Has Bill Peters Fixed Areas of Concern for Carolina Hurricanes in 2014-15?

Bill Peters is two games away from concluding his first season as head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The 48-year-old boss has been faced with a number of obstacles in his debut campaign, from waiting a month before earning his first career victory to enduring half a season without Jordan Staal.

He's also overseen a number of improvements in the 'Canes, including a record-breaking season by Justin Faulk and a record-breaking stretch of penalty kills.

Before the season, Peters noted three key categories that most needed improvement in 2014-15: the power play, the starts of games and the home record.

Looking back, how much has Peters followed through and delivered results on these points of emphasis? A breakdown of Carolina's performance and improvements (or lack thereof) in each of the three categories lies below:

Power Play

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2013-14 performance: 14.6 percent conversion rate (No. 28 in NHL)

2014-15 performance: 19.0 percent conversion rate (No. 13 in NHL)

Based on basic conversion rate and rank within the league, the Hurricanes' power play has become far more efficient under Peters' staff.

Eric Staal's power-play goal total has increased from one to seven; Faulk's has increased from two to seven. The unit is on track to finish higher than 18th in the league for the first time since 2007-08, incredibly.

But the improvement may not be as substantial as it looks at first glance.

While the unit's efficiency has spiked significantly, the increase is more due to fewer power-play opportunities (down from 3.4 to 2.9 per game) than more power-play goals (up only from 41 to 44 with two games remaining).

Furthermore, the 'Canes are actually averaging fewer shots (down from 53.1 to 50.7) and shot attempts (down from 104.0 to 97.8) per 60 minutes of power-play time than they were last season, according to Hockey Analysis data.

Faulk's maturation as a PP quarterback and the net-front presences of Jordan Staal and Andrej Nestrasil have certainly helped the cause, but the statistics may exaggerate just how much the unit has improved.

Starts of Games

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2013-14 performance: Scored first in 39.0 percent of games, minus-19 first-period goal diff.

2014-15 performance: Scored first in 43.8 percent of games, minus-20 first-period goal diff. (per NHL.com)

Opening frames have remained an Achilles' heel for the 'Canes in 2014-15, as evidenced by the numbers above.

Only Toronto and Edmonton sport a worse first-period goal differential than Carolina, as more than half of the team's combined goal differential (minus-38) has accumulated in the opening 20 minutes of games.

Getting on the board has also proven to be an issue. The 'Canes have opened the scoring in 35 of their 80 games this year but just five of their last 20 dating back to Feb. 28. Even more shockingly, not since Feb. 16 have the 'Canes scored first in a road game, a contributing factor in their abysmal 11-25-4 road record this season.

Although the problem hasn't gotten worse, Peters has indisputably failed to fix Carolina's early-game woes.

Home Record

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2013-14 performance: 18-17-6 home record

2014-15 performance: 18-15-7 home record

A win in Saturday's home finale would give the 'Canes one more home win than they earned a year ago, but the difference will be negligible either way.

It has really been the record away from PNC Arena that has killed the team this season, but Carolina is still one of just nine clubs with fewer than 20 home victories to date. Carolina's caliber of play in Raleigh has evidently done little to inspire a fanbase that is going to finish 29th in attendance.

Despite their losing record, however, the Hurricanes have outscored opponents 90-87 at PNC after being outscored themselves 106-103 a season ago.

Mark Jones has been a Carolina Hurricanes featured columnist for Bleacher Report since 2009. Visit his profile to read more or follow him on Twitter.