The Panthers had a successful return home on Tuesday night, dispatching the Colorado Avalanche 4-1. Vincent Trocheck led the way, and the rest of the team followed suit. Tonight brings a much tougher challenge though, with division rival Boston coming to town. The Panthers and the Bruins played many hard fought games against each other last year, we can expect more of the same this season.
The Numbers
[table id=TS02G10 /] [table id=IS02G10 /] [table id=GM02G10 /]* – Stats are courtesy of War-on-Ice.com, Puckalytics.com and Hockey-Reference.com
Projected Lineups
[table id=PRPF02G10 /] [table id=PRPD02G06 /] [table id=PRPG02G06 /] [table id=PROF02G10 /] [table id=PROD02G10 /] [table id=PROG02G10 /]The Rundown
Tuesday night was a gas for the Panthers.
It was not surprising to beat up on Colorado, maybe just the manner in which they were beaten up. Everyone knew going in the Avalanche’s 5v5 metrics were garbage going into the game. However, their special teams weren’t too bad, with both power play and penalty kill units being top half teams. Well, the Panthers put an end to that, with the Avs going 0 for 3 on the PK, and 0-for-5 on the PP. That’s pretty nuts. The funny thing: Avalanche were 1-0 at 5-on-5, as noted by Avs coach Patrick Roy, who tried to spin it as a positive for his squad.
Whatever makes you sleep at night, I guess.
On an individual level, how about Vincent Trocheck? His two goal, one assist performance on Tuesday night was impressive, especially on the power play. He became the second Panthers this season to notch two power play goals in one game, the other being Reilly Smith on opening night. The Panthers had just one player with two power play goals in one game all of last season. That was Brandon Pirri, notching his only two PPG game on February 28 vs. Buffalo.
Additionally, Brian Campbell scored the Panthers first shorthanded goal of the season, the first of his career. Last year, the Panthers had to wait until Game 76 of the season to get their first shorthanded goal of the season, an empty net tally by Dave Bolland as the Panthers led 3-2 late in a game against the Ottawa Senators.
The Panthers will now face a tough Boston Bruins team tonight. In a way, this matchup is not unlike the one they had against the Dallas Stars recently, at least when it comes to results. The Bruins are one of the best offensive teams in the league. In fact, they are tied with Washington for the best 5v5 offense in the league at 3.1 GF/60. However, just like the Stars, the Bruins generate a lot of offense but end up giving up a lot the other way. They have one of the worst 5v5 defenses in the league, at 3.1 GA/60.
The big difference between the Bruins and Stars though is that the former is not a high Corsi event team like the latter. The Bruins are much closer to the Panthers in that respect. The teams actually have a very similar profile. Both teams hover near the middle of the pack in both shot generation and suppression, and perform just under 50%. Both also receive a slight bump to at or near 50% when adjusted for score. There is not a big difference when it comes to scoring chances either. Both teams are a bit under 50%, with the Panthers being better at suppressing them (25.5 to 27.6 per 60), and Boston being better at generating them (26.1 to 23.2 per 60).
The Bruins are also the league’s best power play team, at 32.1%. David Krejci, after an off year in 2014-15, is on fire to start the season with 14 points over his first eight games of the season. That’s just two points shy of averaging two points a game. Seven players on the Boston roster have five or more points on the season. A familiar face to Panther fans is among those seven players: Jimmy Hayes. The former Panther forward is having a successful start to the season, notching three goals, five assists for a point a game thus far. They have weapons, indeed, but the defense leaves something to be desired.
It starts with Tuukka Rask, who is having a putrid start to the season. His record is not too bad at 2-3-1, however his adjusted save percentage is really bad. He owns the 4th worst AdjSv% among goaltenders who have played a minimum of 240 minutes, at .890, above only Columbus’ Sergei Bobrovsky, Calgary’s Jonas Hiller, and Buffalo’s Chad Johnson.
In front of Rask, the D corps is not too bad. Zdeno Chara is leading the way with a sold score adjust CF% of 55.2. The rest of the D though is not looking as solid, Kevan Miller is the only other regular over 50% (50.8%). Everyone else is sub 50% on the blueline. This could help to explain the amount goals conceded. However, do not sleep on the Bruins. They still have perrenially solid players like Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron on their roster.
Closing Thoughts
Let us give a warm welcome back to the Charmin bears!
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