The Hurricanes are the second-most penalized team in the NHL. Then again, it's just five games into the season.
Is Paul Maurice concerned, or is it too soon to worry? After all, the Canes were the least-penalized team in the league last season.
"I am worried about it," he said today. "It really changes the entire complexion of every game we've played.
"I think where it's really affected us, more than any other time, is on our back-to-back nights. The Boston game and the Tampa game, we can't kill 12 minutes, or not kill in Boston."
The Canes were thumped 7-2 at Boston in the second game of the season, a night after losing the opener to Philadelphia. On Saturday, following a big home win over Florida, the Canes went on the penalty kill six times at Tampa Bay. The Lightning broke through on the last power play for the fourth goal in a 5-2 win.
"Our goaltender (Cam Ward) did a helluva job but we burned big minutes with our high-end guys against that power play," Maurice said. "It's so dynamic we had to work way too hard to kill those minutes off.
"Our goalie had to make too many good saves for 11 minutes, 57 seconds, and your five-on-five play just doesn't have it in the tank to get it going."
Maurice noted that on the Lightning's goal that gave it a 3-2 lead in the third, the puck took a crazy bounce off the glass behind the Canes' goal.
"It's a bad break but we don't have the quickness to recover there. All those guys who kill penalties were on the power play for us. It's a major problem for us."
Maurice said the referees are calling the games tighter early in the season -- "No question," he said -- and that it was just a part of a cycle teams go through at times.
"You start by taking too many penalties, then you get into these back-to-back nights, now you're from behind," he said. "But we're also not spending enough time in the offensive zone. ... We're spending too much time on our heels in the defensive end and the neutral zone"
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at 
Comments
Lack of
Mon, 10/12/2009 - 17:12 — esteban1949great officiating is happening all over the NHL...many of the refs i have seen thus far...i have never heard of...unless many of them are fairly new as in coming from the AHL, WHL & etc...but then again...just how many posters of refs does a average fan have these days ?? And yes...the Canes need to stay out of the box...Cam Ward aint no robot...
Go Canes !!
Penalties and Officiating
Mon, 10/12/2009 - 15:56 — abramsdougYear after year the NHL officiating has been consistently poor, but this year's officiating across the spectrum has been the worst I have seen. I have Home Ice and watch as many NHL games as time permits. It is amazing how erratic the calls are. Despite how much I dislike the officiating and despite some truly horrific calls against the Hurricanes, the Hurricanes have committed far, far too many penalties -- and particularly penalties by veterans who really do know better. The Hurricanes are at their best when they out skate their opponents and cause their opponents to take penalties. It's time for the Hurricanes to gear up and work harder and with discipline.