The Panthers may have lost their Bark(ov), but this article has not lost its bite. This morning we have Barkov bits, Junior Panthers, the Week Ahead, and The Hat Trick. Without further adieu, let’s get to it.
Links and Bulletins
- The big Panthers news this week was the untimely injury to Aleksander Barkov. Harvey Fialkov confirmed on Twitter that Barkov has a broken bone in his hand. For thoughts on the Barkov injury, and the impact it may have on the Panthers, check out my article from Saturday afternoon.
- We know now though that Barkov will not require surgery. Out 2-4 weeks. Joy!
- To lighten the mood, check out this excellent piece on Roberto Luongo by Alex Prewitt of Sports Illustrated. It details Luongo’s adventure down the rabbitt hole of Twitter, and the looser side of Luongo’s personality.
- A quick rundown of Panthers Junior prospects is in order. Jayce Hawryluk had two points (1 goal, 1 assist) for the Brandon Wheat Kings this week, while Juho Lammikko had three points (1 goal, 2 assists) for the Kingston Frontenacs.
- The week, however, belongs to Lawson Crouse. He had a mammoth weekend for Kingston, scoring five points (1 goal, 4 assists) including assists on all three Kingston goals on Saturday at Niagara. The Frontenacs won all three of their games this week by a score of 3-2.
- Coming up in November is the CHL Canada Russia Series. It is a six game series in which a Russian junior team plays against a combined team of the best players from each of the CHL’s three member leagues. Panther prospects are, in fact, represented on all three CHL teams. Jayce Hawryluk made Team WHL, Lawson Crouse made Team OHL, and 2015 draftee Samuel Montembeault is one of two goaltenders on Team QMJHL.
- And finally, check out this article on a new stat, xSV%, a new evaluative tool for goaltenders. Its an interesting look at some of the goaltenders around the league. To the surprise of no one down here, I’m sure, Roberto Luongo is killing it early on this season according to xSV%.
The Week Ahead
This week will see the Panthers return to Sunrise for three games of home cooking.
10/27/15 – Colorado Avalanche @ Florida Panthers
The Avalanche start their week in Sunrise, before heading off to complete a three game Southeastern US sweep through Tampa Bay and Carolina. The Avs sputter into Sunrise the losers of three straight games. Their last loss saw them hand Columbus their first win of the season. Also, beware of Patrick Roy’s beard, it takes no prisoners and has a strange graying pattern that makes it look like he has some weird Victorian facial hairstyle. Don’t stare for too long.
10/30/15 – Boston Bruins @ Florida Panthers
The last we saw of these knuckleheads, they scampered out of town, tail between legs with playoff hopes mostly shattered. It was a sweet act of revenge for the Panthers having had their own playoff hopes dashed by Boston just days earlier. Serving up a little more would be tasty. They have just one game prior to Friday night’s tilt, at home against surprisingly not a complete trash pile Arizona.
10/31/15 – Washington Capitals @ Florida Panthers
It’s time to get spooky on Halloween. What better way to celebrate than by having Alexander Ovechkin’s frightening visage in the building! The Panthers will see to it that he has neither tricks nor treats. The Capitals will play Wednesday Night Rivalry on NBCSN against the Penguins, and on Friday against the no-longer-winless Columbus Blue Jackets, now with 100% more John Tortorella.
The Hat Trick
Howden You Do?: One of the immediate beneficiaries of Aleksander Barkov’s injury was Quinton Howden. He saw himself on the 2nd line with Vincent Trocheck and Brandon Pirri on Saturday night as part of the roster shuffle, and he did not disappoint. There is not much in the way of numbers that jumps off the page to laud Howden, aside from his one goal. What did stand out though was his speed. He was regularly engaging in footraces, winning them, and finding open seams. He is flat out fast. Once we have chip tracking technology data available to us, it may become easier to quantify exactly what Howden brings to the table.
However, that should not stop us from taking a moment to appreciate Howden. His speed adds a dynamic to the Panthers offense that was lacking last year. It causes headaches for opposing defenses who now have less time to get their house in order. This is also a kid who was a high scoring forward in the WHL when the Panthers drafted him. There was hope he could one day develop into a Top 6 forward. A series of injuries though messed with his development arch, and put those sentiments in doubt. After hanging in there through injury, and finally making the team in a depth role this season, it was nice to see him get a shot higher up the lineup. It was even nicer to see him rewarded with a good outing. We’ll see what this means going forward.
The Full Monty: Another guy deserving of some recognition is Al Montoya. The surprise starter in Saturday’s win over the Dallas Stars was phenomenal in his second start of the season. I will admit that I was skeptical of the decision when it was made. Montoya had one outing on the season, following a disastrous 2014-15 campaign, and simply does not have a long track record of excellence in his career. Take that into consideration and know he was going up against a team that touts one of the league’s most potent offenses, and had one five straight games to that point. The skepticism was not without merit.
Alas, credit to Montoya for turning in a great game. He made 33 saves on 35 shots, impressive to be sure. If we dig further into the details, we will find the performance even more impressing. Montoya faced 31 shots during 5v5 play. Of those 31 shots, Montoya faced 20 of them within scoring chance range. Nearly two thirds of the shots faced by Montoya were dangerous shots in and around the slot. It was a much harder outing than his first against Carolina, when he faced just two shots within scoring chance range. Hats off to Monty, if he can keep stringing games like this together, the Panthers will be in good shape.
I Think I Lost My Headache: It cannot be understated how important Saturday’s win over Dallas was. The Panthers lost their best player in Aleksander Barkov, and were going up against the hottest team in the Western Conference. As stated above, they were winners of five straight games. They were facing a team that had two of the league’s leading scorers in Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin among its weapons. Seriously, it was a pretty ominious situation for the Cats. It would have been easy to imagine the Panthers wilting under the pressure, and getting crushed by an unstoppable force.
Yet, they did not, and thrived instead.
There is no doubt that Aleksander Barkov is one of the most important players on the Panthers. They will need him to get health, and comeback and contribute at a top level in order to have sustained success. Saturday night’s win, however, was a lesson for the rest of the team. They can win a big, important game without their best player if they really need to. The unit itself is very solid. For example, the Panthers CF% was 48.6 on the night. Not usually inspiring. However, when adjusted for score, given the blow out nature of this game, the Panthers CF% ballooned to 53.9. They played a top to bottom good game for the most part.
The psychological boost this gives the team will be huge going forward. This team has given themselves a reason to believe that they can handle difficult situations as a group, and get results. Its also pushing players to test their boundaries and elevate their game. Now imagine this team, playing better as a unit having gone through these challenges, and adding Barkov back into the mix with his skillset. Sounds like a wickedly good team.
Come Spring 2015, hopefully we are looking back on this game as what helped define this team as a success.
Make sure to tune in next week for another edition of Monday Mania!
