Tonight at 7:00 P.M., the Florida Panthers will host the Chicago Blackhawks at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida.
This is the first of two contests this season between the two bottom-feeding clubs. They’ll face off again at the United Center on December 23rd.
The Florida Panthers just completed a six-game road trip. They defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1, then lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3 and the New York Rangers, 4-2. After a 7-5 win over the Ottawa Senators, they dropped a 7-3 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Last night they lost to the Carolina Hurricanes.
After tonight’s game, the Panthers will host the New Jersey Devils, the Anaheim Ducks, the Buffalo Sabres, the Lightning, the Boston Bruins, the Colorado Avalanche and the Rangers. They won’t play another road matchup until December 11th, against the St. Louis Blues.
The Blackhawks are finishing up a three-game road trip. They lost to the Washington Capitals, 4-2 and to the Lightning last night, 4-2. They’ll head back to the United Center to take on the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.
When Last We Met
The last time the Panthers and the Blackhawks faced off was on December 12th last season, with 21,795 in attendance at the United Center.
The 14-11-5 Blackhawks defeated the 12-14-4 Panthers, 3-2 in a game that took an overtime to decide things. Nick Bjugstad (8) and Jamie McGinn (5) each scored for the Panthers, with assists credited to Aleksander Barkov, Mark Pysyk, and Vincent Trocheck. James Reimer took the loss, stopping 25-of-28 shots.
"“I think it was a gutsy effort on our part. I thought that we got contributions from the lineup. We all played hard. We played 60 minutes. You know back-to-back is never easy, especially against a team like this.” – Panthers coach Bob Boughner, as quoted on NHL.COM by Charlie Roumeliotis"
Panthers Last
Last night, the Panthers couldn’t get out of their own way long enough to seriously challenge the not-really-that-good Carolina Hurricanes.
Mike Hoffman failed to extend his points streak to 18 games, and only Troy Brouwer (6) lit the lamp for the Panthers. Mike Matheson earned an assist, and Roberto Luongo stopped nine shots before allowing a goal (and injuring himself while getting scored on).
James Reimer came on in relief and kept the Panthers in it until the third period when Jordan Martinook completed a hat-trick.
"“We couldn’t find a way to score when we needed a goal. And I give McElhinney some credit; he played well. When you look at it, the effort was there. I thought we competed hard.” – Panthers coach Bob Boughner, as quoted on NHL.COM by Kurt Dusterberg"
Blackhawks Last
The Blackhawks came into Amalie Arena to face the Lightning last night and came away with a 4-2 loss. Artem Anisimov (3) and Jonathan Toews (11) each scored, with assists awarded to Duncan Keith, Alex DeBrincat, and Nick Schmaltz
"“They came out hard. They’ve done that several times this season. We needed to be better. We definitely played better as the game went on.” – Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith, as quoted by Corey Long on NHL.COM"
All-Time Series
The Florida Panthers are 11-18-3-5 against the Blackhawks. Their .405 points percentage is their fourth-worst against an NHL opponent.
This Day in History
The Florida Panthers are 2-6-1-0 on November 24th since 1993. In 2008, the 7-11-1 Panthers hosted the 11-8-2 Hurricanes and came away with a 3-2 victory.
Ville Peltonen (2) had a goal and an assist, while David Booth (10) and Gregory Campbell (3) each also lit the lamp. Radek Dvorak, Nathan Horton, and Brett McLean had assists, and Tomas Vokoun got the victory, stopping 27-of-29 shots on net.
Common Thread
Panthers fourth (now third)-liner Troy Brouwer played his first five NHL seasons with the Blackhawks, scoring 49 goals and 54 assists in 238 contests.
Standings
Florida Panthers: 8-9-3, 19 points, .475 points percentage, on pace for 78 points. Seventh in the Atlantic Division, 15th in the Eastern Conference, 27th in the NHL. Last Five: L-L-W-L-L. Playoff Odds: Bad
Chicago Blackhawks: 8-10-5, 21 points, .457 points percentage, on pace for 75 points. Sixth in the Central Division, 13th in the Western Conference, 29th in the NHL. Last Five: W-O-W-L-L. Playoff Odds: Worse
Starting Lineup
Florida Panthers
63–16–68
11–27–62
72–90–22
73–91–7
34 (unconfirmed)
Chicago Blackhawks
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – Artem Anisimov – Nick Schmaltz
Alexandre Fortin – David Kampf – Dominik Kahun
Chris Kunitz – Marcus Kruger – Luke Johnson
Duncan Keith – Brent Seabrook
Erik Gustafsson – Brandon Manning
Gustav Forsling – Jan Rutta
Corey Crawford (unconfirmed)
Injury Report
Florida Panthers: Derek MacKenzie is on the injured reserve with a shoulder injury, with no timetable for return.
Jamie McGinn had back surgery and may or may not return this season.
Vincent Trocheck had a nightmarish looking collision with the boards earlier this week. After surgery to repair his right ankle, the Panthers expect him to recover fully before the end of the season.
Roberto Luongo injured himself in last night’s game, and it’s unlikely he appears tonight.
Chicago Blackhawks: Brandon Davidson has a right leg injury, and is on the IR until further notice.
Connor Murphy is out with a bad back.
Milestones
Florida Panthers
Goals: Evgeni Dadonov will tie Marcus Nilson and Shawn Matthias with 48 goals with his next, in 32nd place. Aaron Ekblad will tie Rostislav Olesz in 19th with his next goal, his 57th.
Nick Bjugstad’s next marker, his 87th, will tie him in 13th with David Booth. Jonathan Huberdeau has been stuck on 99 for a few games now and needs two to tie Viktor Kozlov and Rob Niedermayer in eighth place.
Assists: Evgeni Dadonov has 57 assists, and will tie Paul Laus in 42nd with his next. Keith Yandle will tie Gord Murphy with his next helper, his 100th.
Points: Dadonov’s next point will tie him with Mike Van Ryn with 105 in 38th. Keith Yandle will move into a tie in 33rd with Michael Frolik and Jesse Belanger, with 117.
Aaron Ekblad will tie Gord Murphy in 20th with his next, giving him 142. Aleksander Barkov’s next point will tie him with Radek Dvorak in eighth place, with 268.
Chicago Blackhawks
Games: Jonathan Toews will break a tie for 14th place with Cliff Koroll with his 815th game.
Goals: Duncan Keith needs two goals to move into the Chicago top 50, with 94.
Points: Brent Seabrook will tie Jim Pappin in 23rd with two more points, for 444.
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Stat Leaders
Florida Panthers
Games: Aaron Ekblad, Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Keith Yandle, Evgeni Dadonov, Mike Hoffman – 7
Goals: Mike Hoffman – 10, Evgeny Dadonov – 9, Aleksander Barkov – 7
Assists: Keith Yandle – 15, Jonathan Huberdeau – 13, Vincent Trocheck, Aleksander Barkov – 11
Points: Mike Hoffman – 20, Keith Yandle, Evgeny Dadonov – 19
Plus-Minus: Nick Bjugstad +4, Michael Haley, Denis Malgin +2
Hits: Alexander Petrovic – 56, Vincent Trocheck – 36, Troy Brouwer – 32
Blocked Shots: Alexander Petrovic – 32, Mike Matheson – 30, MacKenzie Weegar – 24
Shots-on-Goal: Mike Hoffman – 74, Aleksander Barkov – 56, Evgeni Dadonov – 53
Faceoff Percentage: Aleksander Barkov – 54.0%, Vincent Trocheck – 53.9%, Nick Bjugstad – 50.4%, Luho Lammikko – 45.9%, Jared McCann – 45.3%
Chicago Blackhawks
Games: Erik Gustafsson, Duncan Keith, Dominik Kahun, Brent Seabrook, Artem Anisimov, Alex DeBrincat, Jonathan Toews – 23
Goals: Patrick Kane – 12, Jonathan Toews – 11, Alex DeBrincat – 9
Assists: Patrick Kane – 13, Henri Jokiharju – 10, Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews – 9
Points: Patrick Kane – 25, Jonathan Toews – 20, Alex DeBrincat – 17
Plus-Minus: Brandon Saad, Jonathan Toews +3, Gustav Forsling, Duncan Keith, Dominik Kahun, Henri Jokiharju +1
Hits: Andreas Martinsen – 49, Chris Kunitz, Luke Johnson, Brent Seabrook – 29
Blocked Shots: Brent Seabrook – 50, Duncan Keith – 43, Erik Gustafsson – 35
Shots-on-Goal: Patrick Kane – 90, Alex DeBrincat – 67, Jonathan Toews – 66
Faceoff Percentage: Jonathan Toews – 58.9%, David Kampf – 46.7%, Artem Anisimov – 46.5%, Marcus Kruger – 45.7%, Nick Schmaltz – 43.3%
Birthdays
Hoffman is turning 29-years-old, and Hunt is now 23. In addition to that, former Florida Panthers stalwart Booth is now 34. Booth scored 87 goals and 80 assists in 309 contests between 2006 and 2011.
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