The Preds are back home after a disappointing road trip tonight, where they’ll host the Florida Panthers. It’s been a rough week for Florida, who have lost four straight and are missing Aleksander Barkov.
Barkov is second on the team in points and leads them in assists. Sam Reinhart leads the team in points with 57 and goals with an impressive 33–ten more than Carter Verhaeghe, who’s third in points with 44. Matthew Tkachuk is just behind Vergaeghe with 43 points, is just behind Barkov with 31 assists, and is also an unsurprising third on the team in penalty minutes.
Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz are doing a fine but not exceptional job in goal. Bobrovsky’s sv% on the season is .908, and Stolarz’s is .912. They’ve gotten some help from great defenses both at even strength and on the penalty kill, to which the Panthers have added powerful offenses 5v5 and on the power play–though it’s worth noting they’ve given up a whopping eight shorthanded goals so far this season.
They’ve also had very poor shooting luck, despite the impressive offense. Tkachuk in particular has been badly snakebitten, combining a lot of great chances with relatively few goals. Natural Stat Trick’s model says he would have been expected to score ten power-play goals so far this season; he’s managed one. Between Tkachuk’s bad luck (due for a correction soon) and Reinhart’s power-play feasting, the Preds should try to keep from taking too many penalties tonight.
The game airs at 7PM Central on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game. We won’t be able to have a recap for you tonight, but we’ll be back tomorrow.
Statistics from naturalstattrick.com. Additional background from hockeyviz.com.