possession numbers were quite good, ranking in the top 5 in each category. His 5 on 5 Close possession numbers did take a dip, but he was pretty average for the team. His faceoff numbers were really good, having to take a more significant role with Eric Staal out, he posted a 61.8% win percentage. This is the Jordan the Canes traded for and the one they want to see more often.
• John-Michael Liles - Liles again had a solid week and was able to score a goal against his former team. That in itself is probably worth it's weight in gold to him. Liles also tied for the team high +2, was 2nd with 6 blocked shots, tied for 5th in hits and tied for 3rd in takeaways. Like Jordan, Liles was on the ice for 4 goals for and 0 against. Even though it is a only 6 games, he leads the Canes for the season with a +7. Liles was also the top defenseman in 4 of the 6 possession categories, finishing as the 2nd best defenseman in the other 2 categories. All of his possession numbers are above 57% and one of the most surprising things is that he had the highest percentage of defensive zone starts of any defenseman. While this trade might have been a swap of extra defensemen when it happened, Liles is really appearing to be a good piece for the Hurricanes.
• Elias Lindholm - Lindholm came back from the World Juniors feeling confident and it translated in his first game back. He scored a PP goal and added 2 assists for his 2nd 3 point game in 5 games for him (even though there was a month between those games). He was 2nd on the team in points and assists. Lindholm also 3rd in shots and tied for 3rd in blocked shots. He also averaged over 15 minutes a game and had 5 possession stats 50% and above. While consistency still isn't there for this rookie, you can see his game coming around. It appears that Lindholm will be a special player in this league, the question is when is that going to happen on a regular basis.

Who's Not

• Tuomo Ruutu - Ruutu is a really nice guy, but his game has left him and there aren't any signs of it returning. While he didn't always put up points, he could be counted on to do other things. But as this week shows, Ruutu isn't doing the "other things" as much anymore. He only had 3 hits for the week. This guy use to average over 3 hits a game! He isn't as effective on the forecheck and hasn't really been much of a net presence either. All of his All Situations possession numbers were below 45% for the week, ranking in the bottom 6 on the team. His 5 on 5 Close numbers were even worse, they were around 35% and were in the bottom 2 on the team. His -2 for the week had him overtake Eric for the team low and his ice time has been cut to under 12 minutes a game. At this point, I can't see any team trading for him and he might end up being a buyout candidate. I know he made the Finnish Olympic team and it is a honor to respect your country, but it might be best for himself and the Canes for him to respectfully decline and rest his body.
• Alexander Semin - Semin has had a difficult year and it continued this week. He went pointless, was a -1 and tied for a team high 5 giveaways. This team is depending on Semin being a pretty big point producer and come up big when the team needs him to. As in the Calgary game, he had a great opportunity to put the puck in the net or at least create a good scoring chance, he over thought the play, trying to get it to Eric and ended up with a turnover. While his All Situations possession number were good at around 55%, his 5 on 5 Close were horrible. For the season, Semin ranked 2nd on the team in 5 on 5 Close possession numbers, around 52%. This week, all of his numbers were in the 30s, between 12% and 18% lower than his season average. I don't believe injury is a factor anymore, but I'm also not sure what needs to be done to get Semin's game on track. Maybe as someone else suggested, he should go back on a line with Jordan, because he was doing well there.
• Ron Hainsey/Brett Bellemore - The Canes 2nd pairing had a rough week. They combined to go pointless and a -5 for the week. They were not on the ice for any goals for and their Corsi For & Fenwick For numbers were in the low 40s. They were the only defensemen to end up a minus in the Toronto game and their poor decisions resulted in the back breaking 2nd goal against Calgary. Bellemore was saw his time on ice reduced in each of the shutouts and I wouldn't be surprised if he was healthy scratched for one of games this upcoming week. Hainsey continued his poor play, he is now a combined -7 over the past 2 weeks. I thought it might just be a bleep on the radar, but maybe not. This pairing is critical to the Canes and must rediscover their form from earlier in the season. Weeks like this will quickly make Carolina sellers at the trade deadline and that could spell an end for 1 or both of these guys.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• I wish the Canes could have spread out their scoring a little more evenly this week. They only averaged 2.00 goals per game (all from 1 game), that put them tied for 19th in the league. But Anton Khudobin had solid week in net, only allowing 2.00 goals against per game. That was good for a tie for 11th with 4 other teams. Typically that would get the job done most weeks, but not with the consistently inconsistent Canes offense.
• The PP numbers look pretty good for the week, as Carolina went 2 for 9 (22.2%). That was aided by a late 5 on 3 against the Leafs and ended up putting Carolina in 10th place in the NHL.
• The PK on the other hand was worse than normal at 71.4%. They allowed PP goals to 2 teams in the bottom half of the league, but were perfect against a top 5 PP. They even scored their 8th shorthanded goal of the season against the Leafs.
• The Hurricanes finished 5th in the NHL in faceoff percentage at 55.4%. Manny topped the team at 62.2%, Jordan was a close 61.8%, followed by Brett at 57.1%, then Eric at 53.3%, Lindholm came in at 41.2%, Skinner at 38.5% and Nash rounded out the list at 20.0%.
• Carolina finished tied for 2nd in takeaways with 38 and 23rd in hits with 55. The also finished tied 17th in blocks with 43 and 18th in turnover margin at -5.
• The shots for and against were in the Canes favor this week, finishing in the top 10 in both categories. They averaged 31.7 shots per game (7th) and 26.3 shot against per game (tied 8th).
• The possession numbers ticked up some, but are still below where they need to be. The Hurricanes Corsi For was 47.1% and their Fenwick For was 49.5%. The only surprise here is that the Hurricanes usually have a lower Fenwick For than Corsi For.
• Team Stat of the Week - Giveaways - 43 - Carolina was 26th in the NHL in giveaways. They typically are a team that turns the puck over a lot, but at some point they need to adjust. Passing and control the puck are 2 things each player needs to work on during this 4 day break. These turnovers lead to scoring chances, which lead to easy goals. And for a team that has struggled all year offensively, limiting easy scoring chances is key.

Former Canes Weekly Stats