The New York Islanders could not solve Florida Panthers goaltender James Reimer, who made 32 saves for his fourth shutout of the year and more importantly, his 20th victory. That victory propels the Cats to within one point of the New Jersey Devils for the final wild card spot in the East.
In case you missed it, here's a quick game recap:
My Three Takeaways 1. Keith Yandle looks like he did playing for the Phoenix Coyotes back in 2010-11 when he was fifth in Norris trophy voting. At 31-years-old he's playing more minutes (24:33) than ever before. He has 26 points in 27 games, and has been the unsung hero for Florida down the stretch. While Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck have received much of the fanfare, the Panthers wouldn't be knocking on playoff's door without Yandle's resurgence.
What's more impressive is that head coach Bob Boughner has entrusted Yandle with more responsibility than he's ever had in his entire career. Take a look at his offensive zone starts in previous year's compared to this season. He's spent the majority of his career taking offensive zone faceoffs. In his two years in New York, he only took a third of his zone starts in the defensive zone! Now, this season under Boughner, he's starting 57.2% of the time in his defensive zone. Despite this massive shift in usage, his Corsi for has fallen by only 1.3%.
2. James Reimer is experiencing his own resurgence, winning five in a row in spectacular fashion. He has a .969 save percentage and two shutouts, including a 46 save win over the high flying Boston Bruins. He's now matched a career high in wins with 20, and is trying to prove that if the Panthers make the playoffs, he will be ready for the task if Roberto Luongo can't stay healthy.
Ultimately, Reimer's performance has been significantly impacted by the team's play in front of him. 14 of his first 20 games of this season, Reimer allowed three or more goals. Over the last 20 games, that number has been slashed to eight. Given the overall team's performance, it's safe to say that Reimer hasn't made significant changes to his game, rather the team has allowed for their goaltenders the opportunity to make the saves necessary to win.
Not taking anything away from what Reimer has done over the second half of this season, but Roberto Luongo should still be considered the starter for the playoffs.
3. MacKenzie Weegar needs to be reigned in. At the 14:20 mark, the puck comes to Weegar and with Islanders forward Anders Lee pressing him at the blue line, he makes a successful deke around Lee. The 24-year-old defenseman gets a nice scoring chance with a shot in the slot, but it could've been disastrous.
With the game tied 0-0 and no one else behind him, Weegar should not have made such a gutsy move. If Anders Lee gets a a hold of that puck, he's in on a clear-cut breakaway and the game could've been very different. Weegar has one goal in his career in 55 games. He should not be the player taking this kind of risk.
Obviously, it worked out this time. However, come playoff time, that puck has to go off the glass and be dumped behind the net for one of the forwards to go and retrieve. Weegar has developed nicely for the Panthers, but eliminating careless plays will go a long way for the former Halifax Moosehead.