Game Day Post (12/20/14): Florida Panthers (14-8-8) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (21-6-4)

Summary:

Get your surgeon masks on. Tonight’s opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins, is the latest victim in the NHL’s ongoing battle with the mumps. However, while the Penguins have been surviving the mumps, the Panthers have survived 26 rounds of the shootout over the last two games. The pair of wins is good enough to give the Panthers the outright lead for the 2nd Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, going up 1 point on the Boston Bruins and 2 points up on the New York Rangers. Now the Panthers must find a way to extract points from one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and do it twice in this home-and-home series. Can the Panthers find a way to do it? Are we in store for more of the shootout? On to the game!

Know Your Enemy:

Panthers All-Time Record v. Pittsburgh: 34-32-9 with 4 ties

2013-14 Season Record v. Pittsburgh: 2-1-0

Last Game: 1/20/14 @ Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh, PA), Panthers won 5-1

While the Panthers just played their final game of the season against Pennsylvania’s other franchise, tonight’s tilt will be the first against the Penguins. With the downfall of Boston at the hands of injury and the ill-timed trade of Johnny Boychuk, the Pittsburgh Penguins are arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference, with the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning lurking behind. Predictably, it is Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin that are making it rain. They are both top ten in the league in points (Malkin is 2nd, Crosby is 7th) and top five in the league in assists (Crosby is 3rd, Malkin is 5th). Evgeni Malkin had a field day against the Panthers last year, potting 2 goals and grabbing 4 assists in 3 games. However, Crosby struggled to find offense against the Panthers. He collected a single point in three contests. Consider that and know Crosby had only failed to score in 5 of 23 games against the Panthers prior to last season, collecting a total of 28 points along the way. That’s a strange, but fortunate, break for the Panthers. However, you cannot count on a player of Crosby’s stature to keep slumping. There are also other threats on this roster. There are three other players with 20+ points: defenseman Kris Letang, winger Patric Hornqvist and Crosby’s partner in crime Chris Kunitz, who appears poised to return from a broken foot. There’s also journeyman Blake Comeau, who is looking to snatch his second career 20-goal campaign, his first since scoring 24 goals as a member of the New York Islanders in 2010-11. He currently sits with 11 goals through 30 games. Let us not forget goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who is having a career year in net, posting each a GAA and save percentage in the Top 5 among all goaltenders, and recently collected his 300th career victory at Boston on November 24. If the Panthers wanted a measuring stick game, they got it. Twice in a row.

The Rundown:

Panther Leaders & Special Teams
Goals: Nick Bjugstad (12)
Assists: Aaron Ekblad & Jussi Jokinen (13)
Points: Nick Bjugstad (19)
Shot Attempt (Corsi) Rel: Sean Bergenheim (+7.7%)
Shot Attempt Differential: Sean Bergenheim (+84)
Power Play: 13.2% (25th)
Penalty Kill: 80.4% (T-17th)

Penguins Leaders & Special Teams
Goals: Evgeni Malkin (15)
Assists: Sidney Crosby (26)
Points: Evgeni Malkin (38)
Shot Attempts (Corsi) Rel: Chris Kunitz (+8.2%)
Shot Attempt Differential: Chris Kunitz (+87)
Power Play: 25.7% (2nd)
Penalty Kill: 86.2% (5th)

*Shot Attempt (Corsi) Relative calculated at 5v5, having played at least one half of team’s games.

The Hat Trick:

1. Tonight’s game features the Panthers, the 6th best team in terms of goals against per 60 minutes of 5 on 5 play (1.9), going against the Penguins, the 9th best team in terms of goals for per 60 minutes of 5 on 5 play (2.5). The Panthers have only played a handful of games against teams that are Top 10 in goals for per 60 minutes, so this will be a good test to see if the Panthers goal suppression to this point is a product of their schedule, or their skill. In 5 games against the current Top 10, the Panthers have given up 10 goals at 5-on-5 and collected a 0-2-3 record in those game. While not technically terrible, this leaves something to be desired. If the Panthers can put together a solid effort and keep the Penguins in check, it would go a long way in building confidence for this group when matching up with the best the NHL has to offer offensively.

2. He may or may not play tonight but tonight marks a homecoming for Vincent Trocheck. This is the first time the Panthers will play the Penguins with Trocheck on the roster. Although he has been scratched twice in a row entering tonight, Trocheck has played very well so far this season, to the point he appears to have won a permanent roster spot with the big club. He is a positive possession player, with the Panthers getting 52.8% of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 when Trocheck is on the ice. He also averages 2.8 points and 2.3 assists per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play, both which lead the team. One has to think Trocheck eventually finds his way off the bench with numbers like that. Hopefully, tonight is the night, as it would be very nice to see the hometown kid get a chance to showcase his wares in his old stomping grounds.

3. The Panthers current streak of four straight overtime/shootout games is tied for the longest in franchise history. The most recent occurrence happened in the 2011-12 season. March 23-29, 2012 saw the Panthers take the Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, and Minnesota Wild to extra time, collecting a 1-3 record along the way. Five other 4-game OT streaks happened in 1996-97 (February 20-27, 1997; 1-1 w/ 2 ties), 1997-98 (Decemeber 30, 1997-January 4, 1998; 1-0 w/ 3 ties), 2002-03 (November 19-24, 2002; 0-1 w/ 3 ties), 2005-06 (April 11-18, 2006; 2-2), and 2010-11 (January 15-21, 2011; 1-3). For comparison’s sake, the Panthers record on this current streak is 3-1, which is the best record they have ever had in one of these 4 game stretches.

Projected Lineup:

Florida Panthers

D1: Campbell | Ekblad
D2: Mitchell | Kulikov
D3: Olsen | Gudbranson

SG: Luongo
BG: Montoya

Pittsburgh Penguins

D1: Despres | Letang
D2: Scuderi | Pouliot
D3: Dumoulin | Harrington

SG: Fleury
BG: Zatkoff

Courtesy of Daily Faceoff (Accurate as of 12:30 pm)

Closing Thoughts:

Make sure to get vaccinated for the mumps.

AJ can be reached for contact on Twitter .