Carolina Hurricanes Stat Review: A Bear Of A Game

Carolina Hurricanes won tonight in OT against the Boston Bruins in a game they had no business winning

Ok, one team plays two periods of great hockey but never really pulls away. Cue the third period and their opponent starts playing better and gets the equalizer forcing the game to OT. The trailing team completes the comeback in OT and scores the game winning goal. But here’s the Shyamalanian twist; this time it was the Carolina Hurricanes orchestrating the comeback instead of getting come backed upon. Did that last part make sense? No, but neither did this game! Ok onto the colorful pictures as the Canes head into the Christmas break with a 9-0-1 record in their last ten home games.

Shots and Corsi

Ok, no mincing words here. The first two periods the Carolina Hurricanes played like crap. The Bruins shot more in two periods than Carolina did the entire game. The story remains the same even when just Corsi is looked at. Basically, the Bruins dominated the first two periods, and anybody watching the game wouldn’t argue differently. But the third, though, well the third was one of the best one goal comebacks ever seen. The Hurricanes team skating in the third remembered they were a good hockey team and the shot/Corsi results show it. This probably was the first time all season that Hurricanes fans were glad hockey had three periods instead two.

Corsi Differentials

Even with an amazing third period, only two Hurricanes were able to finish the game with a positive Corsi. Justin Faulk played a great game and scored the game tieing goal in the third. Jeff Skinner did what Skinner does and was a threat when he got the puck. Lee Stempniak posted one of the worst Corsi differentials seen since the start of these articles. Brock McGinn and Matt Tennyson round out the bottom three. This graph would be much sadder if the Hurricanes would have lost.

Corsi and Expected Goals plots

It’s hard to call out any particular line as being especially bad or good in this game. One reason is that Peters cranked up the Hockey Line Blend-o-Matic 3000™ pretty early in the second period to try to spark the team. He even split up Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin for a bit that’s how desperate he was to stop the Bruins offensive assault.

Next: A Quick Look at Hurricanes Prospect Jake Bean

But perhaps the most interesting thing on these graphs is found in the expected goals plot. There is a bubble in the top left corner that has a dotted line running through. That line is technically the y-axis of the graph. Why is that important? Well, that means that player was expected to score literally zero goals. This is something never seen in the short history of this series. The player that holds that dubious honor of the first Hurricane with zero Expected Goals in a game is Lee Stempniak. When something hits rock bottom the only way left to go is up right?

The player that holds that dubious honor of the first Hurricane with zero Expected Goals in a game is Lee Stempniak. When something hits rock bottom the only way left to go is up right? Hopefully, the answer is yes as the schedule doesn’t get any easier with Chicago and Pittsburgh up after the Holidays. Playing two cup favorites back to back means the Hurricanes need everybody playing their best to get the wins necessary for a playoff spot in the stacked Metropolitan division.

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