Monday night was a thriller, but we’ll see if the Panthers have more here on Thursday night. Its the final 2015-16 clash of the 1993 expansion teams. May the best 90s team win.
The Numbers
[table id=TS02G19 /] [table id=IS02G19 /] [table id=GM02G19 /]* – Stats are courtesy of War-on-Ice.com, Puckalytics.com and Hockey-Reference.com
Projected Lineups
[table id=PRPF02G19 /] [table id=PRPD02G18 /] [table id=PRPG02G06 /] [table id=PROF02G19 /] [table id=PROD02G19 /] [table id=PROG02G19 /]The Rundown
Okay, so last game was a pretty big finish, huh? Indeed it was, a finish does not get much bigger than a winning goal tumbling into the net during the dying minutes of the third period. That felt like the kind of game the Panthers would usually lose, but that was not to be. It feels good to take those two points, especially against a divisional opponent in Tampa Bay. Its even better that they kept Tampa from stealing a point in the process.
That said, the Panthers can not expect to win every game like that. A shutout, in of itself, is an unsustainable outcome, we don’t need stats to tell us that. They are fun when they do occur for your team though. Also getting carved up by the opposition probably is not advisable. Getting outshot 39-20 is enough to make even the optimists among us (read: me) bristle. A deeper look into the shot attempts doesn’t make it any better. The Panthers played to a whopping 55-34 disadvantage on shot attempts, and conceded a 24-11 edge to the Lightning.
The only thing one could take solace in, on that front, was the fact the Panthers had a 6-4 edge in high danger areas. They may have been giving up a lot of opportunities overall, but they did a real good job of limiting the most dangerous ones.
Tonight, the Panthers will look to exact some revenge on the Ducks. Corey Perry spoiled a 2-1 Panthers lead with just five seconds left in the 3rd last time these two teams met out in Anaheim. The game ended in a shootout defeat for the Panthers, in case you had blocked out that trauma. The win represented the second of four straight wins for the Ducks in a mini-turnaround, however they have dropped four of their last five games, two in overtime.
Part of Anaheim’s partial turn of fourtune is that their best players are no longer playing like junk. Specifically, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf have been phenomenal. Perry has four goals and three assists in a point per game effort over the last seven games, while Getzlaf has a goal and five assists since returning from an appendectomy. That accounts for all but one of his points on the season. So at a minimum, the Ducks top end has woken up.
Closing Thoughts
I’m not usually one to toot my own horn loudly, but today is my birthday. And for the first time in my life I will be able to experience live NHL hockey on my birthday. I have not been this excited to go to a game in awhile, hope it is a good one.
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