A preview of the Panthers.
When and where: 7:30 p.m., BankAtlantic Center.
TV: FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Florida.
Record: 10-9-2, 22 points. The Panthers are in 13th place in the Eastern Conference and fourth place in the Southeast Division.
Leading Scorer: Steven Reinprecht (right), 17 points (10 goals, seven assists).
Last Game: 3-2 road win against the Rangers, Saturday. Tomas Vokoun made 32 saves for the Panthers.
Last Game against the Penguins: 3-2 road shootout loss, Oct. 23. Sidney Crosby had both of the Penguins' regulation goals.
Panthers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Since our usual automatic pick Cory Stillman is sidelined, we'll go with Steven Reinprecht who has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in nine career games against the Penguins. He scored both of Florida's goals in the loss on Oct. 23.
Ex-Penguins on the Panthers: Dominic Moore, C.
Ex-Panthers on the Penguins: Tom Fitzgerald, assistant to the general manager.
Useless Panthers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Former Penguins draft pick Paul Laus holds the Panthers' career record for penalty minutes with 1,702.
Best Panthers YouTube Video We Could Find: Mario Lemieux faking a punch on former Panthers captain Brian Skrudland in the 1996 Eastern Conference final:
Notes:
-Marc-Andre Fleury (12-7-0, 2.63 GAA, .902 SV%) and Tomas Vokoun (7-8-2, 2.71 GAA, .923 SV%) are your expected starters in net.
-For the Penguins, defenseman Alex Goligoski ("lower body") is out. Forwards Tyler Kennedy (groin), Chris Kunitz ("lower body") and defensemen Kris Letang (shoulder) and Jay McKee (finger) are on injured reserve.
-For the Panthers, defenseman Gregory Campbell (undisclosed) is questionable. Forward Cory Stillman (knee) is day-to-day. Forwards David Booth (concussion) and Nick Tarnasky (orbital bone) are on injured reserve.
-Fleury had a strong rebound start in Atlanta Saturday.
-The Panthers have actually gotten better since Booth went out of the lineup last month (PG+).
-The Panthers will be debuting their new third jerseys.
-Forward Radek Dvorak (right) is scheduled to appear in his 500th career game for the Panthers tonight.
-The Panthers demoted forward Michal Repik to Rochester of the AHL.
-With the great Mike Zigomanis having moved on to employ his destructive faceoff winning capabilities on innocent people in Europe, we are now bestowing "the great" title to Martin Skoula as the Penguins player we like far too much for no particular reason. We know it's bandwagonish to give him this title after he had the two goal games. But we don't care. We were fans of Skoula back in the early 2000s when he was with Colorado. In fact, we remember lobbying for the Penguins to get him as part of the deal that sent Darius Kasparaitis to the Avalanche in exchange for Ville Nieminen and Rick Berry. And lot of this is marketing and politics. You've got to strike while the iron is hot. So from now on, Skoula will be referred as "the great Martin Skoula."
-Our live blog begins at approximately 7 p.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Reinprecht-Elsa/Getty Images; Dvorak-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Posted
Nov 23 2009, 04:14 AM
by
Seth Rorabaugh