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The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to make their way south as they head to Miami to take on the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are 7-14-5 and only the lowly Buffalo Sabres have a worse record in the Atlantic Division.
Part of the reason for the Panthers struggling could be traced to the limited offensive output that they have received from some of their more significant younger players. Jonathan Huberdeau has played in 26 games and only has 11 points. Aleksander Barkov has played in 26 games and only has 10 points. Nick Bjugstad has played in 20 games with only 10 points.
If the Panthers were going to make noise this year it was going to have to come with significant contributions from those players. So far they have not contributed offensively and the Panthers once again find themselves in a season that looks like it will end without the playoffs.
The Panthers instead have guys that should be complementary scorers leading their team. Those players are Brad Boyes, Scottie Upshall, Brian Campbell, and Tomas Fleischmann.
The Penguins are 17-9-1 and have 35 points in the standings. The Capitals have a game in hand but still sit 7 points back with 28 points.
The Penguins will be looking to sweep their Florida series (@TB & @FLA games) for the 2nd consecutive time in a row. Last April they were able to come down to Florida and sweep both games by defeating Tampa 6-3 and then beating Florida 3-1. Pittsburgh has completed part 1 of that task by shutting out Tampa 3-0 yesterday.
The Penguins have not given up a goal in the last 85 minutes of game action, not too shabby.
Line Combos
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis Jokinen-Malkin-Neal Conner-Sutter-Ebbett Adams-Vitale-Megna
Orpik-Engelland Maatta-Letang Despres-Niskanen Bortuzzo
Projected lineup for Florida:
Huberdeau-Bjugstad-Fleischmann Upshall-Barkov-Boyes Goc-Gomez-Bergenheim Hayes-Matthias-Winchester
Campbell-Gilbert Gudbranson-Olsen Kulikov-Weaver
Injuries
Paul Martin has a broken Tibia and will be out of action for 4-6 weeks
Beau Bennett has a broken wrist and will be out of action for 6-8 weeks
Tanner Glass has a broken hand and will be out 4-6 weeks
Rob Scuderi has a broken ankle and looks to be back in 3-4 weeks.
Ed Jovanovski has been taken off of the injured reserve with a hip injury but has not played yet this season. There is no timetable for his return.
Tomas Kopecky was placed on the injured reserve with a wrist injury.
Power Play
Penguins power play is now 2nd overall at 24.5%. The St. Louis Blues are the only team in front of them with 24.7%. Penguins rank 9th overall with 94 PP opportunities.
The Panthers power play is abysmal and is ranked dead last in the NHL with 10.0%. Not exactly what you would expect from a power play being quarterbacked by Brian Campbell. The Panthers also rank 14th with 90 PP opportunities.
Penalty Kill
The Penguins are 6th overall in the NHL on the penalty kill and are at 85.7%
The Panthers are ranked 28th overall at 75.3%.
Needless to say the Penguins have a significant advantage on special teams going into tonight’s matchup with the Panthers.
Penguins are 6th best in NHL with only being shorthanded 77 times
The Panthers are tied with the Penguins for 6th overall and have also been shorthanded 77 times.
Fenclose%
The Penguins are now 3rd overall at 55.2%
The Panthers are 19th overall at 48.7%
With the Panthers struggling to mightily on special teams it is imperative for the Panthers to be very good at even strength. They are below average and thus their record is what it is.
Even Strength Save %
Today’s matchup is not a battle of the goaltending elites in the NHL, that much is certain.
The Panthers rank 27th overall in EVSV% with .908%. Tim Thomas is at a very respectable .927%.
The Penguins are ranked 26th overall with .910%. Marc Andre Fleury is fresh off a shutout and his EVSV% is now .918%. Jeff Zatkoff is still significantly lower at .874%.
Trends
Penguins are 2-5 in their last 7 road games.
Penguins are 2-5 in their last 7 games playing on 0 days rest
Panthers are 2-6 in their last 8 games playing on 2 days rest
Panthers are 4-12 in their last 16 Saturday games
Panthers are 2-6 in their last 8 home games
Home team is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.
Penguins are 19-7 in the last 26 meetings
Stats courtesy of Covers.com
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In a case of "its better to be lucky than good" take a look at the Sabres game winning goal against Toronto. If I gave you 100 pucks you would be hard pressed to get the puck through that part of the skate let alone in the net from the blue line.
Thanks for reading!
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