Flyers-Panthers
7 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet
The Flyers (32-23-11, 75 points) finish off their back-to-back weekend trip Saturday night when they battle the Florida Panthers (37-21-9, 83 points) at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida.
Get ready for Saturday’s Flyers-Panthers game with five things to keep an eye on:
1. Ghost goes home
Rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has already accomplished a lot in his short NHL career. After all, he recently broke the Flyers’ team record for goals by a rookie defenseman when he scored his 14th of the year during Monday’s win over Tampa Bay and had a 15-game point streak not all that long ago.
Come Saturday night, Gostisbehere will be able to scratch another thing off his bucket list — playing in his home of Broward County, Florida, against the team he grew up rooting for.
“It’ll be pretty special to hit that ice,” the 22-year-old blueliner said prior to Friday 3-1 night’s win in Tampa. “You watch the pro team your whole life and now you go and get to play on it.”
He also added that his favorite players growing up were Pavel Bure, Jay Bouwmeester and Roberto Luongo, the goalie he will likely face on Saturday.
Gostisbehere, who played for the Junior Panthers at the Panthers’ practice facility, will have plenty of family and friends in attendance. The company his father works for gave the family its box at the BB&T Center for the night.
With the Flyers in the thick of the playoff chase, Saturday night will be a huge stage on which Gostisbehere can shine. And we’ll all know he’s not shy on the big stage.
2. Not your typical Panthers
Remember the not-too-distant days when the Panthers were the NHL’s proverbial doormat? It’s safe to say those days over.
These youthful, talented Panthers are the real deal. Remember their 12-game win streak earlier this season? That was no fluke.
Forwards Reilly Smith, Vincent Trochek, Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Bjugstad and defenseman Aaron Ekblad are all under 25 years of age and all have 10 or more goals this season. Talk about a foundation for now and for the future.
Of course, there’s also veteran leadership with the ageless Jaromir Jagr, who leads the team with 23 goals and 51 points, and Luongo, who’s had a fantastic season with a 28-16-6 record, 2.32 goals-against average, .923 save percentage and four shutouts.
Thanks to Luongo and a stingy defense, the Panthers give up just 2.39 goals per game, sixth-fewest in the entire league.
It’s no coincidence the Panthers are in a fight for the Atlantic Division lead and sit just a point back of the Boston Bruins for that lead heading into Saturday night.
These Panthers are good and will be for a while.
3. The power is back
At the All-Star break in late January, the Flyers’ power play, at 21st in the NHL, was struggling so much so that general manager Ron Hextall told reporters the man-advantage had to get better if the Flyers wanted to make a playoff push.
Consider the advice taken.
The Flyers’ power play is on fire, capitalizing on six of its last 11 opportunities in the last four games, including tallies courtesy of Sam Gagner and Matt Read in Friday’s triumph over the Lightning. The Flyers have now scored at least one power-play goal in five of their last seven games.
“Special teams opportunities are huge,” Brayden Schenn said earlier this week (see story). “You won’t get many chances … So you have to make the most of the opportunities you do get.”
Following Friday’s 2-for-3 showing in Tampa, the Flyers’ power play is now up to 14th in the league with an 18.9 percent success rate.
4. Keep an eye on…
Flyers: With as well as the Flyers are playing with a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games, there is a bunch of players that I could talk about here. But I’m going to go a bit off the page and go with Sam Gagner. He’s been excellent of late with five goals in his last nine games, including that power-play goal in Friday’s win over the Lightning. His uptick in production couldn’t have come at a better time as he’s filled the second-line wing spot nicely in Jake Voracek’s absence.
Panthers: Come on, you didn’t think I’d go further without talking about the seemingly immortal Jagr? As mentioned, he leads the Panthers with 23 goals and 51 points, all at the ripe age of 44, no less. At times this season, he’s played with linemates whose combined ages don’t equal his. And he’s a historic Flyer killer with 47 goals and 71 assists in 1151:12 of ice time during 95 career games against the orange and black. He has two goals against the Flyers this season and scored twice in Florida’s win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.
5. This and that
• This will be the third and final meeting between the Flyers and Panthers this season and their first since they completed a home-and-home set all the way back in early October. The Panthers earned a 7-1 win on Oct. 10, while the Flyers took a 1-0 decision on Oct. 12.
• The Panthers are the only Eastern Conference team the Flyers have a better points percentage against on the road than at home. That said, the Panthers have won three of the last four meetings in Sunrise.
• The Panthers are six wins away from tying the single-season franchise record of 43 recorded in 1999-00.
• The Flyers are 4-6-0 in the second game of back-to-back sets this season.
• Steve Mason’s career numbers vs. Florida: 7-3-1, 1.86 goals-against average, .942 save percentage, one shutout. Michal Neuvirth’s career numbers vs. Florida: 4-7-2, 2.64 goals-against average, .919 save percentage, one shutout.
• Luongo’s career numbers vs. Philadelphia: 8-9-3, 2.76 goals-against average, .922 save percentage, one shutout.
• Keep an eye on the New York Rangers, who face both teams the Flyers are chasing in the wild-card standings this weekend. They play the Red Wings Saturday in the afternoon in Detroit before hosting the Penguins Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.