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Would You Make These Line Changes?

October 21, 2014, 3:01 PM ET [89 Comments]
Dan Spiegel
Florida Panthers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Florida Panthers are one game under .500. With only five games being played so far, the normal reaction from fans is, "So what?" Considering the Panthers have scored a total of five goals over those five games is both alarming and relieving.

There should be relief for Panther fans in that defensively this team is playing much better than the last two years. Aaron Ekblad has been playing as advertised, if not better. Except for one period against New Jersey positioning has been better and shot blocking has been good. The signing of Willie Mitchell definitely improves that part of Florida's game.

The alarm is where are the goals? There has been no shortage of chances for this team, which is good. But collectively this team just cannot bury the puck consistently.

Winning games 2-1 or 3-2 is a stressful way to live. New head coach Gerard Gallant knows this. Time for some line shuffling, and as the Panthers take on the Avalanche in Denver tonight, here are the new lines:

Bergenheim-Barkov-Boyes
Huberdeau-Bjugstad-Upshall
Fleischmann-Pirri-Jokinen
Kopecky-MacKenzie-Thornton

Mitchell-Kulikov
Campbell-Ekblad
Olsen-Gudbranson

Luongo

The noticeable changes are on the first and third lines. Brandon Pirri made a good impression against Washington Saturday night and earned another start. Both Fleischmann and Jokinen have shown signs of breaking out(mostly Flash) and being centered by an offensive minded center who has no problem shooting the puck in Pirri could open the flood gates.

The first line has been labeled the Killer B's and had some success last year. After a slow start Boyes has a goal and an assist in his last two games and Bergenheim has been one of the more consistent Florida players. Barkov has yet to get going this year, so unlike the third line in which Pirri might get the wings going, the hope is the wings will get the center going on the first line.

No one could blame Gallant for making these changes. A few 3-4-5 goal games in a row would work wonders on the confidence of this squad and get them to relax a bit. It might make sense to keep these line combinations together indefinitely and really let the chemistry develop. A lot of these players have played with each other for extended periods of time in the past, so it shouldn't take long.

Defensively it looks like solid pairings. The biggest surprise so far is the amount of time Gudbranson and Olsen are getting together on the power play. While Olsen showed flashes of being a good offensive defenseman after arriving in Florida last year, he's predominantly been rather ordinary. Perhaps he's blossoming into a very nice player. He is definitely ramping up the toughness in his game.

Gudbranson has already showed his willingness to shoot the puck more 5-on-5, which is the next phase of his game that really needs to develop. More power play time is likely the natural progression for him for now and the indefinite future. He has a cannon of a shot and should be used accordingly.

As the Panthers wrap up a rather strange road trip that goes through Denver and Phoenix this week after starting in Buffalo and Washington, all eyes will be on offensive production.

Do you think these changes will spark more goals for the Cats? Should there be defensive changes as well?

As always, I appreciate your comments and thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post please click "Like" above.

Dan Spiegel
Florida Panthers Media
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