Another five game win streak, another opponent. Tonight it’s a Malkin-less Pittsburgh Penguins, with a red-hot Sidney Crosby. It should be a hotly contested game!
The Numbers
[table id=TS02G52 /] [table id=IS02G52 /] [table id=GM02G52 /]* – Stats are courtesy of War-on-Ice.com, Puckalytics.com and Hockey-Reference.com
Projected Lineups
[table id=PF02G52 /] [table id=PD02G52 /] [table id=PG02G34 /] [table id=OF02G52 /] [table id=OD02G52 /] [table id=OG02G52 /]The Hat Trick
Holy PDO, Batman!: Don’t be alarmed, but the Panthers latest hot streak is burning rather brightly. Though I am not a big proponent of hammering on PDO in a hot streak, I will make an exception in this case. That is because the Panthers PDO is riding at 110.3% over the last five games. That is outrageously big, and should raise some questions about what’s going on. This is the most bloated the Panthers PDO has been in any of their three 5+ game winning streaks this season. See the below breakdown of each streak:
[table id=370 /] [table id=371 /] [table id=372 /]The one positive to note here is that the Panthers shot suppression has remained legitimately good and on target. In fact, it has improved over time. This is good, because the Panthers shot generation has continued to be abysmal. This was something I mentioned during the last win streak, and it is still true today. If the Panthers are going to make moves at the trade deadline, it will hopefully be with an eye to remedy these shot generation issues.
Power Surge: The Panthers power play went nine straight games without a power play goal from January 3 to January 22. It was a streak that was made better with some wins, but it was painful to watch the power play operate. However, since that streak ended, the story has been different. The Panthers have now scored a power play goal in four straight games. Furthermore, they have scored two power play goals in three straight games, resulting in a seven power play goal explosion over the last four games.
Sullivan The Problem: The Pittsburgh Penguins fired head coach Mike Johnston on December 12 this season, and replaced him with a new Mike behind the bench: Mike Sullivan. The former right hand man of John Tortorella has come in and done in Pittsburgh what his former boss has failed to do in Columbus, and that’s positively change the paradigm. The Penguins score-adjusted CF% has gone from 48.3 under Johnston to 55.1 under Sullivan. The team has seen a marked improvement in both shot generation (53.2 to 60.7 CF60) and shot suppression (56.8 to 48.1 CA60) as well. Though the Penguins record is just 10-8-4 under Sullivan, they have entered the playoff conversation in larger part. That’s not the only thing that’s gotten better since Sullivan took over:
Sidney Crosby sous Mike Johnston: 19 points en 30 matchs
Sidney Crosby sous Mike Sullivan: 26 points en 18 matchs.— Mathias Brunet (@mathiasbrunet) February 3, 2016
That’s 19 points in 30 games for Sidney Crosby under Mike Johnston, and 26 points in 18 games under Mike Sullivan. There’s also this:
Sidney Crosby enters tonight's game against Florida sitting on 899 career points & riding a nine-game point streak (9G, 6A). 7 G last 5 GP.
— Josh Getzoff (@JG_PxP) February 6, 2016
Here’s to history waiting one more night.
Closing Thoughts
If you want to make a donation to #CatsForACause, follow the hashtag link.
Also, don’t forget next weekend is PAWS, the Panthers Analytics WorkShop. If you’re into numbers, and want to hear discussions about it, register to attend here.
Lastly, I will not be covering the game tonight on Twitter. Instead, staff writer Angie will be manning the account, and sitting in my seats. So greet her warmly!
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