Hit The Ice:
The Hockey Gods continued to figuratively shine a laser pointer in front of the Cats on Tuesday night, allowing another dominant effort to be rewarded with the sweet sound of nothing. With all the frustration, we might all need a little catnip to bring spirits up. The task won’t be easy, as the Panthers welcome in the Detroit Red Wings for some Thursday Night madness. Will the frustration end? Can the Panthers put up another dominant performance and make it shine on the scoreboard as well? On to the game!
Know Your Enemy:
Panthers All-Time Record v. Detroit: 9-14-3 with 5 ties
All-Time Record v. Detroit at Home: 3-9-2 with 2 ties
2014-15 Season Record v. Detroit: 2-1-0
Last Game: 1/27/15 @ BB&T Center, Red Wings won 5-4
The Detroit Red Wings enter tonight very well rested. Their last game happened on Sunday in Pittsburgh, where they laid a 5-1 rout on the Penguins on national television. That rout victory came on the heels of a rout loss the day before in Philadelphia, as the Flyers took a 7-2 victory over the Red Wings on Saturday afternoon. Overall, Detroit has gone 2-4-0 in their last six games, going on a mini-slump. They will also be missing the services of Pavel Datsyuk this evening, who is out with a lower-body injury. While it certainly hurts to lose your second leading scorer, who had 58 points so far this season, it hurts even more because he has been the Wings biggest offensive threat over the last 20 games. Since late January, Datsyuk leads Detroit with 23 points (8 goals, 15 assists), that’s 9 more points than Tomas Tatar and Henrik Zetterberg, who are tied for second most over that span. This is not to say the Wings are dead in the water though. Four other players have 10 or more points over that span, and trade deadline pickup Marek Zidlicky has 7 points in 7 games since joining the Red Wings by way of the New Jersey Devils. That’s not all. The Panthers will also be drawing Petr Mrazek in net, as the Red Wings give him the start after a strong outing against the Penguins on Sunday afternoon, making 42 stops on 43 shots in his first appearance in over a month. Mrazek has seen limited service, having played only 6 of the last 20 games. However, he has been good when called upon, going 4-2-0 in those games, and making 137 saves on 149 shots. He also made 37 saves on 41 shots against the Panthers in the last game between these two teams, earning the victory.
The Rundown:
Panthers Leaders & Special Teams
Goals: Nick Bjugstad (24)
Assists: Jussi Jokinen (32)
Points: Nick Bjugstad (43)
SAT Relative: Brian Campbell (+4.0%)
Scoring Chances Relative: Vincent Trocheck (+6.0%)
Individual Shot Attempts (Total): Nick Bjugstad (236)
Individual Shot Attempts (Rate/60): Brandon Pirri (17.7)
Power Play: 15.5% (33 for 213, 27th)
Penalty Kill: 79.8% (170 for 212, 24th)
Red Wings Leaders & Special Teams
Goals: Tomas Tatar (25)
Assists: Henrik Zetterberg (43)
Points: Henrik Zetterberg (59)
SAT Relative: Tomas Tatar (+8.8%)
Scoring Chances Relative: Tomas Tatar (+7.9%)
Individual Shot Attempts (Total): Tomas Tatar (238)
Individual Shot Attempts (Rate/60): Tomas Tatar (16.4)
Power Play: 25.3% (62 for 245, 2nd)
Penalty Kill: 81.0% (192 for 237, 17th)
The Hat Trick:
As Idle as a Painted Ship, Upon a Painted Ocean: The Panthers have played so well the last two games. They drove play and dominated two of the best teams in the league. That’s no small feat. Yet, it hurts all that much more to play like that against those teams and get nothing out of those games. That’s a tough pill to swallow. While the Panthers have wrestled with their frustration, the Ottawa Senators have leapfrogged them, making a difficult road to the playoffs all that more difficult. One glimmer of hope remains though: three games against Boston remain on the docket.
Rubber, Rubber, Everywhere (And All the Pucks Did Shriek): Brandon Pirri is drawing lots of attention for his proclivity to shoot the puck. He leads the Panthers with 17.7 shot attempts taken per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play, among players who have appeared in at least half this season’s games. That’s over two more than Nick Bjugstad, who is second on the team at 15.5. The impression Pirri is leaving goes beyond just the Panthers. He is 21st among all players with a minimum of 250 minutes played at 5 on 5. His 17.7 shot attempts per 60 minutes is comparable to other league sharpshooters, such as Eric Staal (17.9), Marian Hossa (17.6), Nathan MacKinnon (17.4), and Tyler Seguin (17.4). When we consider all situations and not just even strength, Pirri averages 20.1 shot attempts per 60 minutes. This, again, places him in first place on the Panthers, almost 4 attempts ahead of second place Nick Bjugstad (16.3). He also creeps up the league-wide standings to 13th among players who have played at least 500 minutes. There he is bookended by 12th place Brendan Gallagher (20.2), and 14th place Filip Forsberg (20.0), and just a hair ahead of noted NHL scorers such as Phil Kessel (19.7), and Steven Stamkos (19.4). Furthermore, when on the powerplay, he’s got 41.2 shot attempts per 60 minutes. That ranks 3rd in the league among players with a minimum of 50 minutes playing time on the power play, trailing only Alex Ovechkin (51.1), and Arizona’s Michael Stone (42.8). Of course, that is also a very small sample size. This is also not to say that Brandon Pirri is going to become an elite level scorer like many of the names mentioned above. However, he has clearly embraced a key trait they all share: a willingness to shoot the puck.
Rubber, Rubber, Everywhere (Nor Any Goals to Sink): The Panthers have accumulated 165 shot attempts over the last two games. That is the most the Panthers have ever had in a two game span since 2005, when the statistic was first kept. The previous record was 162, set after a 3-2 shootout victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on February 25, 2012, and tied earlier this season after a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on December 6. Yet, the Panthers were unable to match the success from earlier this season, which saw the Panthers pot 6 goals in those two games. This time around, the Panthers scored just half of that. It came in even lower than the initial record setting couplet, where the Panthers scored four goals between their February 25, 2012 game against Carolina, and their previous game against Minnesota on February 23. The last two games are a frustration unlike anything the Panthers have had before, in a literal statistical sense.
Projected Lineup:
Florida Panthers
L1: Huberdeau | Barkov | Jagr
L2: Pirri | Bjugstad | Boyes
L3: Jokinen | Trocheck | Bolland
L4: Kopecky | MacKenzie | Upshall
D1: Campbell | Ekblad
D2: Mitchell | Gudbranson
D3: Kulikov | Kampfer
SG: Luongo
BG: Ellis
Detroit Red Wings
L1: Cole | Zetterberg | Abdelkader
L2: Tatar | Sheahan | Helm
L3: Nyquist | Glendening | Pulkkinen
L4: Miller | Andersson | Jurco
D1: Ericsson | Kronwall
D2: DeKeyser | Quincey
D3: Smith | Zidlicky
SG: Mrazek
BG: Howard
Courtesy of Daily Faceoff (Accurate as of 3:30 pm)
Closing Thoughts:
Prediction: The Albatross will fall from the Panthers neck, sink like lead into the sea, and then get salvaged by the Buffalo Sabres to be dressed for their next game.
