PK or PP: what's the real issue on special teams?

By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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Much has been made over the Canes' sudden infatuation with the penalty box that has led them to the top of the NHL penalty-minutes per game chart, with an average of 24.4 PIMs per game.  But the more pressing issue for the team heading into tomorrow's showdown with Pittsburgh isn't penalty killing, where after a dismal early start the Canes have killed 18 of 20 penalties in the last three games.

Rather, it's the power play, where the Canes find themselves 26th in the NHL in power-play conversion percentage, at 12.9% through five games (4-for-31).  The most disconcerting part, though, is that the Canes are tied for the league lead with the Flyers and Rangers with 31 power-play opportunities, and of the four teams below the Canes on the power play all but one (Florida with 21 opportunities) have had the extra skater fewer than 20 times.

What's going wrong here?

Joni Pitkanen's injury is an easy scapegoat, and it's probably not a stretch to say that the Canes' power play is missing its keystone with Pitkanen out.  Indeed, despite playing only two periods all season, Pitkanen has already set up a power-play goal, with a breakout pass that sprung Jussi Jokinen on a breakaway last Tuesday against the Lightning.  Jokinen himself has held up his end of the bargain, accounting for an assist in addition to his goal.  So, too, has Eric Staal.  His respiratory issue from today's practice notwithstanding, Staal's two goals have both come on the power play, accounting for half the team's power-play conversions.

The most likely culprits are Matt Cullen, Joe Corvo and Ray Whitney.  These three players see significant time on the power play, ranking 1st (Corvo), 2nd (Cullen) and 4th (Whitney) in PP time per game.  Despite that, the three players have combined for one point on the power play, a Cullen assist on Staal's PPG Saturday night in Tampa.  All three players have a similar assignment on the power play: set up Staal, Jokinen, Ruutu or whoever for a goal.  No one's expecting them to lead the league in power-play goals, but when all three players can't even set goals up, it's no wonder that the power play has been gasping for air.

It was telling on Saturday night when Paul Maurice started skating even-strength lines on the power play, at multiple points putting Samsonov, Brind'Amour and Jokinen out on the ice to try to get something going.  No disrespect to Brind'Amour, but when he is centering a power-play unit in the second period of a tie game something is terribly awry.

Even strength goals for and against should, by definition, be about equal; the Canes have been outscored 8-7 at even strength, so that trend holds.  Where good teams make their mark is on special teams, and the good teams outscore their opposition on the power play.  So far this year, the Canes have been outscored 8-4 on the power play, and even if you completely ignore the debacle in Boston in the second game they've still been outscored 4-3.  If the Canes want to get off the floor and start moving up in the standings, a great place to start would be waking the power play up from its hibernation.  By way of comparison, last year's team outscored the opposition 70-59 on the power play, and we know where that plus-11 differential got them at the end of the season.

The penalty kill is largely doing its job.  Now it's time for the other half of the Canes' special teams to do the same.