Carolina Hurricanes (8-12-4) at Ottawa Senators (10-10-4)
Scotiabank Place 5 p.m.
TV: FS-Carolinas, Sportsnet Ottawa

What was once a blue line that was rich in depth and talent has begun to dwindle down as Jay Harrison has joined the list of injured defensemen right as Joni Pitkanen re-joined the lineup. At the very least we can hope for the powerplay to get a spark as one of their top performers is back but if you take a look at the "November Powerplay Woes" post I just made, you'll see that Harrison was one of the team's more consistent players with the man advantage. We just can't win, can we? I'm just happy to have Pitkanen back in the lineup as this powerplay needs all the help it can get.

Tonight we face an Ottawa Senators team that's coming off a beatdown at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday night and have been the opposite of what most people expected from them this year. You would think a team that is full of rookies and backstopped by Craig Anderson would be terrible possession-wise and buoyed by a strong save percentage but it's the other way around for the Sens. Although, the fact that he's playing behind a young, inexperienced defense probably isn't helping. Ottawa's goaltending usually tends to struggle as they've been through 11 goalies since the lockout and they have a cumulative save percentage of .905. They've also made a few mistakes when it comes to overpaying for goalies but that's another issue for another day.

Lines, defense pairings & more after the jump

Winnipeg Jets (9-9-4) at Carolina Hurricanes (8-11-3)
RBC Center 7 p.m.
TV: FS Carolinas, TSN Jets

The Canes are 2-1-1 in the past week and have looked considerably better after that 4-0 whitewashing they took at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. I've noticed that the team has been playing a lot better in the defensive zone and my thoughts were confirmed with this article from Chip Alexander which explains how Paul Maurice has implimented a more defensive system. Instead of defensemen jumping into the play, you'll see more of them laying back and guarding the point. You'll also see the team putting more emphasis on a dump & chase style game where there is more emphasis on speed and less on manuvering through the neutral & offensive zone. The Canes are the fourth worst team in the league in shots allowed at even strength so I'm all for tigtening things up right now, especially with the lack of horsepower in the top-six. However, the negative effect of this system is there isn't much offensive pressure and the Canes are a bottom-five team in terms of shots for, as well. My guess is that Maurice recognizes the lack of talent up front and realizes that the team is going to have to do a better job at preventing goals if we can't score. Similar to the system Jacques Martin runs under the Montreal Canadiens.

Speaking of the Canadiens, the game against them on Wednesday showed some of the flaws with this system. The team had the puck in the Montreal zone countless times but failed to generate scoring chances because it looked like no one had idea had to do with the puck. Also, the team employed a defensive shell when they took a 2-0 lead and didn't do much to create offense and it eventually cost them the lead. This is one thing I hate about this kind of system and it's something I hope the team can fix. They take on another team with not a lot of offensive firepower in the Winnipeg Jets tonight.

Montreal Canadiens (9-9-3) at Carolina Hurricanes (8-11-3)
RBC Center, 7 p.m.
TV: FS-Carolinas, RDS

The Canes are looking to get retribution out of the way early as they take on the Montreal Canadiens in a rematch of last week's 4-0 beatdown where Carolina alledgedly hit "rock bottom." Some were saying that would be Paul Maurice's final game behind the Hurricanes bench after GM Jim Rutherford mentioned that changes would be made. All that happened was Justin Faulk being recalled and Zac Dalpe going back to Charlotte but it's worth noting that the Canes have been playing better since that atrocity last Wednesday and have gone 2-1-0 in their last three games. Very small sample but it's a step in the right direction. What's encouraging is that they outplayed their opponent in two straight games and managed to beat the Flyers due to a strong performance from the powerplay, which has been really hard to come by this year. The question is can the Hurricanes continue this pace in tonight's game against the Canadiens? If they want to make up more ground in the Eastern Conference then they need to.

Lines, analysis & game notes after the jump

Buffalo Sabres (11-7-0) at Carolina Hurricanes (6-10-3)
RBC Center, 7 p.m.
TV: FS-Carolinas, MSG-Buffalo

With the Canes coming off their worst performance of the season and speculations about whether or not head coach Paul Maurice will make it through Christmas, the common belief among Canes fans is that we are at rock bottom now and there is nowhere to go but up. While I agree that the team has been playing awful lately, things CAN get a lot worse than this. The Canes currently sit at 6-10-3 which is bad, but does anyone remember the time where we won only five games in October and November combined? Granted, the team was riddled with injuries then but that stretch felt a lot worse than the one the team is going through right now.

This has been a brutal November for this team. They have won only two games and have been outscored 32-16 during that stretch, outshot 269-221 and their powerplay is a miserable 3/33. I should also mention that the last time they scored on the powerplay was the 5-2 loss to Dallas which was five games ago. So, in a way, there is nowhere to go but up for this team because if they keep letting this happen then they could find themselves in Ducks or Blue Jacket territory sooner than they would like.

Lines, defense pairings & more after the jump

Carolina Hurricanes (6-9-3) at Montreal Canadiens (7-7-3)
Bell Centre, 7 p.m.
TV: TSN, RDS

This is one game I have been looking forward to all season because it marks the first time this year that the Hurricanes will face former teammate Erik Cole. I've said a lot about Cole this off-season and how I felt that Carolina can replace him because he wasn't much of a possession driver here and much of his success was dependant on Eric Staal. As you probably know, Carolina has yet to find a replacement for Cole and the wing position on the first line has been a carousel all season. This relates to the poor start Staal got off to (he's picked it up since November) and we're only a month into the season, so I stand by my initial statement.

The reason why I believe Cole's performance in Carolina is replaceable is because he posted very poor possession metrics last season despite playing on the first line. In the WOWY I did for Eric Staal, Cole's numbers were awful when he was playing without #12. Cole's shooting percentage was also higher than it ever was in 2010-11, so he was slightly lucky last season. I am willing to say that having Cole on Staal's wing would be nice right now but I still believe that replacing him should not be a big hassle.

Cole's performance in Montreal has completely reversed. He isn't having any bounces go his way (6.80 on-ice shooting%), but he has been one of Montreal's best forwards in terms of possession and scoring chances. Hindsight is 20/20, I suppose.

Lines, analysis & more after the jump

Philadelphia Flyers (9-4-3) at Carolina Hurricanes (6-8-3)
7 p.m. RBC Center
TV: FS-Carolinas, CSN-Philadelphia

I described the Canes last game against the Flyers as a "burn the tape" kind of game because of the disaster of a third period the Canes had. Seems that has been a recurring theme since then because Carolina's endured numerous third period meltdowns ever since that loss. Even in their 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins they took a 3-0 lead into the third period only to have Pittsburgh tie it. Let's hope the team has tightened things up since then and will try to not let the Jagr-Giroux-Hartnell line dominate them like last time. *knocks on wood*

Analysis, lines & more after the jump

Pittsburgh Penguins (10-3-3) at Carolina Hurricanes (5-8-3)
RBC Center, 7 p.m.
TV: FS-Carolinas, ROOT Sports

Remember what I said yesterday about trying to be optimistic? The Canes are making it hard for me to do that. It's not just because they have lost five in a row and failed to score more than two goals in each of those games, but also the fact that injuries are piling on. Joni Pitkanen is out week-to-week with a foot injury and I can't stress out huge of an injury this is. The Canes do have a lot of NHL-quality defenders at their disposal but Pitkanen is the backbone on this defense. He plays in all situations, leads the team in time on ice and is actually keeping his head above water in corsi on a team that is getting shelled at even strength. This also means that someone else is going to have to step up and take over the minutes that Pitkanen plays. As much as everyone doesn't want to hear it, that someone might be Tomas Kaberle. He hasn't been used in that role in awhile but I'm all for giving it a shot and he, along with Jay Harrison, played the most minutes on defense last night against the Rangers. Let's see how Kaberle does when he's not protected as much as he has been this year. 

Also of note is Paul Maurice hinting that Eric Staal could see some time at wing tonight. I'm all for trying anything at this rate because Staal just can't seem to find his way onto the score sheet no matter what. His underlying numbers have improved a lot in the past couple weeks but the results haven't come yet so why not shake things up a bit? Everyone's guess is that Brandon Sutter will center his line and I like that idea because Sutter has a lot of offensive potential but he has been used in a more defensive role ever since being on the Hurricanes. Let's see how he does when he's not buried with defensive zone starts for a change. His 21-goal season a couple years ago was mostly due to a high shooting percentage but he's a great skater and has shown some goal-scoring ability so I'm all for giving this a shot. Carolina is going to need all the help they can get against Pittsburgh tonight.

Lines, analysis and more after the jump

Carolina Hurricanes (5-7-3) at New York Rangers (8-3-3)
Madison Square Garden, 7 p.m.
TV: FS-Carolinas, MSG

With the losing streak now at three games and the Canes near the bottom of the conference, you would believe that things are all gloom and doom in Carolina right now. It doesn't help that tonight they are going up against the surging New York Rangers who have won five in a row. I, however, am optimistic about tonight's game because the Canes had a relatively strong game against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday and are finally starting to let some of their young talent play. All season long I have been waiting for guys like Zach Boychuk and Zac Dalpe to get a shot in the top-six and one of them finally has. That one was Zach Boychuk (Dalpe is a healthy scratch, unfortunately) as he had one of his strongest games as an NHL-er last Tuesday when he played on the second line with Tuomo Ruutu and Alexei Ponikarovsky. Maurice has rewarded his good play with a promotion to the top line and now we finally get our chance to see if Boychuk can work with this year's Eric Staal, who really needs to get the wheels turning at even strength. Oh, and that Jussi Jokinen guy who was the team's best forward in the first month is returning after many thought he would be done for at least a month.

Optimism all around for me.

Lines and analysis after the jump

Dallas Stars (9-3-0) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (5-5-3)
RBC Center, 1:30 p.m.
TV: NHL Network, FS-Southwest

Since the Panthers have a bye week, here's hoping that most of the Carolinas tune into the Hurricanes Sunday afternoon showdown with the Dallas Stars. This is the final game of Carolina's brief home stand and I said at the beginning of the week that Carolina needed to get a point in all three of these games to help them in the standings (mainly looking towards the future). The game against Tampa Bay was exactly what I wanted to see from this team. They came out strong, converted on the powerplay, the first line had a good game and they killed penalties while the game on Friday against the Caps was exactly the opposite of what I wanted to see from this team. There were numerous defensive breakdowns, the powerplay failed and it was just an ugly game overall. I am hoping for a much better effort in today's game against Dallas and pray that it is nothing like the last time we played the Stars. I have wiped most of that game from my memory and you should have too.

Either way, it's looking like the Canes are going to have a hard time without Jussi Jokinen judging from how the powerplay looked against Washington but let's hope things can turn around here. Maybe introduce some new blood into the powerplay in the form of some fourth liners who should be getting more ice time. Cough.

Lines, analysis & more after the jump

Tampa Bay Lightning (5-4-2) at Carolina Hurricanes (4-4-3)
RBC Center, 7 p.m.
TV: FS-Carolinas, Sun Sports
Opposing Viewpoints: Lightning Hockey Blog, Raw Charge

After playing seven of their first 11 games on the road, Carolina returns to RBC Center for a three game homestand starting with a rematch of their season opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning. I'm sure most fans remember what happened that game so I won't need to refresh your memory on that. It's best we forget about that disaster anyway. What I can tell you is that Carolina has been playing well at home this year. A 2-1-1 record isn't going to set the world on fire but the only games Carolina outshot their opponent were their four home games and that was a big factor in them earning points in 3/4 of those games. I know a lot of it has to do with Paul Maurice getting the final change and being able to match lines (more on that later) but the Canes using home ice advantage like this can go a long way over the season. These next three games will be very interesting and it's important that Carolina at least earns points in all of them.

Analysis, lines and more after the jump