Last night, the Carolina Hurricanes played an intradivisional rival in the New Jersey Devils. They were coming off a taut victory, in which they secured their second point when they won the shootout. It didn’t go great against the Devils, though. After a 4-1 loss, the ‘Canes sit at 3-5-3. That’s not very good, and in fact, has the team in last place.
The second period was a true reflection of Carolina’s season. They outshot the Devils 14-2 that period, but both of those shots? Mike Cammalleri goals. He had a natural hat trick, and the ‘Canes had a problem. Shots on goal are too frequently shots IN goal. The ‘Canes two goalies, Cam Ward and Eddie Lack have save percentages of .888 and .835, respectively. That is not good.
In some cases, a high GAA is not attributable solely to the goaltending. In this case, the numbers seem to point the blame at Ward and Lack. The ‘Canes have the 28th most shots against, ahead of also rans like the Los Angeles Kings and Washington Capitals. They are just not stopping them from going in. Ward and Lack haven’t always been this spectacularly awful, so maybe the solution is to let them get better. Maybe the solution is to find someone new to play net. Maybe it’s to go down in flames and enjoy a top pick.
If they want to win this year, though, Carolina needs much better play in net.
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