The March towards the playoffs starts with the changing of the calendar to a new month. Deadline day aptly fell on Leap Day, as trades seemed to come in four years apart. Tallon fetched a 6th rounder for Pirri but the real moves were closed Saturday. Jiri Hudler, Teddy Purcell, and Jakub Kindl will all be in the lineup tonight, applying the finishing touches on the “new leaf” Panthers. The win tonight would do well for the morale of the team, dropping back to back games over the weekend has brought the Lightning neck and neck with the Cats for the Division title.
Read up about tonight’s match-up by the numbers, and give a listen to our Pre-Game Skate Podcast below.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/249692010″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]The Numbers
[table id=TS02G63 /] [table id=IS02G63 /] [table id=GM02G63 /]* – Stats are courtesy of Corsica.Hockey, War-on-Ice.com, Puckalytics.com and Hockey-Reference.com
Projected Lineups
[table id=PF02G63 /] [table id=PD02G63 /] [table id=PG02G63 /] [table id=OF02G63 /] [table id=OD02G63 /] [table id=OG02G63 /]The Hat Trick
Gerard Gallant: Panthers fans will get a taste of Gallant’s bench management skills as he tries to juggle new additions into an injury riddled lineup. New faces to the team, new faces back from IR, the roster feng shui needs to be re-arranged. How quickly can Gallant adjust to any in-game confusion or match-up issues? Can the Panthers avoid a two many men penalty, or a botched change? This game should highlight all the moving parts of a hockey game fans don’t always pay attention to.
Jakub Kindl: Defense is the hardest position to adjust to coming up from minors to the NHL level. Using that logic, it makes sense that defenders may have a steeper learning curve moving to new teams, as well. Kindl will look to develop chemistry early on with his partner, hoping to offset any misread in a new defensive scheme. If Kindl communicates well, his skill and the Panthers solid team defense should cover the gaps.
Power Play: Winnipeg is known for a lackluster penalty kill, which is only magnified by some dumb penalties (cough Big Buff cough). The Panthers can help their efforts by cashing in on the power play, an on-going struggle in the past month and change. Kindl, Hudler, and Purcell have a good chance of seeing power play time, and with Gallant preferring to use both units as equally as possible, they will get plenty of cracks at the whip. If anything, more shot generation on the power play can help push momentum for a 5v5 goal.
Closing Thoughts
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