The Panthers come in tenuously holding on to their 3rd seed in the Atlantic Division with a 5-3-1 record. Rookie Vincent Trocheck (5 G, 4 A in 9 GP) has burrowed his way into the Calder Trophy race as a dark horse, while the ageless Jaromir Jagr leads the team with 10 points. Meanwhile, former Bruins Reilly Smith and Shawn Thornton return to Boston.
The Bruins are red hot, having scored 26 goals in their past five games and have a chance to steal the 2nd wild-card spot from the New Jersey Devils based on a tiebreaker. The Bruns fought their way back from an 0-3 start and are now sporting a .500 record of 4-3-1. David Krejci has fallen behind the extraordinary Jamie Benn in the scoring race, but has still scored 14 points in just eight games and actually has a higher points-per-game average than Benn (1.75 compared to Benn's 1.70).
LINE COMBOS (Florida)
Jonathan Huberdeau-Nick Bjugstad-Jussi Jokinen
Brandon Pirri-Dave Bolland-Reilly Smith
Connor Brickley-Vincent Trocheck-Quinton Howden
Logan Shaw-Derek MacKenzie-Shawn Thornton
Brian Campbell-Aaron Ekblad
Dmitry Kulikov-Alex Petrovic
Willie Mitchell-Erik Gudbranson
Roberto Luongo
Al Montoya
LINE COMBOS (Boston)
Loui Eriksson-David Krejci-David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Brett Connolly
Matt Beleskey-Ryan Spooner-Jimmy Hayes
Zac Rinaldo-Chris Kelly-Tyler Randell
Zdeno Chara-Kevan Miller
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid
Joe Morrow-Colin Miller
Tuukka Rask
Jonas Gustavsson
Line combos from DailyFaceoff.com
FLYING HIGH
Vincent Trocheck
If Anthony Duclair is one of the best non-McEichel rookies, then Vincent Trocheck has to be right up there. With four goals and five assists to Duclair's five goals and four assists, Trocheck is producing at about the same rate as Duclair, with less ice time and fewer games. Trocheck has gotten a point on all of the goals scored while he was on ice, while Duclair got a point 83.3% of the time, while they both scored half of the goals they were on ice for. It's a shame there aren't more people talking about him.
David Krejci
Krejci has scored 14 points in eight games and is 2nd in the league in points. There's not much to say at this point but "wow". Him and Benn have both scored a third of the goals they've been on ice for, though Benn has gotten more points. When you're nipping at the heels of one the young season's greatest stories, you must be doing something right.
COMING DOWN TO EARTH
OK, so this is going to be a HUGE copout, but nobody seems to be doing horribly. Let's just put the Panthers' finances down in this section and move on.
Prediction: Panthers take it 3-1.
EDIT: Vincent Trocheck is not Calder-eligible. My mistake.
The Bruins are red hot, having scored 26 goals in their past five games and have a chance to steal the 2nd wild-card spot from the New Jersey Devils based on a tiebreaker. The Bruns fought their way back from an 0-3 start and are now sporting a .500 record of 4-3-1. David Krejci has fallen behind the extraordinary Jamie Benn in the scoring race, but has still scored 14 points in just eight games and actually has a higher points-per-game average than Benn (1.75 compared to Benn's 1.70).
LINE COMBOS (Florida)
Jonathan Huberdeau-Nick Bjugstad-Jussi Jokinen
Brandon Pirri-Dave Bolland-Reilly Smith
Connor Brickley-Vincent Trocheck-Quinton Howden
Logan Shaw-Derek MacKenzie-Shawn Thornton
Brian Campbell-Aaron Ekblad
Dmitry Kulikov-Alex Petrovic
Willie Mitchell-Erik Gudbranson
Roberto Luongo
Al Montoya
LINE COMBOS (Boston)
Loui Eriksson-David Krejci-David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Brett Connolly
Matt Beleskey-Ryan Spooner-Jimmy Hayes
Zac Rinaldo-Chris Kelly-Tyler Randell
Zdeno Chara-Kevan Miller
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid
Joe Morrow-Colin Miller
Tuukka Rask
Jonas Gustavsson
Line combos from DailyFaceoff.com
FLYING HIGH
Vincent Trocheck
If Anthony Duclair is one of the best non-McEichel rookies, then Vincent Trocheck has to be right up there. With four goals and five assists to Duclair's five goals and four assists, Trocheck is producing at about the same rate as Duclair, with less ice time and fewer games. Trocheck has gotten a point on all of the goals scored while he was on ice, while Duclair got a point 83.3% of the time, while they both scored half of the goals they were on ice for. It's a shame there aren't more people talking about him.
David Krejci
Krejci has scored 14 points in eight games and is 2nd in the league in points. There's not much to say at this point but "wow". Him and Benn have both scored a third of the goals they've been on ice for, though Benn has gotten more points. When you're nipping at the heels of one the young season's greatest stories, you must be doing something right.
COMING DOWN TO EARTH
OK, so this is going to be a HUGE copout, but nobody seems to be doing horribly. Let's just put the Panthers' finances down in this section and move on.
Prediction: Panthers take it 3-1.
EDIT: Vincent Trocheck is not Calder-eligible. My mistake.