The Pittsburgh Penguins meet the Florida Panthers in a another huge rivalary match tonight in the CPHL. Not only it a big game anytime these two teams meet, there are a lot of things on the line in this game. Pittsburgh is currently riding a season high 7 game winning streak, while the Panthers have beaten the Pens the last 7 times these teams have meet including a 4 game sweep in last years playoffs. Remarkably every regular season game these two teams have played over the past 2+ seasons has been decided by 1 goal with the Panthers leading the alltime head to head regular season matchup of these two GM's 4-2 including winning the last 3.
This game has bigtime implications on the standings as both teams are currently ranked first in their divisions and 1-2 in the conference and the entire CPHL. Although it looks to be a matchup of the Pens 2nd ranked offense versus the Panthers #4 ranked defense, both teams have been playing strong on both sides of the puck. The Panthers are right behind the Pens in offense ranked 3rd in the league, while the Pens strong defensive play as of late has them ranked 8th in the CPHL in team defense. Another intresting aspect will be the Pens #4 ranked power play vs the Panthers #32 ranked PK. The Panthers will be looking to fire a lot of rubber on the Penguins net in this game, the Panthers lead the league in shots per game while the Pens rank near the bottom at 22nd in shots allowed per game.
Players to watch
Florida
Ilya Kovalchuk 25GP 14G 19A 33PTS +28
Nicklas Lidstrom 25GP 5G 26A 31PTS +32
Pittsburgh
Jason Spezza 25GP 17G 17A 34PTS +17
Michael Ryder 25GP 9G 23A 32PTS +15
Starting Goalies
Florida
Ed Belfour 6-2-1 2.98gaa .880save%
Pittsburgh
Olaf Kolzig 7-11-2 3.15gaa .869save%
Key Injuries:
Florida
Manny Fernandez (day-to-day)
Pittsburgh
Sergei Gonchar (1 month )