Pre-Game Skate (3/21/15): Boston Bruins (36-24-11) @ Florida Panthers (32-25-14)

Hit The Ice:

Tonight, the Panthers play one of the most important games for this franchise in nearly three years tonight. After beating the Red Wings 3-1 on Thursday night, the Panthers sit within striking distance of tonight’s opponent, the Boston Bruins, for the final Wild Card spot. The Panthers must win in regulation tonight or run the risk of running out of time. This game promises to be one of the most, if not the most entertaining and intense of the Panthers season. Can the Panthers make it happen in the biggest game of the year? Will the Bruins feel the pressure by the end of the night? On to the game!

Know Your Enemy:

Panthers All-Time Record v. Boston: 32-36-6 with 6 ties
All-Time Record v. Boston at Home: 3-9-2 with 2 ties
2014-15 Season Record v. Boston: 0-0-1
Last Game: 11/4/14 @ TD Garden (Boston, MA), Bruins won 2-1 in overtime

For how interconnected the fates of these two teams are, it sure has been a long time since they faced each other. We have to go back to November to find the last game between these two teams, in which the Panthers were able to take the Bruins to overtime, before falling. Yet, that single point proves vitally important right now. The Panthers sit just five points back of the Bruins, with three games remaining on the schedule between these two teams starting tonight. If the Panthers can earn all six points and give none back the other way, they could leapfrog the Bruins. That is majorly important because they hold the tiebreaker over the Panthers, a tie in points is death. The Bruins limp into Sunrise tonight losers of their last three games, although they had won five in a row prior to the current streak. The Bruins are led offensively by Patrice Bergeron, who has 49 points. This is a marked downturn from last season, when David Krejci led the Bruins with 69 points. The Bruins will be lucky to have any player reach 60 points this season. Prior to their last game against the Ottawa Senators, in which they scored 4 goals, the Bruins had mustered just three goals in three games, including a one goal performance against the low-as-you-can-go Buffalo Sabres, falling in that game 2-1 in the shootout. That’s brutal. Key injuries have greatly hampered the Bruins throughout the year. Zdeno Chara missed a long duration of time earlier in the season and David Krejci remains on Injured Reserve, leaving a sizable hole at center for the Bs. Tuukka Rask though remains a solid backstop, turning in a 2.31 GAA, and .923 save percentage, resting just slightly below his career averages.

The Rundown:

Panthers Leaders & Special Teams
Goals: Nick Bjugstad (24)
Assists: Jussi Jokinen & Jonathan Huberdeau (32)
Points: Nick Bjugstad & Jonathan Huberdeau (43)
SAT Relative: Brian Campbell (+6.3%)
Individual Shot Attempts (Total): Nick Bjugstad (227)
Individual Shot Attempts (Rate/60): Brandon Pirri (17.4)
Power Play: 15.3% (33 for 216, 27th)
Penalty Kill: 80.6% (175 for 217, 20th)

Bruins Leaders & Special Teams
Goals: Brad Marchand (22)
Assists: Patrice Bergeron (30)
Points: Patrice Bergeron (49)
SAT Relative: Patrice Bergeon (+10.6%)
Individual Shot Attempts (Total): Dougie Hamilton (250)
Individual Shot Attempts (Rate/60): Patrice Bergeron (16.5)
Power Play: 17.5% (32 for 183, 19th)
Penalty Kill: 81.6% (178 for 218, 13th)

**Data via Puckalytics.com

The Hat Trick:

Big Bad Who?: Much is made of how the Boston Bruins are the “Big Bad Bruins”. How much of that holds up in reality though? Consider this: the Bruins are 14th in the league with 1,812 hits on the season. In fact, they have only outhit their opponents on a nightly basis 25 times out of 71 times this season. In those 25 games, the Bruins are simply average, posting an 11-11-3 record, and a 50.3 SAT%. The Panthers for their part hit more often than the Bruins, sitting 11th in the league with 1,962 hits, a 14-14-6 record when outhitting their opponents, and a SAT% at 51.9 when outhitting. The Bruins are a much better team when getting outhit, having done so 41 times and are 21-13-7 with a 53.2 SAT% in those games. The Panthers, however, are a little stranger. They have been outhit 32 times and are 15-10-7 in those situations, but post a worse SAT% of 50.6%. In fact, the Panthers have lost their last four games when getting outhit. However, the overall results are still much better. If the Panthers hope to win, they should perhaps get the Bruins to run around and take hits they don’t need to take, as it clearly affects their results. However, great care should be taken to not be too passive.

Tenth Time’s the Charm: Recent history between these two teams has seen a major slant in favor of the Boston Bruins. The last nine games between these two teams have all been won by the Boston Bruins. It has been just over three years since the Panthers last dispatched the Bruins. That came by way of a 6-2 rout on March 15, 2012 at the then-named BankAtlantic Center. Now is no better time to change that.

Who’s Next?: Jaromir Jagr potted his 718th career goal, passing Phil Esposito for 5th all-time in career goals on Thursday night. Now the question is, what is next for Jagr? It will be a climb up the career points list. Jagr’s assist on Brandon Pirri’s goal put him at 1,791 career points, just seven points back of the league’s number 4 career scorer, Ron Francis, who has 1,798 career points.

Projected Lineup:

Florida Panthers

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

SG: Luongo
BG: Ellis

Boston Bruins

D1: Chara | Hamilton
D2: Krug | McQuaid
D3: Seidenberg | Bartkowski

SG: Rask
BG: Svedberg

Courtesy of Daily Faceoff (Accurate as of 1:30 pm)

Closing Thoughts:

Condolences to the family of Matthew Wuest, founder of CapGeek. He created a website that changed the way we look at the game and helped us attain a greater understanding of the new reality of the salary cap. While we all miss CapGeek, Matthew will be missed more. Rest in Peace.

AJ can be reached for contact on Twitter .

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