Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas – Wildcard Edition
The Florida Panthers (20-20-4, 44 points, T-4th Atlantic) play their second game in as many nights on Tuesday when heading north of the border to play the Toronto Maple Leafs (26-11-7, 59 points, 2nd Atlantic) after playing on the road Monday night against the Buffalo Sabres. Florida defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Saturday night with Aaron Ekblad scoring the tiebreaker goal during the second period for the Panthers. Toronto was defeated by Boston 4-3 on Saturday and the Maple Leaves have lost two straight. Florida will play without Anthony Duclair, Patric Hornqvist and Spencer Knight. Toronto will play without TJ Brodie. Kyle Clifford, Carl Dahlstrom, Victor Mete, Jake Muzzin and Nicholas Robertson.
Florida is allowing an average of 3.43 goals per game, which is 23rd in the NHL. The Panthers are allowing opponents to average 32.0 shots per game which is 20th. Florida successfully holds opponents scoreless 75.2% of the time the Panthers are short-handed which is 22nd in the league. Sergei Bobrovsky is 11-13-1 with a 3.27 goals against average .896 save percentage with one shutout. Florida is just 4-4 in Bobrovsky’s last eight starts between the pipes.
Florida is scoring an average of 3.25 goals per game which is 13th best in the NHL. The Panthers are first in shots taken per game with an average of 35.8 per game. Florida's power play scores 22.4% of the time that the Panthers have the man advantage which is 16th in the league. Matthew Tkachuk is the leading goal scorer for Florida with 22, while Carter Ver haeghe has scored 19 goals. The leader in assists Tkachuk with 31 and Brandon Montour is second with 28. Tkachuk is the points leader with 53 and Montour is a distant second with 35. Florida has scored 35 goals on the power play in 44 games.