Even strength is not the issue with these Florida Panthers. They continue to perform as one of the bettereven strength teams in the league. The story has been the power play, or lack thereof.
I’ve been tracking scoring chances for Donny since the beginning of the season. For those that have yet to see a definition, here it is:
A scoring chance is defined as a clear play directed toward the opposing net from a dangerous scoring area – loosely defined as the top of the circle in and inside the faceoff dots, though sometimes slightly more generous than that depending on the amount of immediately-preceding puck movement or screens in front of the net. Blocked shots are generally not included but missed shots are. A player is awarded a scoring chance anytime he is on the ice and someone from either team has a chance to score. He is awarded a “chance for” if someone on his team has a chance to score and a “chance against” if the opposing team has a chance to score. Vic Ferrari makes this all possible with his tools to evaluate Corsi, head-to-head ice time and scoring chances.
After the jump, we’ll look at the scoring chances totals for the first twenty games of the season.
I’ve broken the chances down by forward and defenseman. TSC = total scoring chances, TSCA = total scoring chances against, CF/15 = chances for per 15 minutes of even strength time, CA/15 = chances against per 15 minutes of even strength time, SCDIFF = scoring chances difference, DIFF/15 = scoring chances difference per 15 minutes of ice time. The table is sorted by DIFF/15.
*This table is sortable by column, simply click on the header.
| # | Player | TSC | TSCA | CF/15 | CA/15 | SCDIFF | DIFF/15 | |||
| 85 | R. OLESZ | 67 | 39 | 4.733 | 2.755 | 28 | 1.978 | |||
| 21 | C. HIGGINS | 74 | 49 | 4.208 | 2.787 | 25 | 1.422 | |||
| 27 | S. REINPRECHT | 37 | 21 | 3.227 | 1.831 | 16 | 1.395 | |||
| 18 | S. MATTHIAS | 63 | 51 | 4.288 | 3.471 | 12 | 0.817 | |||
| 10 | D. BOOTH | 90 | 76 | 4.202 | 3.548 | 14 | 0.654 | |||
| 67 | M. FROLIK | 68 | 57 | 3.761 | 3.153 | 11 | 0.608 | |||
| 13 | M. SANTORELLI | 56 | 48 | 3.687 | 3.160 | 8 | 0.527 | |||
| 14 | R. DVORAK | 61 | 51 | 3.204 | 2.679 | 10 | 0.525 | |||
| 61 | C. STILLMAN | 54 | 48 | 3.389 | 3.012 | 6 | 0.377 | |||
| 19 | M. REASONER | 54 | 48 | 2.949 | 2.621 | 6 | 0.328 | |||
| 9 | S. WEISS | 68 | 62 | 3.685 | 3.360 | 6 | 0.325 | |||
| 26 | S. BERNIER | 39 | 40 | 3.830 | 3.928 | -1 | -0.098 |
Rostislav Olesz remains the offensive stalwart on this team. When he’s on the ice – the Panthers are typically in the offensive zone and generating scoring chances. He stands alone in the chances for and chances differential among forward for these Panthers.
*This table is sortable by column, simply click on the header.
| # | Player | TSC | TSCA | CF/15 | CA/15 | SCDIFF | DIFF/15 | |||
| 4 | K. ELLERBY | 32 | 15 | 4.106 | 1.925 | 17 | 2.181 | |||
| 52 | J. GARRISON | 37 | 21 | 2.986 | 1.695 | 16 | 1.291 | |||
| 7 | D. KULIKOV | 86 | 67 | 3.873 | 3.017 | 19 | 0.856 | |||
| 43 | M. WEAVER | 79 | 60 | 3.432 | 2.607 | 19 | 0.826 | |||
| 24 | B. MCCABE | 94 | 76 | 4.150 | 3.355 | 18 | 0.795 | |||
| 6 | D WIDEMAN | 96 | 83 | 3.934 | 3.401 | 13 | 0.533 | |||
| 5 | B. ALLEN | 78 | 69 | 3.685 | 3.260 | 9 | 0.425 |
The defensemen continue to play a very solid game at even strength as well. The bargain pairing of Jason Garrison and Mike Weaver take on the tough assignments, Bryan Allen and Dennis Wideman get the second-most difficult minutes, leaving Bryan McCabe and Dmitry Kulikov free to play easy assignments.
The most interesting player to me has been Keaton Ellerby. Two years in the AHL have done wonders for this guy’s game – even though he’s getting the easiest possible assignments from Coach DeBoer, he’s killing the minutes and the assignments.
The Panthers are playing like a top five conference team at even strength, but they’ve been let down by the power play. There is still time to save the season, but the power play has to find life. Right now. If not, it’s time to send away Vokoun, Stillman, Dvorak, Higgins, Reasoner, and McCabe by the deadline and load up for next season.