Panthers looking to make it three in a row, with a date in St. Louis tonight. May the only ones feeling blue tonight be… well… the Blues. *end requiste bad pun/cliche*
The Numbers
[table id=TS02G24 /] [table id=IS02G24 /] [table id=GM02G24 /]* – Stats are courtesy of War-on-Ice.com, Puckalytics.com and Hockey-Reference.com
Projected Lineups
[table id=PRPF02G22 /] [table id=PRPD02G23 /] [table id=PRPG02G06 /] [table id=PROF02G24 /] [table id=PROD02G24 /] [table id=PROG02G24 /]The Rundown
Two ugly wins in a row have the Panthers back on the right side of .500. The wins do not inspire tons of confidence, per se, but hey, we’ll take wins any way we can get them at this point. To put a number on the ugliness, the Panthers have been bested 89-63 on shot attempts combined at 5v5 over the last two games. On the plus side, Gallant is adjusting his lineup more often, and at least early on it looks like they’re getting the results. We will have to see if the underlying numbers improve too though.
The challenge tonight is huge. The St. Louis Blues are a very good hockey team, top to bottom. They boast Vladimir Tarasenko on their first line, tied for having the 2nd most goals in the league. They have a defense that has contributed 47 points on the season (The Panthers defense has contributed just 31 points, for example), and they are a top possession team. They have the 3rd best score adjusted CF% in the league at 53.8. They are also a Top 10 shot generation team and a Top 5 shot suppression team.
The matchup is not unlike that which the Panthers had against the Los Angeles Kings last month. The Panthers lost those two games by a combined score of 7-2, and were out attempted 93-68 at 5v5. The Kings are a tad bit better, so maybe this ends up being closer. However, I have feeling that, just like those Kings games, this Blues game will be more about survival.
Closing Thoughts
A couple site related notes:
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