Just when it started feeling good, it got bad again. With Tuesday night’s loss to the Buffalo Sabres, the Panthers are now 7th in the Atlantic Division. Tonight, the Panthers kick off a home and home series against the Lightning up in Tampa. Its the season’s first battle for the Governor’s Cup!
The Numbers
[table id=TS02G17 /] [table id=IS02G17 /] [table id=GM02G17 /]* – Stats are courtesy of War-on-Ice.com, Puckalytics.com and Hockey-Reference.com
Projected Lineups
[table id=PRPF02G16 /] [table id=PRPD02G06 /] [table id=PRPG02G06 /] [table id=PROF02G17 /] [table id=PROD02G17 /] [table id=PROG02G17 /]The Rundown
So what exactly went wrong on Tuesday night? Part of it was the effectiveness of Ryan O’Reilly’s line. They spent a significant chunk of the game against the Nick Bjugstad line, and were able to dominate play (Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Reilly Smith all had CF% under 40 against the O’Reilly line). Ryan O’Reilly was also on the ice for two of the Sabres three goals.
You would think with last change as the home team that this would be combatted against. It was not. Coach Gallant continued his usual rotation of lines mostly undisturbed. The only real change was the flipping of Reilly Smith and Jaromir Jagr between the first and second lines after the first intermission. If the Panthers hope to overcome such matchups, they need to be able to adapt on the fly and make adjustments. Not enough of that is happening lately.
At the same time though, Ryan O’Reilly is the leading scorer on the Sabres, and the way he’s going, he’ll dominate just about anyone. It just would have been nice to get Line 1 away from that match up and potentially activate them for better offense if they were not going to be able to shut down the O’Reilly line.
Tonight, its Hockey Night in Hillsborough County. The Panthers will take on a Tampa Bay Lightning squad that is not quite reaching the heights last season’s team had so far. The Triplets have not been as dominant of a force, and have been split up as a result. Steven Stamkos, set to become a free agent at season’s end, is scoring at the lowest rate of his career at 5v5 (1.1 P/60, 0.2 A/60 [!]).
Through 18 games, the Lightning are a mediocre 8-8-2, a full ten points back of division leading Montreal. However, because the Atlantic Division is generally mediocre, the Lightning are in third place.
Even crazier from a Panthers standpoint: the Cats are just three points back of third place Tampa. If the Panthers can sweep this home-and-home series, they will pass the Lightning, and perhaps rocket back up the Atlantic Division standings. Despite all the losses, and uninspiring losses, this whole thing can still be fixed with just a couple of wins. Time is ticking though, the Panthers must strike now.
Closing Thoughts
C’mon, this game is all about the Governor’s Cup. We have no idea what this thing looks like, but it matters damn it!
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