Canes hope they have reached rock bottom with flat performance in Calgary

The Carolina Hurricanes were hoping for a better performance after a disappointing loss in Winnipeg but instead could only muster a total of 16 shots on goal for the game as they were dominated by the Calgary Flames, 5-0 on Thursday night at the Saddledome.

The loss means that the Canes continue to be the only winless team in the league as they fell to 0-4-2.

The team came out with a pretty good showing in the first period, even though they could only get four shots on goal.  Dennis Wideman scored on a long shot from the blueline with 1:48 left in the period and that turned out to be the game-winner.

The wheels came off for Carolina as the second period started and things only got worse as the game went on.

There is not much more to report as the Hurricanes will have to figure out how to regroup and look like a professional hockey team when they play the Oilers in less than 24 hours.

Game Notes:

• The Canes 16 shots on goal is the lowest total in awhile.  They had four shots in the first, seven in the second, and a measly five in the third.
• Faceoff winning percentage dropped to 43% in this game.
• John-Michael Liles played a team high 21:46.  Justin Faulk played 17:11 and was -3.
• Zach Boychuk had a team high five hits.
• Event Summary stat sheet

Three's company

Oilers vs Hurricanes

Today's Goaltenders:

Ben Scrivens (339 mins ESSvPct: .889 SvPct: .879) vs. Anton Khudobin (182 mins ESSvPct: .914 SvPct: .912)

Please put your prediction in the subject line like this: Oilers n - Hurricanes n

Please list the Oilers score first, regardless of the team being home or away.

Make your own prediction and do not comment on anyone else's prediction. Any comments that are not in the format above, or in response to someone else's comment will be deleted.

Points distributed as follows:

Predict both teams correctly: 5 points

Predict the Oilers score correctly: 2 points

Predict the opponent's score correctly: 1 points

Your prediction must be submitted by game time. Submissions posted after game time will be deleted.

Points will be tallied throughout the season, and at season's end, we'll award a prize package to the winner. The prize package consists of:

Jeff Petry autographed puck
Edmonton Oilers puck-shaped rug
A set of (4) Edmonton Oilers draught glasses
Edmonton Oilers reversible knit hat (pictured below)
A set of (2) Edmonton Oilers knit can koozies

*Official rules for this contest can be viewed by clicking on this link.

Good Luck, Go Oilers!

Current standings:

Three's company

Oilers vs Hurricanes

Today's Goaltenders:

Ben Scrivens (339 mins ESSvPct: .889 SvPct: .879) vs. Anton Khudobin (182 mins ESSvPct: .914 SvPct: .912)

Please put your prediction in the subject line like this: Oilers n - Hurricanes n

Please list the Oilers score first, regardless of the team being home or away.

Make your own prediction and do not comment on anyone else's prediction. Any comments that are not in the format above, or in response to someone else's comment will be deleted.

Points distributed as follows:

Predict both teams correctly: 5 points

Predict the Oilers score correctly: 2 points

Predict the opponent's score correctly: 1 points

Your prediction must be submitted by game time. Submissions posted after game time will be deleted.

Points will be tallied throughout the season, and at season's end, we'll award a prize package to the winner. The prize package consists of:

Jeff Petry autographed puck
Edmonton Oilers puck-shaped rug
A set of (4) Edmonton Oilers draught glasses
Edmonton Oilers reversible knit hat (pictured below)
A set of (2) Edmonton Oilers knit can koozies

*Official rules for this contest can be viewed by clicking on this link.

Good Luck, Go Oilers!

Current standings:

Oilers look for third consecutive victory as winless Canes roll into town

	@
0-4-2, 2 points, .333 p/g	Ranks	2-4-1, 5 points, .705p/g
Eastern Conference - 15th		Western Conference - 12th
26th	P/G	29th
30th	ST	22md
30th	ES	28th
28th	Goal	30th

"I thought we had a good first period.  I thought we were fine in the second period.  But in the third period, we started to back up...we started to play that back-up game and oh, you don't want to do that.  We just don't want to play that way.  You can see what happens when you back up and play safe.  Safe is going to kill you.  We want to play intelligent with the lead.

The Opponent is saying

"There's gonna be things that go wrong each and every night, it's how you react that's important"

This is probably going to be one of the most dominating games the Flames will have all season.

It took the Flames a couple of minutes to get into the game, but once they were there, they never looked back. They led in shot attempts for most of the game, and scoring on a number of them gave them a comfortable lead that while the Hurricanes improved as the game went on, they were never really a threat to get back in it. Via HockeyStats:

Yeah - the Canes weren't able to match the Flames' output, and subsequently, lost very handily. It wasn't total dominance for the Flames throughout the entire game, though. Going period by period, via NaturalStatTrick:

Flames vs Hurricanes - All Situations

• The Hurricanes did not have a good first period.
• They had an okay second period. But the Flames scored twice really early into the second, so, score effects.
• And then they had a pretty decent third period, but they were down 5-0 for nearly its entirety, so... yeah, it genuinely didn't matter by that point. The Flames were also clearly blocking a ton of shots, which shows two things: 1. They went into a defensive shell, and 2. They were committed to protecting the lead. Good sign!
• All in all what looked like a flat out dominating effort by the Flames looks a little less so when we go period by period, but that's because the Flames could let off the gas and not suffer for it. For example, normally we can count on TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano to play around 25 minutes a game, and the bottom pairing - now Ladislav Smid and Deryk Engelland - much less than that, but last night, all defenders played about 20 minutes.

Flames vs Hurricanes - Even Strength

• The Flames had one powerplay in the first, both teams had powerplays in the second, and the Hurricanes had one powerplay in the third. So it makes sense the Flames' stats dropped a bit in the first, and things balanced out for both teams in the second.
• The Hurricanes actually performed better at even strength in the third period, but we saw they couldn't get anything going during their powerplay, and the Flames probably generated more scoring chances overall in it. That's reflected here.

Even Strength Corsi Data

• Kris Russell had a 94.12% FF last night. That is absolutely insane. He was on the upper echelon for Flames zone starts, but still... The Hurricanes only got one shot, whether it was on net or missed, towards the Flames net when Kris Russell was on the ice at even strength. One. That's nuts.
• His partner, Dennis Wideman, also had some of the top possession stats of the game, but wasn't quite as good as Russell was. Probably safe to say Russell's the #3 and Wideman's the #4 by this point.
• Carrying on with great possession numbers: Paul Byron. Relatively good zone starts. One of the Flames' best players. Again. It doesn't seem to matter who you play him with or where; no matter what, Byron's going to give you a really good performance.
• His linemate, Curtis Glencross, is up there as well. Matt Stajan lags behind a bit, but hey, the line looked good last night; their percentages confirm this. Byron in particular, though, is just nuts.
• Fourth line! They all played roughly the same amount of time. Brandon Bollig made it out with the best possession stats, but middling zone starts; Lance Bouma got the strongest zone starts on the team, and wasn't far behind Bollig possession-wise; and Josh Jooris, the rookie, received relatively poor zone starts, but still put together a pretty good effort. They didn't face top competition, but they matched up well with who they had to face (which, considering Carolina's current injury predicament, were kind of just AHL players). But hey - two games in a row now Bollig's played in beneficial circumstances and hasn't performed poorly! Improvement!
• Jumping to a forward line that had strongish zone starts: Johnny Gaudreau played in some of the best circumstances available for the team (a far cry from the previous outing, where he started 0% of his shifts in the offensive zone; now it's 50%), and came away with relatively poor possession stats. But while his fellow rookie, Jooris, performed well, Gaudreau played about three additional minutes against tougher competition, so.
• Mason Raymond got hit relatively hard as well, while Mikael Backlund had the best possession stats of the trio despite starting in the offensive zone the least (this isn't surprising. Backlund's established himself as a great possession player and shutdown guy already, and he saw a lot of Alexander Semin).
• Poor possession: the bottom D pairing, Engelland and Smid. Well, they're the third pairing and didn't receive zone starts as beneficial as Russell and Wideman. Eh.
• Meanwhile, Brodie and Gio had among the worst zone starts on the team, top competition. Both came out above 50%, yet again, because they're both very good.
• That just leaves the line that combined for two goals and six points. Jiri Hudler, Joe Colborne, and Sean Monahan all received poor zone starts - Colborne especially - and hence, are towards the bottom of the team's possession spectrum. Understandable, and the goals are still, of course, very nice.
• Curious with Colborne, though, that he had the worst starts of the trio and yet came out above 50%, something neither of his linemates could do. He played the most out of the three of them as well. Huh.

Player Spotlight - Kris Russell

Even with somewhat helpful zone starts, Russell had a monster game and I am curious to see just how well he interacted with his teammates on the ice.

• So there are the culprits. Russell was sharing the ice with Bollig, Wideman, Jooris, and Bouma when that one fenwick got by him at even strength. Shame on the fourth line. Shame on them.
• So, Russell and Wideman only spent about three minutes apart while at even strength. They seemed to perform really, really well together. And by "seemed" I mean "did". Yup, that pairing's probably staying together.
• The forwards he spent most of his time with were the fourth line and Stajan's line. Playing with the fourth line had next to no impact on him (he marginally improved when away from Jooris, but that's about it; also, that one fenwick). Which means he also saw the fourth line's competition, but hey: they didn't hurt him, and he didn't hurt them.
• As for Glencross - Stajan - Byron, he fared better when with them. Byron especially. For five minutes the two shared the ice and the Hurricanes didn't get a single shot attempt. That's insane. It is, of course, an extremely small sample size, which is why it can be insane, but it's insane nevertheless.
• Russell primarily played against Riley Nash, Justin Faulk, and Tim Gleason; not exactly the AHLers of the group, but not exactly star players. Jeff Skinner was one of the players he saw the least of, and he only shared the ice with Semin for about four seconds, for example, to give you an idea of the kind of competition he was facing. A repeat performance definitely can't be expected, but hey, he was a possession standout in a 5-0 blowout. Nothing wrong with that.

The tiny sample size of this being just one game (and an anomaly of a game at that; the Flames only get to play the Hurricanes once more, and they may have the Staals back by then; and how many times do you think this team is gonna win 5-0, anyway?) makes all of this virtually meaningless. But it's fun to look at, and shows that, at least if given favourable circumstances, Russell is capable of taking them and running. He's not on Brodie or Giordano's level, but at least for now, he's the next best thing the Flames have.

Rear View Mirror. On to Edmonton.

Carolina Hurricanes at Edmonton Oilers
October 24, 2014 - 9:30 pm ET
Rexall Place - Edmonton, AB
TV - Fox Sports South
Radio - 99.9 FM The Fan
SB Nation Rival Blog - Copper & Blue

Fancy Stats

Game Notes

• The Canes are now on pace for a 27-point season.
• Edmonton started out winless in five but is now on a two-game winning streak, their most recent a 3-2 home win over the Capitals on Wednesday night. Taylor Hall leads the team in scoring with six points (4g, 2a), and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has goals in each of the last two games.
• The Oilers won both their games against the Canes last season. But if I recall correctly, the Canes did have some success against the Oilers a few years back. So I guess that's a good thing.
• Here's a flashback, to the last time the Canes beat the Oilers. It was Wednesday, December 7th, 2011. The Canes were coming off a loss to the Calgary Flames the night before, Kirk Muller was looking for his first win as an NHL head coach, and the Canes were able to deliver in Edmonton with Jeff Skinner picking up first star honors.  Perhaps history can repeat itself tonight (except the part where Chad LaRose scores the game-winner, shorthanded).
• Anton Khudobin will get the start in net tonight. Assuming Jay Harrison and Brett Bellemore rotate back into the line-up, we'll find out later which defensemen will sit in their place.
• That's all I got, folks.

Projected line-ups

Hurricanes (from last night's game)

Injuries: Jordan Staal (IR broken fibula), Eric Staal (IR upper body), Patrick Dwyer (IR lower body), Nathan Gerbe (DTD lower body)

Oilers (from team website)

Injuries and Scratches: Luke Gazdic (WTW shoulder), Viktor Fasth (IR groin)

Broadcast is on Fox Sports South again tonight (check here for the broadcast guide for Raleigh market providers). We'll have the game thread up by 9:00 pm. See you there.

The Winnipeg Jets face off at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight.

The Winnipeg Jets (2-4-0; 27th place in the league) broke their losing streak with their win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night and will try to add another win to their record tonight when the Tampa Bay Lightning (4-2-1; ninth place in the league) visit them at home.

The game is being broadcast on TSN3 (MTS channel 22, Shaw 238).

Lineups

Winnipeg Jets

Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Dustin Byfuglien

Mathieu Perreault - Mark Scheifele - Blake Wheeler

TJ Galiardi - Adam Lowry - Michael Frolik

Chris Thorburn - Jim Slater - Matt Halischuk

Tobias Enstrom - Zach Bogosian

Mark Stuart - Jacob Trouba

Grant Clitsome - Paul Postma

Ondrej Pavelec

Michael Hutchinson

Tampa Bay Lightning

Jonathan Drouin - Valtteri Filppula - Steven Stamkos

Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Brett Connolly

Nikita Kucherov - Vladislav Namestnikov - Cedric Paquette

Brenden Morrow - Brian Boyle - J.T. Brown

Anton Stralman - Matthew Carle

Radko Gudas - Jason Garrison

Andrej Sustr - Eric Brewer

Ben Bishop

Evgeni Nabokov

Players to Watch

Adam Lowry scored his first NHL goal and was named second star of the game in the Jets win over Carolina on Tuesday. I think he's been a nice, consistent presence this season so far and am curious to see if he's able to follow up his first goal with his second NHL goal in tonight's game.

On the other end of the ice, it's Steven Stamkos. It's always Steven Stamkos. Stamkos is Tampa Bay. Stamkos is everything.

Game note

While the Jets colors are primarily blue and silver, I hope to see nothing but a sea of red tonight at the arena to show support for our troops and honour the life of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo.

Carolina cannot buy a break and the losing streak continues in Edmonton

After a scoreless first period where the Carolina Hurricanes had 15 shots on goal, the Edmonton Oilers exploded for four goals in the third period and defeated the winless Canes, 6-3 at Rexall Place on Friday night.

Jeff Skinner, Riley Nash, and Jay Harrison tallied the goals for the Hurricanes, who are now 0-5-2 for the season.

Both teams played a pretty even game until half way through the second period when the Oilers' Jordan Eberle got a perfect pass from Taylor Hall on a 2-on-1 break to make it 1-0.  Hall created a turnover on the play when he tipped a Harrison pass to create the odd man rush.

The Canes tied it up though just a bit later when Nash tipped in a Justin Faulk shot from the point.

The home team took the lead once again a minute and change later when Anton Khudobin failed to corral a rebound and Jesse Joensuu shoved the loose puck in the net to make it, 2-1.

The Canes were more resilient in this game though and Skinner would tie things up, 2-2 with 2:02 left in the second with a nice move and shot to the front of the net.

The Oilers would get a couple of breaks in the third period, first, when it appeared that Brett Bellemore was slashed as the puck was taken from him.  Eberle broke in all alone to beat Khudobin in close.  The Canes bench argued the no-call loudly and were promptly called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

After they killed that penalty, Carolina would tie the game one more time when Harrison fired in a blast from the blueline.  Jay McClement created the play by stealing the puck from goalie Ben Scrivens from behind the net.

The Oilers would take the lead for good when Tim Gleason had his stick taken from him and lost his man as he went to the bench for another.  Rookie, Leon Draisaitl scored his first career goal when he found himself all alone in front of the Carolina net.  Khudobin made the initial save by using his glove to knock down the point blank shot, but the rookie tapped in the rebound to make it 4-3, and that was the game-winner.

Edmonton scored twice more, one on an empty-netter to close out the scoring.

All in all, it was a better effort by Carolina, but it was not good enough and they still had some loose play in their own end.  Next up will be the Canucks in Vancouver on Tuesday night.

Game Notes:

• Taylor Hall seemed to be everywhere in this game but just finished with one assist for his efforts.  Jordan Eberle had two goals, (his first of the season), and one assist for three points.
• The coaching staff split up Faulk and Sekera in this game and for what it's worth Sekera had a +2 while Faulk was -2.
• After having a lowly 16 shots on goal the night before, the Canes made an effort to put more rubber on the net tonight and had 15 shots in the first period alone.  They finished outshooting the Oilers 30-29 for the game.  Elias Lindholm led the way with four.
• Brett Bellemore had a team best six hits.
• Event Summary stat sheet

The Oilers beat the Hurricanes 6-3 and have a 3 game winning streak going

As good as the final outcome was this was not a game for the Oilers to hang their hats on. On the heels of a 5-0 spanking by the Calgary Flames the night before the Carolina Hurricanes were in rough shape. The Hurricanes came into tonight's contest as the only team in the NHL without a win. This should've been a game the Oilers shone in but it took almost 2 1/2 periods for them to really get going. For the first 50 minutes of the game the two teams seemed evenly matched and if it wasn't for some penalties in favour of the Oilers and couple non-calls against them this could've been a different game.

Highlights

First Period

• 19:43 - RNH tries to hold the zone but loses it and gives CAR a 4 on 2 rush. Jay McClements hits the post
• 19:36 - Hall picks up the loose puck and takes a low shot that Anton Khudobinstops
• 15:00 - Oilers get their 2nd shot (shots are 7 - 2 CAR)
• 12:03 - Oiler PP Belmore Zumin holding PP
• 11:20 - Benoit Pouliot gets in front of a Justin Schultz shot but Khudobin stops it
• 5:37 - Mark Arcobello gets a nice pass over to Pouliot who gets a really good chance from the slot
• 3:54 - Oilers PP - Interference
• 3:28 - Nikita Nikitin to Teddy Purcell for a good shot but no traffic in front of the net so Khudobin made a pretty routine stop
• 2:30 - Pouliot makes a pass to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who quickly passed it back Pouliot who then passes it back to Nugent-Hopkins. Nugent-Hopkins finally tries to take the shot but it's blocked. This all happened within a couple of feet of each other. (it was a very strange sequence)

Second Period

• 17:39 - Schultz pulls Brad Malone down Oilers PK
• 14:10 - Jiri Tlusty hits the post from a sharp angle but it almost fools Ben Scrivens
• 13:26 - Jordan Eberle gets a great chance in close but puts his backhand off of the post
• 11:32 - Zach Boychuk takes a shot from the circle that gets stopped even though Chris Terry plows down Scrivens. No call on the play.
• 10:17 - GOAL Hall starts this off with a good forecheck on Jay Harrison as he tries to clear the puck. The clearing attempt knocks Hall's stick out of his hand but the puck goes straight to Eberle. Eberle makes a pass at the blue line to Hall. Eberle moves in behind the defender and Hall makes a perfect pass to Ebs with a wide open net.
• 9:41 - Hall puts a shot on net. Nugent-Hopkins can't get the rebound.
• 4:59 - Tlusty gets a great chance and Scrivens kicks the puck out. It goes to Alexander Semin with an open net but Scrivens makes the stop.
• 4:52 - GOALJustin Faulk takes a shot from the point that gets tipped by Riley Nash and makes its way to the back of the net
• 3:15 - GOAL Nikitin takes a shot from the side boards that Khubodin has a tough time handling. Jesse Joensuu is there to bury the rebound.
• 2:04 - GOALMartin Marincin is draped all over Jeff Skinner with the puck. The ref signals a penalty but Skinner takes the shot from up high and beats Scrivens high glove side.

Third Period

• 17:02 - Elias Lindholm takes a holding penalty on Nugent-Hopkins
• 16:55 - Purcell gets a great pass over to Yak but shoots wide on the one timer
• 15:34 - GOAL Pouliout breaks his stick on Brett Bellmore but no penalty is called. Eberle retrieves the puck at the face off dot and scores glove side.
• 15:34 - Oilers PP (Bench minor to Carolina for complaining about the missed call)
• 12:51 - The puck bounced weirdly for Scrivens couldn't control it. As it was bouncing towards the empty net Jeff Petry swiped it away.
• 12:10 - GOAL Scrivens plays the puck behind the net but misreads the play, McClement gets the loose puck behind the net and tries the wrap around but can't control it. The puck goes to the point and Harrison buries it from the point.
• 9:54 - Khubodin makes a pass behind the net but Hendricks forces the defender to cough it up to Joensuu who has a wide open net. But shoots it wide.
• 8:58 - Terry gets sprung at centre ice but Fayne makes a phenomenal defenensive play to break it up.
• 7:08 - GOALDavid Perron gets covered by 3 Hurricanes on the half boards leaving Leon Draisaitl wide open in the slot. Draisaitl takes the initial shot which is stopped but picks up his own rebound to score his first NHL goal
• 6:33 - Hall streaks down the left side. Gets a pass over to Eberle but the puck bounces over his stick.
• 5:25 - Semin retrieves the puck from a scrum and gets a great shot but Scrivens makes the glove save.
• 4:11 - GOAL Schultz blasts a shot from the point that is stopped but Nugent-Hopkins buries the rebound.
• 2:23 - Carolina pulls their goalie.
• 1:27 - GOALMatt Hendricks scores on the empty net.

Thoughts

• The Oilers top line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle dominated in the offensive zone
• Its nice to have a fourth line that doesn't just leak chances against
• It was nice to see Draisaitl get his first NHL goal

This wasn't the prettiest win the Oilers have put together but it is nice to finally see them winning games they should be winning.

Wow, that went really high.

Brandon Bollig has been there before.

Having won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2012, Bollig knows that a champion needs to do anything -- and I mean anything -- to get the job done. And that's exactly what he displayed on Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes.

With the Flames already up by two goals, Bollig was lurking around the slot during an extended stay in the offensive zone. Looking for a chance to score, Bollig saw Patrick Brown, a Hurricanes forward, making his way into the play.

Well, Bollig would be damned if he'd let any 'Cane put their greasy sticks on his puck. So he did the only thing he could do; he flung Patrick Brown's stick really high into the sky:

Not only does Bollig take Brown out of the play but he jumps on the loose puck and attempts a shot on net.

If that isn't veteran leadership ... then I don't know what is.

Post-script:

I'd be remised if I didn't acknowledge how hilarious Brown's sheer lack of astonishment is that his stick has been forcibly ripped out of his hands. Please take a moment to solely focus on his reaction. Also, is anyone else surprised how easily Bollig flipped Brown's stick? I feel like it shouldn't have been that easy.

The Flames are one of the first teams in the league to play 10 games this season. What's up, schedule makers?

It's Hockey Night in Canada! In the night's final game, the Calgary Flames are hosting the Washington Capitals, 8 p.m. MT, Scotiabank Saddledome, with Bob Cole (!) on the call. This is the third game of a five-game homestand for Calgary, while the Capitals are doing a simple western Canadian road swing before returning home.

The Flames are coming off a great 5-0 win from Thursday, Oct. 23, in which they thrashed a still winless Carolina Hurricanes squad. This is not your Connor McDavid tank team. Sean Monahan finally got on board by potting his first two goals of the year, while Matt Stajan and Lance Bouma scored their firsts, and Dennis Wideman continued his hot streak by scoring his fourth goal of the season, matching his last year's total. Jonas Hiller got the Flames' first shutout of the year. | Recap | Fancy stats recap | Boxscore | What a great game for Flames highlights:

The Capitals, meanwhile, have had a couple of days off since falling to the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 back on Wednesday, Oct. 22 (shame on them). During that time they've gone curling and Alex Ovechkin apparently did some shopping:

More substantial information about the Caps can probably be found at Japers' Rink.

Game time: 8 p.m. MT

Channel: Your standard CBC channel, since it's the final HNiC game of the day.

All-time record: The Flames have a 41-32-13-1 all-time record against the Caps, because they are better than them. With a goal differential of +45. Because better. Shh.

Common thread: Dennis Wideman. Once upon a time he was a Cap. He played 96 games for them, and scored 12 goals and 53 points over that time. Then the Flames traded for his rights, and tonight will be his 101st game with us. He has scored 14 goals and 48 points over that time. May he get an ovechtrick tonight.

Obtainable milestones: Kris Russell needs one assist to get to 100; Dennis Wideman needs one point to get to 300.

Current records and leaders

Probable starting lineups

Be sure to come back and join us in our GameThread, up around 7:30 p.m. MT!

A recap of the last two games over the weekend and some news & notes.

Iowa hosted the Charlotte Checkers twice, Friday and last night.

In the first matchup, John Curry got his second start of the season. Phil Di Giuseppe opened the score just 1:24 into the game. Former Minnesota Wild invitee Carter Sandlak scored his first AHL goal to make it 2-0 Checkers. Charlotte added another goal before the end of the first period.

Jordan Schroeder got the Wild on board with his first goal of the season from Zack Phillips and Alex Gudbranson. That was the lone goal of the second period. In the third, Brock McGinn and Chad LaRose scored for the Checkers to end the hope of a potential comeback. The Wild lost 5-1 and Curry made 20 saves. Game highlights.

Last night, Johan Gustafsson was in net. Schroeder scored an early goal to open the score. Phillips gave the Wild a 2-0 lead with his first of the season. Then, Schroeder got his second goal of the night before the end of the first period. It should be noted that Guillaume Gelinas got his first career AHL point on the third goal. Iowa outshot Charlotte 14-6 after one period.

After a scoreless second, Greg Nemisz got one for the Checkers early in the third. Kurtis Gabriel sealed the deal with an empty net goal at the end of the game. The Wild beat the Checkers 4-1 and finally got their first win of the season. Gustafsson was solid making 34 saves. Game highlights.

The Wild will be in Milwaukee on Wednesday night, then in Oklahoma City to play the Barons Saturday and Sunday.

News & Notes:

-Gustav Olofsson will miss up to four months according to Mike Russo. He's had a shoulder surgery.

-John Curry made his 200th AHL appearance in Friday night's game.

-Ryan Walters made his debut last night.

-Corbin Baldwin was assigned to the Alaska Aces.

-Park gives Iowa a new advantage. Tom Witosky with another great article worth reading.

-Iowa is currently 1-5-0 this season.

The Carolina Hurricanes remained the NHL’s only winless team after they dropped back-to-back games in Calgary and Edmonton.

The Carolina Hurricanes are slowly returning to health, but that hasn't made a difference on the scoreboard. The Canes were blanked in Calgary Thursday, 5-0, then the Oilers pulled away in the third period Friday for a 6-3 win, dropping Carolina to 0-5-2 on the season.

Three Observations

1. Swedish forwards Elias Lindholm and Victor Rask have struggled to put up points through seven games. The duo has combined for just one assist this season despite each averaging nearly 17 minutes a night and an identical 2:25 of power play time per game. For Lindholm, it's a bump in the road for a player that is penciled in as part of Carolina's future. But Rask — who had such a fantastic September — needs to make an impression if he wants to avoid a demotion back to Charlotte as the Hurricanes get players back from injury.

2. In a bit of good news, Jeff Skinner seems no worse for wear in returning from another concussion. While Skinner hasn't been dominant, he seemed OK taking a couple hard hits and even scored his first goal of the year vs. Edmonton, overpowering Martin Marincin and depositing a perfect shot past Ben Scrivens.

3. Outside of Andrej Sekera, it's hard to say who belongs in the lineup on Carolina’s blue line on any given night. Ryan Murphy has been shuttled in and out but is probably worthy of being in each night. Justin Faulk won't sit just based on how he is capable of playing, but he continues to be shaky. Ron Hainsey has had his footspeed exposed a couple times, while Jay Harrison brought some good (a goal and an assist) with some bad (penalty and a blown coverage) against the Oilers. John-Michael Liles is an offensive specialist who is yet to contribute much on the scoresheet, while Brett Bellemore and Tim Gleason seem to fill the same role and do so averagely, at best. Coach Bill Peters will probably be best served by playing his young players often and seeing if there's a future for them in his system.

Number To Know

27 — Penalty minutes for Harrison this season, the most in the NHL heading in to Sunday’s games. Harrison has the league-leading amount despite playing just six games so far. He has six minors, one major penalty and a misconduct, and has been in the box in every game he's played but one (vs. Buffalo). He had just 44 PIMs in 68 games last season and his career high is 72 (in 72 games in 2010-11).

Plus

Jay McClement— No Hurricanes player has had more prime scoring chances this season than McClement. Unfortunately, his hands don't seem to keep up with his ability to make the smart play and be in the right place at the right time. All that being said, McClement has lived up to his billing even though he has been forced to play more than originally intended due to injuries down the middle. If Eric Staal can return to the lineup Tuesday, McClement should be on the fourth line where he belongs and make the Hurricanes more stable at center.

Minus

Anton Khudobin— The chance to win was there for Khudobin Saturday, but he struggled to close the door on the Oilers and dropped to 0-3-1 on the season. Carolina's issues go well beyond goaltending, but they absolutely need their goalies to make the important saves. Right now neither are, and if Khudobin wants to prove he's a No. 1 goalie the pressure is on him to show it.

The Captain returns tonight. Can he lead the Canes to their first win?

Carolina Hurricanes at Vancouver Canucks
October 28, 2014 - 10:00 pm ET
Rogers Arena - Vancouver, BC
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 FM The Fan
SB Nation Rival Blog - Nucks Misconduct

Fancy Stats

Game Notes

• Eric Staal returns to the Hurricanes line-up tonight, and by the time the game wraps up in Vancouver, it will be October 29th in the Eastern time zone and he'll be celebrating his 30th birthday. It would be a nice present not only for him but for all Canes fans willing to stay up late for the team to close out this Western Conference road trip with a 'W'. There's a precedent here. The last time the Canes went out west on an extended road trip they eked out a win in their last game (vs. Sharks 3/4/14).
• On Sunday morning, after Saturday's win by the Sabres, the Canes officially found themselves at the bottom of the NHL standings, dead last, or alternatively, first in the McEichel standings. Seven straight winless games is a franchise worst season start (previous record was five winless in 2003-04).
• The line-up below is as the team practiced yesterday. The captain's return bumped Victor Rask to a fourth line role. Nathan Gerbe and Patrick Dwyer remain out although both saw some practice time with the team yesterday, still in no-contact jerseys. Justin Faulk and Andrej Sekera were reunited on the blue line.
• Jeff Skinner is two goals shy of 100 NHL career goals, and Alexander Semin is four points away from 500 NHL career points.
• The Canucks are off to a solid start under new head coach Willie Desjardins. They defeated the Capitals on Sunday night, so the Canes won't be catching the brunt of a team coming off a "motivational speech".
• As far as a scouting report on the Canucks, I can't do any better than the words of a guy who covers the team daily. Check out Harrison Mooney from the Vancouver Sun, joining Section 328 on their Cheaters Never Win podcast last week (34-minute mark). It's good stuff.
• In addition to the always-reliable Sedins, former Cane Radim Vrbata (10 points) and Nick Bonino (7 points) are two newcomers that are fitting in well with solid offensive production.
• Though neither starting goaltender is confirmed, reports coming out of yesterday's practice suggest that Cam Ward and Ryan Miller will be facing each other in net.

Projected line-ups

Hurricanes (from yesterday's practice)

Injuries: Jordan Staal (IR broken fibula), Patrick Dwyer (IR lower body), Nathan Gerbe (DTD lower body)

Canucks (from team website)

Injuries and Scratches: Ryan Stanton (IR groin), Frank Corrado, Tom Sestito, Bo Horvat

The game is back on FS Carolinas tonight. Stay up with us. We'll have the game thread ready by 9:30 pm. See you there.

Tonight's game is an opportunity for many around the Hurricanes, not the least of whom is the man behind the bench.

Were Bill Peters to have known about the multiple curveballs he's been thrown in the first four weeks of his tenure as an NHL head coach, one would think he would have run from the Carolina Hurricanes as fast as possible the other way.

Injuries to, quite literally, two-thirds of his projected top six? Check. Shaky goaltending? Check. Defense that would make a pee-wee coach cringe? Check. Requisite comments about Alexander Semin's salary? Check.

Maybe the best thing for him to do is just to ignore the first seven games of his NHL coaching career. Tonight, Eric Staal returns to the lineup, and from this point forward it's the first night of the rest of Peters' career.

Sure, an 0-5-2 record heading into tonight's road trip finale at the Vancouver Canucks is nothing to be proud of, and Peters and GM Ron Francis both knew that this was going to be a tough season. All but the most optimistic of Canes fans knew that it was going to be a tall order to even make a legitimate push for the playoffs this year, and with their Sports Club Stats number already under 10%, that is likely to be the case. (Even a .500 record the rest of the way won't do the trick.)

Peters will never admit it, because that's not his style. But his team has done him no favors so far, and the repeated and numerous injuries don't help things. So, I'll admit it for him: he's been dealt a bad hand, and he doesn't deserve to be judged on that basis. Beginning tonight, he has the opportunity to rewrite the script that so far has more resembled one from a horror movie than a heartwarming story of overcoming adversity.

Peters has done what he can to put the players he has in positions where they can succeed, and in fits and starts they have. The problem is that NHL hockey is notoriously unforgiving even in good circumstances, and in adversity it's even tougher to maintain that high level of production. Having proven quantities like Staal and Jeff Skinner back in the fold, even if they're not on fire, can only help. No longer will the likes of Victor Rask and Zach Boychuk be counted on for top-six minutes and primary scoring, which is a good thing.

The Charlotte Checkers are going through the same problems on the AHL level, off to their worst start since affiliating with the Hurricanes five years ago, while suffering historically low levels of production. That's not to say that Jeff Daniels is responsible; they're dealing with the same issues that the Hurricanes are. Injuries are going to happen, but when they happen this quickly, not to mention early in the season when a team is still starting to grab a foothold, it causes problems that cascade through multiple levels of the organization.

Tonight, the Hurricanes can put a bad road trip behind them with a solid showing against a shaky Canucks team and return home on Saturday in a good frame of mind. For the team, it's an opportunity.

For Bill Peters, it serves as a rare chance to rewrite the nascent narrative.

Jack Capuano is using the unique skills of John Tavares and Kyle Okposo to keep their opponents off balance.

So much of what NHL teams learn about one another is discovered on tape. Preparation, especially against teams with some of the top skill players in the league, is done in the film room before the puck ever drops.

The only problem for teams trying to study the New York Islanders -- and primarily their top offensive weapons, John Tavares and Kyle Okposo -- is that there's not too much to learn.

Returning this season after tearing both his MCL and meniscus in last year's Olympics, Tavares has the Islanders poised to play postseason hockey in the Nassau Coliseum's final year. Where the Islanders get their offense from isn't much of a secret, and it's not as if opposing teams struggle with deployment of their shutdown defensemen against the Isles.

While most teams have tendencies or habits that their opponents can identity and game plan against, Jack Capuano's club relies on planned chaos, making it so hard to predict anything about Nos. 91 and 21 and helping them excel in any situation.

One line, but two faceoff threats

During his days at the University of Minnesota, Okposo centered the Golden Gophers' top line. Yet since turning pro and joining the Islanders, Okposo has played almost exclusively on the right side. Still, that hasn't stopped him from taking and winning a very high number of draws for a winger, and is a wrinkle in what the Islanders do quite well.

To date, this chart shows the breakdown of the different situations and zones in which Tavares and Okposo have taken their faceoffs this season, almost exclusively with both players on the ice.

The Islanders power play has been converting at a strong 23.3 percent clip (yet only 10th in the league as of Sunday since it's still early in the year).

One element of their special teams that has buoyed their success has been the variety even on the top unit alone, with Okposo taking 21 offensive zone faceoffs and Tavares taking 11. Considering the Islanders have had 28 power play opportunities, the combined draws between the two players represent most of what the team has taken.

On this power play goal, the Islanders' very first tally of the season, Johnny Boychuk scored off a sequence directly following a faceoff win.

Okposo lined up for this draw in the right circle with Tavares to his right. Everything that followed was choreographed and executed to perfection.

As Okposo leaned in to win the puck, it's pretty clear the play is to move it toward Tavares. But that's not all that's supposed to happen in a matter of seconds. Boychuk, directly behind Okposo, and Ryan Strome at the far point, cycled over and allowed Okposo to peel back toward the blue line. Tavares got the puck and began orchestrating the action.

Tavares worked the puck back to Boychuk, and Okposo made his way toward the top of the zone. Meanwhile, Carolina's penalty killers set up to complete deny the right side, where both of the Islanders' big weapons were situated.

Boychuk fed the puck to Okposo and made his way to the middle of the point. Okposo sent the puck toward the goal and back to Tavares, while the Hurricanes collapsed toward the wall, even with Tavares at an off-angle.

Carolina was completely out of sorts. Two penalty killers were trapped in the right circle, and with Okposo in a shooting posture, they weren't going anywhere. But not only was Boychuk open atop the opposite circle, there's no one in the same area code to step into the shooting lane.

Boychuk received Okposo's pass and had all the time and space to do whatever he wanted. Andrej Sekera was still playing off Tavares, and Jay McClement was in Okposo's hip pocket. The Islanders were able to neutralize two-thirds of Carolina's penalty kill simply with spacing off the faceoff.

While Tavares and Okposo are the centerpieces on special teams, the Islanders can take advantage of the space they create for their teammates. In year's past that was a more arduous proposition, but adding a host of skilled offensive players this offseason really allows Capuano to get more creative with what he does.

Same players, dramatically different look

On this offensive zone power play faceoff, a game later against the same opponent, the Islanders were stationed in the opposite circle. They completely switched up the scheme.

This time, Okposo lined up to Frans Nielsen's (who was taking the faceoff) left, while Tavares was behind the circle on the opposite side of Okposo.

As the puck was won back to Boychuk, Okposo swooped down toward the goal line. Tavares looped out toward the far point. As opposed to the first power play goal when the Islanders overloaded both players on the same side, they were spread out on this look.

Boychuk fed the puck to Okposo at the goal line, and it forced both Carolina penalty killers down low to rotate toward the puck. Tavares, in the top right of the frame, began to break back door to the slot. On paper, by forcing Carolina to focus on Okposo and hiding Tavares for the beginning of the play, it opens up space for the Islanders captain.

Okposo attempted to feed the puck into the slot. Whether the pass was intended for for Nielsen or Tavares is unclear, especially because Carolina is able to break up the play.

Keeping defenses guessing

For a winger, Okposo is a volume faceoff-taker. Over his first two pro seasons, during which he played 74 games (nine and 65, respectively), Okposo wasn't asked to line up for that many draws. He took none in his first year and 14 in his second season, according to Hockey Reference.

But then beginning in the 2009-10 season, Okposo saw a pretty dramatic uptick. Over the next five seasons (one of which was lockout-shortened), Okposo took 656 face offs, also according to Hockey Reference. Over the same span, there were 239 players in total who took at least 500 face offs. Most of them were centers, with not many wingers taking the same number of draws as Okposo. Many players listed at left or right wing with higher totals than Okposo spent some time at center or now play the position, like Claude Giroux, David Backes and Jamie Benn.

Tavares and Okposo aren't new linemates: since Okposo's sophomore season of 2009-10, Tavares has been on the ice for more even strength minutes with Okposo than any other Islander. But again, the flexibility created this season with a more talented group allows Capuano to use different looks, and generate chances through variety.

And Capuano trusts his players to execute. In a 15-second span late in the second period of a game against the Bruins this season, the Islanders went through somewhat of a bizarre sequence. It began with just over 41 seconds to go, as Okposo lined up opposite David Krejci for an offensive zone faceoff. Tavares lined up to Okposo's left at the hashmarks.

Krejci won the faceoff rather easily, but Boston iced the puck. The Islanders elected to keep the same group on for the subsequent draw. But while Capuano stuck with Okposo in the face off dot -- he was 2-for-3 on face offs up to that point but had just lost one pretty convincingly against Krejci -- he tweaked the Islanders shape behind the draw, moving Tavares into a shooting spot.

Okposo won the puck back, but goalie Niklas Svedberg swallowed up Tavares' shot, creating another offensive zone face off. So Okposo and Krejci got their rubber match -- their third head-to-head draw within 15 seconds. On this iteration, Tavares again lined up over Okposo's right shoulder with Nikolai Kulemin behind him.

The Islanders went with three different looks in succession from the same exact faceoff spot.

The Islanders are getting better goaltending this year with Jaroslav Halak. Their defense, with the additions of the aforementioned Boychuk and Nick Leddy, has been somewhat stabilized.

But the Islanders will go as far as Tavares and Okposo can carry them, and Capuano knows that. So as teams try to pinpoint and minimize the damage the duo can inflict on any given night, Capuano is working hard to keep defenses guessing.

* * *

Note: Thanks to Hockey Reference for perfoming an independent query for the purposes of this story, compiling a list of every forward that took at least 500 faceoffs between 2009 and 2014.

Carolina goes winless for month of October

The Carolina Hurricanes finished their long road trip with another loss, this time losing to the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 at Rogers Arena on Tuesday night.  The Canes will look for their first win of the season when they return home to face the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.

The Canes had some good moments and the return of Eric Staal gave the team a shot in the arm, but Ryan Miller was equal to the task as he earned his 300th career win while making 29 saves on 30 shots.

The home team wasted no time and scored just 1 minute and change into the game when Brad Richardson got a step on Jay McClement and beat Cam Ward high glove side.

Ward allowed three goals on 24 shots and didn't play a horrible game, but did not play well enough to earn a win either.

The Canucks made it 2-0 early in the second period when Linden Vey scored a powerplay goal just 50 seconds in.

Then with just 1:21 left in the period, the (Y)(J)annick brothers teamed up for a goal as Jannik Hansen tipped a Yannick Weber shot from the point, past Ward to make it 3-0.

At the other end of the ice, Miller was doing whatever was necessary to stop Carolina, including making an explosive post-to-post save on an open Jiri Tlusty, when Staal found him with a perfect, cross-ice pass.

The visitors finally got on the board when Jeff Skinner made a move which drew Miller out of the crease, and Tlusty buried a loose puck in the open net.

Richardson lit the lamp again with an empty-netter to finish things off.

While there were some good moments for the winless Hurricanes, there were also bad moments including one time when Skinner fanned on an attempt to clear the puck from just over the blue line, which led to Vancouver's third goal.

Alexander Semin was called for unsportsmanlike conduct four minutes into the third period and never returned to the ice as he took a spot at the end of the Carolina bench. (Played a partial shift for 13 seconds.)

The Hurricanes made some improvements but still have plenty to work on. They will spend the night in Vancouver and will fly back home on Wednesday.

Game Notes:

• Staal had five shots and led the team by winning 70% of his faceoffs.  Victor Rask had a team high six shots on goal.
• Semin did not register any shots on goal in 16:33 of ice time.  He finished with a -1.
• Andrej Sekera had a team high 23:29 of ice time.
• After just putting up five shots on goal in the first period, the Canes had 12 and then 13 shots on goal in the next two periods.  They outshot the Canucks, 30-25.
• stats - event summary

A look into Jim Rutherford's trade record reveals that a move may be right around the corner.

While the NHL season is still less than a month old, murmurings have already begun about what possible trades and other moves the Penguins could make this year to plug some noticeable holes in their lineup and sure up their roster as they make yet another run at the Stanley Cup.

While upcoming UFA Paul Martin seems to be everyone's favorite candidate to get shipped, there hasn't been much (or at least, I haven't seen it) speculation and discussion about a possible landing spot for the 34-year old blue liner and what kind of possible return he could bring.

But regardless of who does get moved, it's likely that Pens fans won't have to wait until the March trade-deadline to find out.  A closer breakdown of GM Jim Rutherford's tendencies reveals a spike in activity starting around Christmas.

Let's look at the every trade GMJR has made in-season over the last few years while at the helm of Carolina, courtesy of nhltradetracker.com.

• March 5^th, 2014 - Traded Tuomo Ruutu to New Jersey for Andrei Loktionov and a 2017 conditional 3^rd-round pick.
• January 1^st, 2013 - Traded Tim Gleason to Toronto for John Michael-Liles and Dennis Robertson.
• December 20^th, 2013 - Traded Kevin Westgarth to Calgary for Greg Nemisz.
• April 3^rd, 2013 - Traded Jussi Jokinen to Pittsburgh for a 2013 conditional pick.
• April 2^nd, 2013 - Traded Adam Hall and a 7^th-round pick to Tampa Bay for Marc-Andre Bergeron.
• January 13^th, 2013 - Traded Anthony Stewart, a fourth, and a seventh round pick to Los Angles for Kevin Westgarth.
• January 18^th, 2012- Traded Mattias Lindstrom and Jonathan Matsumoto to Florida for Evgeny Dadanov and AJ Jenks.
• December 9^th, 2011 - Traded Tomas Kaberle to Montreal for Jaroslav Spacek.
• February 28^th, 2011 - Trade Sergei Samsonov to Florida for Bryan Allen.
• February 24^th, 2011 - Traded Ryan Carter and a 5^th round pick to Florida for Cory Stillman.
• February 18^th, 2011 - Traded Derek Joslin to San Jose for future considerations.
• February 18^th, 2011 - Traded Ian White top San Jose for a 2012 2^nd-round pick.
• November 23^rd, 2010 - Traded Stephane Chaput and Matt Kennedy to Anaheim for Ryan Carter.
• November 17^th, 2010 - Traded Anton Babchuck and Tom Kostopoulos to Calgary Brett Sutter and Ian White.

*Bold indicates a trade-deadline move.

At first, things look all over the place, but look closely and you'll notice a few trends developing.

For one, the Hurricanes under Rutherford seem to heat up trade interest once it starts to get cold outside.  Of the 14 in-season moves GMJR made since the beginning of the 2009-2010 season, 11 of them happened between mid-late November and February of that year.

It's a trend that holds true going all the way back to Carolina's Stanley Cup in 2006 when they made five trades in December and January to re-shape their roster before going all-on and acquiring Mark Recchi at the deadline.

If that MO has stuck with Rutherford since moving to Pittsburgh, it's likely we could see at least one trade before Christmas and possibly another between January and the trade deadline in March. Another thing that stuck out to me is Rutherford's willingness to trade within his own conference as well as his own division, something that his predecessor did only with relatively minor players (looking at you, Eric Tangradi).

Of course, all of this comes with the caveat of context.  After all, Rutherford was not dealing form a position of strength very often in Carolina like Shero was in Pittsburgh, and didn't have to worry about trading a player to a team that they would see later on come playoff time.

However, now that GMJR is here I'd have to think his tendencies remain.  I won't go as far as to predict it, but it wouldn't shock me either. Rutherford is 65 and has been an NHL GM for over two decades.  To think that he comes to Pittsburgh and abandons 20 years worth of habits seems kind of foolhardy to me.

Rutherford's trade habits aren't exactly breaking news, but nevertheless, it wouldn't shock me to see the first significant move of the season happen sooner rather than later.

The Canes' roster trims by two following the team's return home from Vancouver.

The Carolina Hurricanes pulled a surprise out of their hat upon returning home from their two-week road trip on Tuesday, sending forward Brody Sutter and defenseman Ryan Murphy to the AHL Charlotte Checkers.

Yes, you read that right: Ryan Murphy has been sent to Charlotte, and not on a conditioning assignment.

Sutter's reassignment may be a sign that Nathan Gerbe, who suffered a lower-body injury in the first game of the road trip against the Rangers and was out of commission for the Canadian swing, is ready to return on Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes. He was a late callup to the road trip, just to have an extra body around, and with the Canes set to play six of their next nine at PNC Arena it was a no-brainer to send him back to the Checkers, who have been strapped with roster issues of their own owing to the Canes' raiding of their roster to cover injuries at the NHL level.

Murphy's demotion, though, is a bit of a surprise, although not a complete shock given his shaky play over the first part of this season. He's played in six of the Canes' first eight games this year, finding himself a healthy scratch most recently on Friday night in Edmonton. Sending Murphy to Charlotte helps the Checkers, for sure, but it also could serve as an indication that the Canes are running out of patience with Murphy's development at the NHL level and want him to play big minutes in the AHL to pick up his game.

Jay Harrison and Brett Bellemore served as healthy extras last night in Vancouver, and it seems certain that at least one of them (and possibly both) will play Saturday against the Coyotes.

The release from the team is below.

‘CANES REASSIGN SUTTER, MURPHY TO CHARLOTTE

Checkers host Hamilton at noon on Friday

Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has reassigned center Brody Sutter and defenseman Ryan Murphy to the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Sutter, 23, made his NHL debut in Carolina’s 2-1 shootout loss against the New York Rangers on Oct. 16, and has averaged 7:26 of ice time in four games with the Hurricanes. The Viking, Alb., native is in his third full professional season and has also played in five of Charlotte’s games, netting one goal. Sutter (6’5", 203 lbs.) notched eight goals and earned 20 assists (28 points) in 69 games with the Checkers in 2013-14, and has scored 13 goals and earned 22 assists in 101 career AHL games with Charlotte since turning professional. The Hurricanes drafted Sutter in the seventh round, 193rd overall, of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Murphy, 21, has one assist and ranks second among Hurricanes defensemen with 13 shots on net in six games this season. The Aurora, Ont., native is in his second full professional season, after notching 12 points (2g, 10a) in 48 games for the Hurricanes in 2013-14. Carolina’s first-round selection, 12th overall, in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Murphy (5’11", 185 lbs.) has totaled 13 points (2g, 11a) and 14 penalty minutes in 58 career NHL games.

Today’s Number To Know looks at how the Hurricanes are allowing fewer shots to reach their goalie so far this season.

Number To Know

27.6 — Shots on goal per game allowed by the Hurricanes, the eighth fewest in the NHL this season. Carolina, however, is registering just 25.1 shots per game, which ranks 29th in the league ahead of only the Buffalo Sabres (21.8). In 2013-14, the Hurricanes ranked 21st in the NHL is shots on goal allowed, yielding 30.9 per game and registering 31.2 (ninth) shots for per game.

Both Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin have played four games and are 0-3-1 this season. Khudobin has faced 19 more shots than Ward (119-100) but allowed three fewer goals (13-16).