The Hockey News Wraparound show discusses expectations for Jackson Blake. For years, the Carolina Hurricanes' bread and butter was their play at even strength. It was the one area of the game they really hung their hat on and night in and night out, you pretty much knew what you were getting in that aspect of the game. However, as of late, the Canes have seen their 5v5 game fall off a cliff [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/latest-news/even-strength-struggles-plaguing-hurricanes-top-players] amid a real tough stretch of disappointing losses. Over the last 10 games, Carolina has a 4-5-1 record and in the past five games, the Hurricanes have only gone 1-4-0. In the past 10 games, the Hurricanes have been outscored 17-29 at 5v5. Their 17 goals for are the 17th most in the NHL over that span and the 29 against are the most. The only thing really that has kept the team afloat is a red-hot power play which has scored 12 goals which is the most in the league over that span. Kind of ironic that the power play (mostly Martin Necas, let's be honest) has been perhaps the biggest struggle for Carolina over the years but now it's virtually their only crutch. If we zoom in even further to just the past five games, the Canes have been outscored 5-17 at 5v5. They have scored five 5v5 goals, which is tied for the least amount in the league over that span and the 17 goals against is the second worst. But again, six power play goals is helping to offset just how bad it has been. "There's a certain standard of play that we've established here," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour following Monday's practice. "We have to make sure we're remembering that it's every shift. You have to bring it otherwise you're rolling the dice." The team is still generating chances: over the past 10 games they are averaging 27.2 shots per game (22nd) and giving up 27.4 (12th) and over the last five they are averaging 29.6 shots per game (10th) 25 shots against (3rd). So there isn't too much fluctuation there, but according to naturalstattrick.com, the Canes are way underperforming on both sides of the puck. At 5v5 over the past 10 games, they've generated 19.69 expected goals for and have only surrendered 17.62 expected goals against. That means they have should have scored 2.29 more goals and given up over 12 fewer goals in that span. Even in the past five games, things aren't that bad as the expected goals are just 7.96 xGF and 8.93 xGA. So what's the issue? So what's the issue? For one, Carolina's top guys haven't been able to put the puck in the net at 5v5. Their three highest paid forwards (Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis) only have five 5v5 goals between the three of them. Also, the Canes are bleeding high-danger chances. The Hurricanes are ahead for high-danger chances at 5v5 over the past 10 games, 80-77, but you can see how bad things have gotten in the past five, 26-40. Overall, it feels like team defense has really taken a step back, especially when it comes to off the rush and with protecting the middle of the ice. It's not like the Canes are getting buried regularly, but they're consistently giving up dangerous chances in the forms of breakaways, odd-man rushes and in-zone turnovers which are a big reason why the goals against are so skewed. "Defense has been an issue the last five or six games," Brind'Amour said. "We're giving up too many... it's not a whole bunch of chances overall, but too many good ones off the rush and guys getting behind us. That's really been a real problem lately." Another big part of the issue is goaltending. In the past 10 games, team save percentage is 0.844, at 5v5 it's 0.854 and against high danger chances it's 0.755. In the last five games, the team save percentage is 0.832, 0.853 at 5v5 and a 0.692 high danger save percentage. Spencer Martin, who is now back in the AHL, has played in five of the past 10 games and definitely struggled in most of those. However, starter Pyotr Kochetkov just hasn't been that good either since his supposed concussion he suffered in Columbus on Nov. 23. He's by far been better than Martin, but he's still conceding more than a few tough ones. "There's four or five [defensive breakdowns] a game that are ending up in our net and that's another issue too," Brind'Amour said. "But we can't be giving up 2-on-1s and breakaways like we have out of nothing. It's just being aware. Our awareness level needs to increase." It's tough for Carolina because there isn't just one singular problem. It's an overall team issue that pops in relatively irregularly, but every time it does, it usually has pretty disastrous results. "It's just taking breathers," Brind'Amour said. "We're with the guy, but he's behind us instead of us being in front of it. And it's not every time. It's just occasionally we're doing it. We're probably thinking we want to try and score or thinking that we have to do something a little different and it's costing us right now."
