PAWS weekend has come and gone. Unlike the conference, thankfully the games themselves are done. The Panthers lost by a combined score of 10-3, plus lost Brandon Pirri and Quinton Howden to injury. Joy to the world.
The Numbers
[table id=TS02G57 /] [table id=IS02G57 /] [table id=GM02G57 /]* – Stats are courtesy of War-on-Ice.com, Puckalytics.com and Hockey-Reference.com
Projected Lineups
[table id=PF02G57 /] [table id=PD02G52 /] [table id=PG02G50 /] [table id=OF02G57 /] [table id=OD02G57 /] [table id=OG02G57 /]The Hat Trick
The Birthday Boy and His Birthday Guests: Today is Jaromir Jagr’s 44th birthday, and he gets to celebrate it with a game against the team the started his career with. That seems fitting, does it not? Although he has not played a game for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 15 years, he has still played over half of his 1603 career games played for the organization (806). A two goal performance tonight will also tie him with Brett Hull for 3rd all-time in goal scored. Jagr has scored two or more goals against his former team in a game four times: twice with the New York Rangers (11/12/2005 [hat trick] & 1/28/2006), once with the Philadelphia Flyers (2/18/12), and once with the New Jersey Devils (11/16/2013).
I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up: The injury bug has come to Sunrise. Prior to Sunday’s game, the Panthers had 163 Man Games Lost according to mangameslost.com, which is 15th in the league. They also had an Injury Impact to Team (IIT) score of 1290.35, good for 8th in the league.* Those aren’t overwhelming numbers, but its going to go up with Pirri out. In fact, its jarring to think that the Panthers have now lost five regular roster members over the last four weeks. You can make that six injured regulars if you go back a month and count the concussion suffered by Aaron Ekblad. The Panthers have gone 6-6-2 over that span.
Go Away Tuxedoes: It has not been a good time playing against the Penguins of late. The Panthers have lost four of their last five games against the Penguins, dating back to last season. The last triumph over the Pennsylvania Tuxedoes came back way of the shootout on December 22, 2014, when Aleksander Barkov did this to Marc-Andre Fleury:
There will be no Barkov tonight sadly, but let’s tap into this mojo anyway, right?
Closing Thoughts
Don’t forget to donate to #CatsForACause!
Also, Cat Tracks will return tonight after a two game hiatus. Rejoice!
* – IIT is a metric created by Nathan Currier at mangameslost.com. The particular version of IIT I’m referencing is for skaters, adjusted by average TOI. There is also a version adjusted for skaters, adjusted by CFrel, and a goalie version based on time played. You can read about it here, and see the formulas for yourself.
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