Gold: Canes road trip coming to an end in Philadelphia

By Adam Gold radio host 99.9 the Fan

If you think the Carolina Hurricanes are having trouble scoring goals…

The Philadelphia Flyers have it worse, way worse. Way, way, way worse. At least the Hurricanes are continuing to win the majority of their games through their offensive lull that has seen them average 2.45 goals per game in their last 11. 7-3-1 is a pretty good result considering.

The Flyers, however, have scored just a dozen goals in their last 8 and are 2-4-2 and in 6th place in the Metropolitan Division. And, when you consider that they’ve allowed 25 goals in that span, it’s a minor miracle that they didn’t lose all eight. We’ll get to the reason for that in a moment.

Much like Carolina, who has several players wandering in a goal-scoring desert looking for an oasis, Philadelphia’s expected sources of offense have gone missing. Sean Couturier has no goals and just 1 assist in his last 8 games. James van Riemsdyk has 1 goal in his last 12. Travis Konecny, 1 in his last 9.

Meanwhile, Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim and Kieth Yandle have combined for 1 goal on the season. It doesn’t help that off-season acquisition Ryan Ellis has only played in 4 games (1g, 4a) as he was supposed to help bring a scoring punch to the back end, but the lack of offensive contribution from the blue line has been a big disappointment on Broad Street.

Now to the best of the Philadelphia story. Goaltending. Were it not for Carter Hart and Martin Jones the Flyers would be 100% lost. Hart, who stoned the Hurricanes two weeks ago in Raleigh in a 39-save effort, has a save percentage of .928. Jones’ is merely .927.  According to Hockey-Reference.com, Philadelphia’s goalies have been worth 4.5 points -- basically 2 wins -- through their first 20 games.  Carolina, which has also received outstanding goaltending, is at 3.9.

Oh, and Philly is also allowing a league high 34.8 shots on goal.

Svech marks

Carolina’s goal-scoring drought is miniscule compared to Philadelphia’s, but there is an alarming nature to the problem. Andrei Svechnikov got off to a blazing start with 7 goals in his first 7 games. In his last 11, nothing. Bupkis. He’s still playing well and has 8 assists in this stretch to maintain his team scoring lead with 19 points, one ahead of Sebastian Aho’s 18. But, Andrei can’t not be a goal-scorer. His 29 shots on goal in these last 11 probably need to be a bit higher.

Then there’s the issue of Andrei and the penalty box. The roughing-fighting combo left Svechnikov sitting for 7 of the last 10 minutes of Wednesday’s loss in Seattle. His 35 PIM this year is tied for 5th in the league! Andrei is a great player, but it does your team no good if you’re not able to play because of a lack of discipline.

Until this point, you might have argued that Svechnikov was Carolina's best player against Seattle. He had 4 shots on goal, 4 other attempts and 3 hits. But, this was a self-inflicted wound and it iced him for the next seven minutes.

Other offensive droughts….

Jordan Staal, 0 goals in 11 games.

Jesper Fast, 0 goals in 8 games.

Teuvo Teravainen, 0 goals in 7 games.

Niino Niederreiter, 0 goals in his last 6 games (he missed 6 w/injury).

Vincent Trocheck, 1 goal in his last 8 games.

Jaccob Slavin, 0 goals.

Last time…

Philadelphia beat the Hurricanes, 2-1, in Raleigh on November 12, the first home loss for the Canes this year, thanks to a 39-save performance from Hart. Carolina registered 20 high danger scoring chances in the game and had an expected goals scored of nearly 5 (!), yet only squeezed one past Philly’s netminder. The Flyers scored twice in the 3rd period for the win with the eventual game-winner coming via a Zach MacEwen deflection of a Justin Braun point shot.

The Flyers have played five 2-1 games this year, winning 4 of them. Carolina has played six games in their last 11 that ended in a 2-1 score, going 3-2-1 in those contests.

The only personnel issue for the Canes is Ethan Bear who remains in the NHL’s Covid-19 protocol. He tested positive before their game against the Sharks and remains in the hotel in San Jose. Philadelphia will be without Ellis and center Kevin Hayes today.

The line: Carolina -150, O/U: 5.5 goals

Storm Watch starring Alec Campbell begins at 3:00 on 99.9 the Fan. Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy follow with the call of the game just after 3:30. Don’t forget to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get you podcasts. A new episode drops the #MorningAfter every Hurricanes game.