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| FLORIDA PANTHERS |
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9–7–2 (20 points; .556%) ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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6:00 P.M. – SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20 NATIONWIDE ARENA COLUMBUS, OH |
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BALLY SPORTS OHIO ESPN+ (Out of Market) |
For the first time this season, the Columbus Blue Jackets have back-to-back games at Nationwide Arena.
And for the second time this season, they'll take the ice following a loss by at least five goals.
Columbus looks to right the ship Sunday when they take on the struggling-but-dangerous Florida Panthers. The Blue Jackets fell 6-1 to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night, their biggest margin of defeat on home ice this season.
The Panthers, meanwhile, concluded a five-game homestand of their own Saturday with a shootout loss to the Calgary Flames.
Here's what to know as both teams aim to get back in the win column:
| CBJ | SEASON STATS | FLA |
|---|---|---|
| 2.94 | GOALS FOR | 3.33 |
| 4.41 | GOALS AGAINST | 3.32 |
| 9.8% | POWER PLAY | 18.8% |
| 75.0% | PENALTY KILL | 77.9% |
| 30.4 | SHOTS FOR | 40.3 |
| 36.6 | SHOTS AGAINST | 31.6 |
| 44.6% | CF% (EVEN) | 57.4% |
| 50.7% | FACEOFF % | 49.1% |
| PROJECTIONS | ||
| ODDS OF CBJ WIN PER MONEYPUCK | 32% | |
| ODDS OF CBJ WIN PER THE 538 | 44% | |
| CAESAR'S SPORTSBOOK BETTING | FLA -235 | |
| PANTHERS: LAST THREE GAMES | ||
| SAT, 11/19 | vs. CALGARY | L, 5-4 (SO) |
| THU, 11/17 | vs. DALLAS | L, 6-4 |
| TUE, 11/15 | vs. WASHINGTON | W, 5-2 |
| PANTHERS: TEAM LEADERS | ||
| GOALS | CARTER VERHAEGHE | 11 |
| ASSISTS | MATTHEW TKACHUK | 17 |
| POINTS | MATTHEW TKACHUK | 24 |
TALKING POINTS: FLA
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Florida's 5-4 shootout loss to the Flames gave the Panthers a 2-2-1 homestand. A team with enough talent to win the Stanley Cup (and coming off a franchise record 58 wins last season), it's been a slow start for new head coach Paul Maurice. They've won consecutive games just twice this season and are yet to win three straight.
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There's still a load of talent on the ice for the Panthers, though. Two players have led the offensive charge so far this season for Florida. Matthew Tkachuk, acquired in an offseason trade with the Flames, leads the team in assists (17) and points (24 and is on pace for a career year. With 11 goals, fourth-year forward Carter Verhaeghe's next tally will put him halfway towards his career high of 24 goals in a season — and we're not yet at Thanksgiving.
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Maurice has announced that Bobrovsky will be between the pipes for Florida. He's split time with Spencer Knight this season, with Knight posting better numbers across the board. Bobrovsky is 4-4-1 with a 3.46 goals against average and an .895 save percentage. All would be career lows for the former Blue Jacket.
- An unnerving stat for the 5th Line to be aware of: the Panthers average a league-leading 40.3 shots per game. That's more than three shots per game more than the New Jersey Devils, who are second at 36.9. Florida shoots — a lot. A deep dive into the analytics show that Florida's difference between goals and expected goals is -14.54, which ranks last in the league. Translation: the data shows that no team in the league is getting robbed by great goaltending more than the Panthers.
CBJ STORYLINES
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BOUNCE BACK
With the exception of a 7-1 loss to the above-mentioned Devils, the Blue Jackets loss to the Red Wings was their worst defeat of the season. It was another night where most Columbus skaters seemed to just be going through the motions and waiting on the clock to run out. There is a Jekyll-and-Hyde trend with this team: they're all in, or they're all out. To stand any chance against Florida, they'll need to be the former.
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OUT OF POWER PLAY?
For a split second, the Blue Jackets seemed to figure out the power play. After no power play goals in their first ten games, they connected on the man-up in four of their next five games. But, despite limited attempts in their last two games, the Blue Jackets have looked listless when playing 5-on-4. Injuries have something to do with that, certainly, but Columbus' best chance at winning will come with consistent play on special teams. That includes more than just the power play: they've allowed a goal in four of the last eight opposition's chance to play one man up.PROJECTED LINES
Updated: 7:05 a.m. // Subject To Change
| LW | C | RW | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Johnny Gaudreau | 38 | Boone Jenner | 91 | Kent Johnson |
| 59 | Yegor Chinakhov | 34 | Cole Sillinger | 14 | Gys Nyquist |
| 19 | Liam Foudy | 96 | Jack Roslovic | 52 | Emil Bemstrom |
| 50 | Eric Robinson | 7 | Sean Kuraly | 24 | Matheiu Olivier |
| LD | RD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Vladislav Gavrikov | 47 | Marcus Bjork |
| 23 | Jake Christiansen | 44 | Eric Gudbranson |
| 15 | Gavin Bayreuther | 2 | Andrew Peeke |
| Starting Goalie | Backup | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | Daniil Tarasov | 70 | Joonas Korpisalo |
