Too Many Penalties
While the Canes have been sublime on the power play and the penalty kill this season, they got burned by the Red Wings on Tuesday.
The Red Wings scored two power play goals in the first period and that proved to be a huge factor in the game. This was against the 29th ranked power play in the league. This just proves you give too many opportunities to a team and they’ll make you pay.
The Canes have been the victim of taking too many offensive zone penalties as well as unnecessary penalties in their own end. Thankfully for Carolina, their penalty kill has been superb this season. However, the penalties have been a consistent issue. The Canes need to clean up that aspect of their game.
Andrei Svechnikov does not get the benefit of the doubt from the referees because of his age, but he needs to be smarter with his stick. He’s not the only one but he stands out because he takes the most minor penalties on the team. Staying out of the box just avoids the risk of an unnecessary goal at all costs.
Columbus is 25th in the league on the power play, but like we saw with Detroit, they can still find ways to score. Carolina needs to stay out of the box.