5 Tactics the Carolina Hurricanes Could Use to End Scoring Woes

The Carolina Hurricanes have a scoring problem.

Seventeen times in their last 18 games, the Hurricanes have tallied two or fewer goals. They've fallen to 29th in the NHL in goals per game (1.92) and 30th in team shooting percentage (6.64 percent) despite ranking 11th in five-on-five shot attempts and 15th in five-on-five shots on goal.

Somewhere in between the tape of the stick and the back of the net, their shots' flight patterns are being interrupted. There's a reason why Nathan Gerbe has 107 shots on goal but only three goals, and that Jeff Skinner has 112 on goal but only eight in the net.

And the main reason lies not in the superb play of opposing goaltenders but in the tactics used by Carolina itself in the offensive zone.

What have the 'Canes done wrong in the past several months, and what can they do to improve moving forward?

A breakdown of five critical strategies lies on the coming slides.

A long-running complaint of many fans is the Hurricanes' inability to create traffic in the net-mouth area—and the fans are right.

The depth chart significantly lacks size—at the start of the season, the 'Canes were the second-shortest team in the NHL—and 6'3" waiver-wire addition Andrej Nestrasil, added partially for his height alone, has been sidelined by injury since Dec. 8. 

The return of Jordan Staal has produced some improvement, with his net-mouth presence leading to several goals already in just four appearances to date, but No. 11 alone can't fix the issue.

The biggest reason opposing goaltenders have a ridiculous .944 save percentage at five-on-five against the 'Canes is that the vast majority of those shots are through clear sightlines. Without a screen in front, NHL goaltenders across the continent are simply too good to miss many pucks they can watch all the way to their gloves, blockers or chests.

Continuing to redesign game plans around Staal's much-needed presence and getting other relatively tall centers like 6'1" Riley Nash (seen above) and 6'1" Jay McClement into screen-creating zones will be vital first steps in the Hurricanes' offensive revitalization.

Nine of the 10 highest-scoring teams in the NHL so far also rank among the top 14 teams in terms of average shot distance. The Rangers, boasting the shortest average distance at 30.23 feet, rank third in scoring; the Stars, with the third-shortest distance at 32.02 feet, are fourth.

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, rank 27th with an average shot distance of 36.24 feet. Likewise, their goals-per-game rate ranks 29th.

Both common sense and statistics overwhelmingly correlate closer shooting distance with higher scoring rates.

Now the 'Canes must use that data as motivation.

On the team itself, Nash, McClement, Jiri Tlusty ( a perennially opportunistic forward) and Eric Staal produce the closest shots; conversely, defensive forwards Patrick Dwyer and Victor Rask, undersized forwards Zach Boychuk and Gerbe, and struggling stars Skinner and Alexander Semin sport the six longest average shot distances.

Addressing this disparity should rest highly on coach Bill Peters' list of coaching priorities moving forward.

In four of its last five games, Carolina has scored a rebound goal.

Considering the team has scored only seven total goals in those five games, there's little doubt that rebound tap-ins are proving to be the only consistent way this offensively challenged 'Canes squad can light the lamp.

Eric Staal's putback tallies against Montreal, Philadelphia and Nashville—all of which were instigated by Jordan Staal screens and earned points for both brothers—and Dwyer's jam-in goal versus Boston all came after an original shot was turned away by the netminder.

Earlier in the year, the 'Canes weren't producing as many rebounds and weren't fighting to control the ones they did produce; hence, opposing goalies were able to escape sequences that began with A-grade saves without having to answer a point-blank rebound try, too.

As the 'Canes work to become more physical and obstructive in the crease area, rebound opportunities and goals should increase simultaneously.

For a team that has allowed just 2.10 goals per game since Nov. 24 but has scored a mere 1.45 per game over the same time period, making some defensive sacrifices to aid a sinking offense would seem natural and normal.

Yet the 'Canes don't seem to be doing it.

Other than Justin Faulk, who has emerged as one of Carolina's few decent scoring threats in the past months, the 'Canes aren't getting much production from their blue line: Andrej Sekera's offensive numbers are way down, Ron Hainsey has only four points in 39 games, and even recently recalled madman Ryan Murphy has only one assist in 10 appearances.

Instead, it seems as though the defense is content with losing 2-1 games as long as its unit's numbers stay solid.

Defensemen aren't pinching down to hold the zone even when trailing late in the third period and are taking their time to initiate breakouts out of their own zone. While the team's zone entries seem greatly improved under Peters compared to prior coaches, possession time doesn't appear to be increasing by the same tune because the 'Canes are also allowing clears more frequently than in previous years.

No matter how proud Steve Smith may be of Carolina's recent defensive record, it's time for the team's one well-functioning unit to give the woeful offense some help.

Ever since Kirk Muller began waging war on long shifts back in 2012, the Hurricanes seem to be stuck in an endless campaign to take the shortest shifts possible.

But are short shifts even beneficial? Is the benefit of having fresher players on the ice worth the time and possession lost to additional line changes? Perhaps not—at least not at the level at which the 'Canes have taken it.

This season, Carolina forwards are averaging 42.36 second per shift. Four of the NHL's five highest-scoring teams, however, have longer average shifts among forwards, and the league's No. 1 offense (Tampa Bay) is averaging a whopping 48.03 seconds per shift.

Carolina's leading scorer, Eric Staal, also happens to sport the highest average shift length (45.0) among team forwards with 10 or more appearances.

Changing lines over and over again appears to drastically cut down on forechecking and somewhat reduce extended five-on-five offensive possessions, as players are more focused on hustling back to the bench whenever a shift's flow is disrupted than chasing after the puck and perhaps stealing it back.

As the 'Canes focus on more obvious tactics for increasing offensive production, recognizing the potential of lengthening shifts for once could yield the most interesting results of all.

Five-on-five statistics based on Hockey Analysis data. Shot distances courtesy of Sporting Charts.