Carolina's Nightmare Start Continues

Newsmakers in the NHL: During the regular season it's our weekday look at the previous night's action and some of the story lines taking place around the league. Have a tip or something you want linked? Send it in to nhlfanhouse@gmail.com.

Sharks 5, Hurricanes 1: Six months ago, the Carolina Hurricanes were in the Eastern Conference Final, just four wins away from playing for the right to claim Lord Stanley's Cup. Granted, they were swept in four straight games by the team that eventually won it all, but the point remains, they were one of the final four teams playing in the NHL. Fast forward to early November, and the 'Canes find themselves near the bottom of the standings, having now lost nine straight games, including Sunday's 5-1 drubbing at home against San Jose.

Through the first 13 games of this season, only one team -- Toronto -- has fewer points than Carolina's seven, while no team has scored fewer than its 28 goals. The 'Canes are also tied with Toronto for the most goals allowed with 50. Over their past three losses, they've been outscored by a lopsided 16-4 margin.

On an individual level, Eric Staal, who left Sunday's loss with an injury, has just five points (three goals, two assists), while Cam Ward, the franchise goaltender, has been mediocre at best between the pipes.

If you're a 'Canes fan, I guess the optimistic viewpoint is that there's still 69 games to play in the regular season (and that's a lot of hockey) and it's pretty hard to imagine that Staal and Ward, the two players that make this team go, are going to continue to be this bad. Still, as far as bad starts go, it's hard to picture one worse than this.

Sunday's Other Games

Marian Gaborik returned to the lineup for the Rangers and scored the only goal (his 11th of the season) in a 1-0 win over Boston. Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 29 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season. [Box Score, Recap]

The Blue Jackets defeated Washington in overtime. The Capitals played most of the game without the services of Alex Ovechkin. [Box Score, Ovechkin Hurt]

Andrew Raycroft steps up and gets the shutout in Vancouver's 3-0 win over Colorado. [Box Score, Recap]

Loose Pucks

-- The top five goalie masks in the NHL. Of the top two, my personal preference would be Josh Harding's, but still some solid choices. This is important because ... [The Program]

-- ... this past weekend was the anniversary of Jacques Plante becoming the first goaltender to protect his face/head with a mask. [Puck Daddy]

-- And one more on goalie masks, this from Bruce M at the Copper & Blue. [The Copper & Blue]

Video Of The Day

Awesome sequence in the Carolina vs. San Jose game, as Evgeni Nabokov makes a huge save at one end of the ice, which leads to a two-on-one rush for the Sharks that is finished with Marc-Edouard Vlasic's second goal of the season.



Monday's Key Games

Islanders vs. Oilers: This would have been an outstanding matchup 24 years ago. The New York Islanders have won three in a row, and they look to add to their streak when Dustin Penner and the Edmonton Oilers come to town.

Lightning vs. Flyers: The Flyers are just 3-4-1 over their past eight games, but are coming off a 6-1 dismantling of Carolina over the weekend. They host Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning who have earned a point in four straight contests.

Coyotes vs. Kings: Two teams off to their best starts in quite some team face off in Phoenix. It's already the third meeting of the season between these two squads, with each team winning one.