Carolina Hurricanes Stat Review: Buffalo Sabres Edition

Just like last game, the Carolina Hurricanes gave up a late goal and went to OT. Only this time they triumphed in the shootout.

Not much to say about this game that I didn’t say about the game against the Capitals. The Carolina Hurricanes played well the first two periods to take the lead and then faced a flurry of shots in the third. Both game tieing shots came off deflections so the Canes were doing well to stop quality chances it’s just the volume that got to them. The only difference between the two games is the actual amount as you’ll see below. A lot of people will still point to strategy as the reasoning behind this, but I think that remains the incorrect conclusion. The main reason behind the third-period woes for this game is fatigue. It’s a back to back game added on to the fact they played all the way to the shootout last night as well. Either way, it’s nice the Canes were able to come out of this with a victory in the NHL Skills Competition™.

Team Shots and Corsi

Yeah, that third period was awful by any metric. If one score adjusts the stats still look really bad. Despite the barrage from Buffalo, the Sabres had to rely on the slowest moving redirection ever to score. I wouldn’t blame someone if they thought a better goalie might have made that save. After rewatching the goal, I can’t believe Evander Kane only has five goals this season. The guy is good maybe the Sabres are just that bad. I expected Buffalo to be a little more on schedule with their rebuild, but somehow they have fallen off track.

Corsi Differential

Ok, this is the graph from the Bizzaro Canes. Nordstrom puts in another solid game; this time away from Jordan Staal, and joining him up on peak Corsi is Jay McClement. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills here. Looking at this chart, the fact Carolina’s fourth line was the only one to score in regulation seems rather fitting. The duo of Tennyson and Hanifin turn in a nice performance after a string of bad games as well. But everybody else? Like I said before I think tired legs had a lot to do with this game’s performance as the players who played most last night also played the worst in this game.

Corsi and Expected Goals

Yeah, the Jordan Staal, Brock McGinn, and Elias Lindholm line did not have a good night at all. The graph doesn’t label them but they are the dots furthest to the left in both graphs. This indicates the line was generating little to no offense. Usually, these results are from being pinned down in the defensive zone every time the line is on the ice. Maybe Staal and Lindholm aren’t quite up to game speed yet in terms of conditioning and the back to back really sapped them of their energy. Still, I don’t think this line was a very good one and I hope Bill Peters changes it for the next game