Power-play outage hurting Hurricanes

Carolina is looking to regain its early-season form with the man advantage

RALEIGH -- The Carolina Hurricanes began the season with one of the league's best power plays.

But that early production has slowed.

The Hurricanes have scored three power-play goals in their past six games, going 3-for-36. In December, their power play has only produced multiple goals in one game -- a 5-1 win at Montreal.

The Hurricanes host the Boston Bruins tonight at the RBC Center and hope their power play can get going again.

"Lots of times when a power play isn't going well, you're getting a little too stationary and you're just kind of going through the motions," Canes forward Erik Cole said. "You're looking for set plays. It's a lot more, just read and react, jumping on loose pucks and trying to create.

"We've gotten away from that the last while, and we need to get back to just going out and finding a way to score a goal."

The Canes' power play was often a source of misery last season but offseason acquisitions Matt Cullen and Jeff Hamilton, along with camp work with Ron Francis, had the power play generating goals early in the season.

In the Canes' first 10 games of the season, they were 14-of-59.

On Wednesday, the Canes struggled to generate chances during a five-minute power play whistled after Colton Orr's open-ice hit on Cullen.

Cullen suffered a broken nose and a possible concussion.

"It just doesn't seem comfortable out there," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said. "With Justin [Williams] out of the lineup, losing Matt mid-game, you have to make adjustments -- put people in positions that maybe they're not as familiar with.

"We tried to touch on it today, showed some video and we'll talk about it again tomorrow and see if we can't get it back on track."

Laviolette said he doesn't know if the team will have to call up anyone from its American Hockey League affiliate in Albany, N.Y. The team expects to know more about Cullen's health today.

The Canes did manage a power-play goal Wednesday from Eric Staal.

But those power-play goals have been few lately, and the Canes know to regain their early success, they'll need to get the power play jumping.

"We're not moving quite as well as the beginning of the year," Laviolette said. "Moving for seams, moving for each other. I think it varies a little bit, from game to game, too. We don't seem to be coming up with many pucks off the chips and dumps in the zone. We're spending more time going back and getting it than we are setting and trying to establish a shot."