The Panthers set their sights on another Eastern Confrence team tonight as the Philadelphia Flyers make their way into town.
The Flyers have an almost identical record to the Cats, with Philly at 10-6-4 and Florida at 10-5-5. One of the key differences is that the Flyers are on a three-game skid and the Panthers are coming off a regulation win (what are those?) against the New York Rangers.
Despite the back-and-forth nature of Saturday’s win, there were some nice aspects of the game that they can carry over into tonight. Perhaps the biggest is the Power Play. It seems like the PP has found its groove and is burning red hot right now - going 2/3 against the Rags.
Here’s a nice little blurb from the NHL/Panthers website regarding the recent PP success:
“Lighting the lamp on the man advantage in each of their last nine games, the team has gone 11-for-31 and ranks second in the league in that span with a 33.5 percent success rate. Thanks to that hot stretch, their power play has climbed up to 27 percent, which ranks fourth in the league.
"It's a lot of fun to be a part of that group, especially when you're finding ways to help your team win games," said Yandle, whose 11 power-play points are tied for first among the league's defensemen. "It's not like you're getting goals that don't matter. We're scoring big-time goals when we need it most. Our group and our team, it's coming from all five of us [on the top unit]."
Somewhat of a rarity in hockey, the Panthers have benefitted from returning every member of their top power play unit that helped the team set a franchise record with a 26.8 percent rate of success last season. Jonathan Huberdeau and Mike Hoffman are manning the circles, Evgenii Dadonov is in the middle, Barkov's in front of the net and Yandle is quarterbacking from up top.
Of the team's 17 power-play goals this season, 15 have come from that top unit.
"You let them be and see how quickly the chemistry is recaptured among them all," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said of keeping the dangerous unit intact. "No matter which players you're seeing out there with the puck, one guy is as dangerous as the next guy… It's tough for the opponents to cover, and they're having fun right now with it. There's a lot of different looks."
Like Quenneville, Barkov said the power play's success stems from its wealth of weapons.
Hoffman, armed with arguably one of the best shots in the league, tied with Dadonov for the most power-play goals on the team with five. Barkov is right behind them with four power-play goals of his own, while Huberdeau and Yandle have each chipped in 11 power-play points.
For opposing penalty kills, it's basically a pick-your-poison scenario.”
The Cats also had a 51.6 faceoff percentage. A good number there and an area that is a major advantage if you can be the team excelling in it. Would ideally like to see that percentage a bit higher against PHI.
I can go into different aspects of the NYR game, but there was one thing in particular that came out of that night which holds all the focus...
Q with his 900th win.
I watched Q for 10 years in Chicago and really grew to admire and respect him, not only as a coach, but as a person. He is one of those rare (arguably dying breeds) of tough, but fair coaches. A true leader whose experience and accomplishments command respect from his players, peers and the league alike.
It was a special night for us fans to witness history and see him get his accomplish this milestone...which, by the way, places him second of all-time in head coaching wins - placing him behind coaching guru Scotty Bowman (1,244).
Q is as close to a living legend as they come in our game and I look forward to seeing that stache behind the Florida bench for plenty of years to come and many more wins with it.
[Image from Florida Panthers website]
Yandle the Third
I must admit, Yandle had himself quite a week offensively and earned the NHL’s Third Star honors for the week. Here’s a blurb about the achievement from the Panthers website that was actually kind of eye-opening to me:
“Yandle recorded multiple points in each of his three appearances last week to lead all defensemen and rank third in the League with 1-7-8 while helping the Florida Panthers (10-5-5, 25 points) to a pair of wins in three contests. Yandle opened the week with three points (1-2-3) - all in the final frame - to help the Panthers rally from a 4-0 third-period deficit to defeat the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins 5-4 in a shootout on Nov. 12. It marked just the ninth time in NHL history a visiting team rallied from a four-goal third-period deficit to win. He then recorded a pair of assists in a 4-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets Nov. 14 and three helpers in a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers Nov. 16. The 33-year-old Boston, Mass., native ranks sixth among blueliners with 2-16-18 in 20 games this season and has appeared in 817 consecutive regular-season games - the longest active "ironman" streak and the fifth longest in NHL history.”
Hunt Down, Toninato Up
I was surprised to see the news that the Cats put Hunt on waivers (thankfully he passed) for the purpose of reassignment to a Springfield. But when I thought about it, the more sense it made to me. Dryden is an important piece on a very important fourth line for this club and he brings energy and a strong North/South game. What may have gotten him sent down is his inability to find the back of the net.
I can make an argument for him that I don’t think that’s necessarily important to his game and that working along the boards, driving hard to the net and creating disruption is what’s key from him, but I think the Cats are really looking for lower line production on the scoresheet - since it feels like the majority is coming from a few guys and the PP. I think they probably feel Toninato is the right guy to bring not only a spark and energy, but also has th potential to put some pucks in the net. He looked great in the three games he played for the Cats and certainly showed he’s capable of brining a dynamic game.
I think this move works out well for both guys. Let Hunt get some goal scoring confidence and develop that skill in the A, while Toninato gets another opportunity to prove his worth at the NHL level.
Key for Tonight
One area I would like to see improvement from the Cats tonight is how they let the opposition enter the zone.
There were a number of times on Saturday where the Rangers not only entered the zone with little to no resistance, but they were free to push the Cats back on their heels by having multiple guys drive towards the net with one guy cutting through the middle while two others broke towards the blue paint. This seemed to cause a good amount of confusion for Florida’s defense, while opening up the ice for the puck carrier to decide whether to shoot or deliver a deadly pass in tight.
Getting the forwards actively backchecking should help alleviate some of these opportunities, as the puck carrier will be pressured more when trying to cut through the middle, etc.
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Let’s get after these guys tonight...go Panthers!
[Image from FloridaPanthersVault.com]
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