Summary:
Florida kicked off their four game road trip with a big shutout win over Buffalo yesterday. Also, rumor has it that #PirriGate (now entering it’s 10th day) will come to a close as he is expected to slot into the lineup. The Panthers are looking to continue this momentum in a backup goalie duel tonight. Can Montoya steal a big win on the road for Florida? On to the game!
Historical Context:
In 111 games played against the Washington Capitals, the Panthers have 44 wins, 50 losses, 9 ties, and 8 overtime losses. This leaves the team with 105 points and a .473% points percentage. This ranks Washington as team number 15 out of 29 opponents on the Panthers total win column.
Last season, the two teams met up on three separate occasions in an extremely close series. On November 2nd, Florida visited Washington and lost in the shootout, 3 to 2. The next time the two teams met, the score was flipped. On December 13th (Friday the 13th! Spooky), the Capitals lost at Florida 3 to 2 in the shootout after a ridiculous 10-round shootout. Freaky Friday, indeed. The teams would meet one last time on February 27th, with the Capitals narrowly beating Florida in a high-scoring 5 to 4 victory.
What To Expect:
Tonight should be an interesting game as we will be witnessing a backup goalie duel. On paper, FLA’s Montoya (92 GP, 37W, 26L, 13OTL, .910 sv%) has better numbers than WSH’s Peters (69 GP, 22W, 31L, 9OTL, .903 sv%) but anything could happen. If Florida can shutdown Washington’s red-hot offense (16 goals in the past 4 games, Tied-4th in the League), they might be able to grind out a much needed two points.
Know Your Enemy:
Nicklas Bäckström: Tonight will be Nicklas Bäckström’s 500th game played in the NHL and he will be looking for his 500th point. Bäckström has been dominant throughout his entire NHL career and is an assist machine. Looking all the way back to the 11-12 season, Bäckström’s pace of 135 assists in 176 games (.77 assists a game) is tied for 3rd (with Claude Giroux). Only Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin produce assists at a better rate than him and that says something.
p.s. I like our Nick B more.
Expected Line Combinations:
Florida Panthers:
L1: Jokinen/Barkov/Hayes
L2: Huberdeau/Bjugstad/Upshall
L3: Bergenheim/Bolland/Fleischmann
L4: Kopecky/MacKenzie/Boyes
D1: Campbell/Ekblad
D2: Mitchell/Kulikov
D3: Olsen/Gudbranson
Starting G: Montoya
Backup G: Luongo
Note: I’ve heard that Pirri is slotted to play tonight but I’ve yet to hear where he will slot in.
Washington Capitals:
L1: Ovechkin/Backstrom/Brouwer
L2: Johansson/Burakovsky/Laich
L3: Chimera/Fehr/Ward
L4: Brown/Kuznetsov/O’Brien
D1: Orpik/Carlson
D2: Alzner/Niskanen
D3: Schmidt/Green
Starting G: Peters
Backup G: Holtby
Closing Thoughts:
Hopefully, Panthers fans won’t be seeing red tonight. I’ll be live-tweeting most of the game so send me a tweet and say hello!
Kris M. can be reached for contact on Twitter or via email at [email protected].
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