So, I was thinking of just for fun to do a review of one of my favorite movies and definitely my favorite hockey movie which is The Mighty Ducks before tonight’s game when the Panthers host the Anaheim Ducks formerly known as “The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim”. However, at lunch today I had a gut feeling that Huberdeau and Barkov were coming back and I take out my phone and check Bleacher Report and the first article says from Sportsnet “Huberdeau and Barkov expected to return on Friday”, so this post with several thoughts I have on tonight will likely be longer than usual and I have already used up 110 words and counting on this introduction, so let’s get started.

BACKGROUND ON THE TEAMS 

Anaheim                                          Category                               Florida

28-15-9                                               Record                                   22-19-10

65                                                           Points                                    54

52                                                           Games                                   52

.625                                                        PPCT                                     .529

11-9-6  (Road)                                    Location Record                13-9-3 (Home)

.538       (Road)                                    Location PPCT                   .560 (Home) 

.431       (Road)                                    Location/Total PPCT        .519 (Home)

136   (19th)                                          Goals For                               119 (26th)

129 (7th)                                            Goals Against                        137 (14th)

+7                                                        Goal Differential                  -18

2.62  (18th)                                      GF/PG                                        2.33 (26th)

2.48 (7th)                                         GA/PG                                        2.69 (14th)

2nd in the Pacific                          Standings Ranking               5th in the Atlantic

22.2% (7th)                                     Powerplay                               15.2% (25th)

83.8% (6th)                                     Penalty Kill                             84.5% (4th)

55.1% (1st)                                      Faceoff Win                              48% (24th)

 

Anaheim: Forward Logan Shaw returns to South Florida to take on the team who drafted him in 2011. Shaw who has 3 points (2 G, 1 A) in 32 games for the Ducks this year was traded in November by the Cats for Michael Sgarbossa who also will draw into Florida’s lineup tonight. Shaw played 53 of his 85 career games for the Cats (all of them in 2015-16) and had 5 goals and 2 assists with the Cats. He also appeared in 1 playoff game. But he lost out to Shane Harper and Greg McKegg during Florida’s preseason cuts. The Panthers saw Shaw as a piece that they probably wouldn’t need in the future and he was traded. Rumor also has it that this was the trade that got Gerard Gallant really upset and found himself out of a job 2 weeks later. Shea Theodore joins the Ducks for their road trip. The Ducks  lines are basically:

Silfverberg-Kesler-Cogliano; Rakell-Getzlaf-Perry; Ritchie-Vermette-Kase; Cramarossa-Thompson-Shaw; Fowler-Vatanen; Lindholm-Manson; Holzer-Bieksa

Starting Goalie: John Gibson  (40 GP; 20-11-8; 2.28; .920)

Backup: Jonathan Bernier

Scratched/Injured: Jared Boll (Healthy); Simon Despres (Upper Body); Clayton Stoner (Lower Body); Shea Theodore (Healthy)

Who’s Hot: John Gibson  8-2-1; 18 GA  in his past 12 games

 

Florida: Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov are back. They will play on the top line along with Jaromir Jagr tonight. The trio which combined for 75 goals and 109 assists last year which was a total of 184 points will log their first second of ice time with all three of them together this regular season. Barkov has missed the past 15 games with a back injury. Barkov has 9 goals and 18 assists for 27 points in 36 games this year. Huberdeau will be making his regular season debut tonight. He missed 51 games with a Severed Achillies Tendon he suffered in preseason. He was projected to return in March but is returning now. Huberdeau had a career high 20 goals last year to go along nicely with 39 assists (matched career high) for a career high 59 points. Vincent Trocheck has lead the Panthers to a 7-7-1 record in the absence of Barkov and took what probably would’ve been Barkov’s spot in the all star game. Trocheck overtook Barkov for the team leads in goals and points. For the first time in 11 months, the Panthers are completely healthy and try for their 1st 3 game win streak of the year heading into the bye week. James Reimer, who was scheduled to start Tuesday but missed it because of the birth of his daughter Nevaeh will get the start in net after Luongo allowed 5 goals on 41 shots in a 6-5 wild victory over the Senators on Tuesday. Those half a dozen goals were the most the Cats have scored this year in an individual game. Mike Sgarbossa who has 6 points (2-4-6) with a combined 24 games with the Cats and Ducks this year plays his first game aganist his former team. If you want to read about the trade I talked a lot about it in the Ducks section above.

Huberdeau-Barkov-Jagr; Jokinen-Trocheck-Smith; Marchessault-Sgarbossa-Bjugstad; Thornton-Mackenzie-Sceviour; Yandle-Demers; Pysyk-Ekblad; Matheson-Petrovic

Starting Goalie: James Reimer (20 GP; 8-6-4; 2.58; .916)

Backup Goalie: Roberto Luongo

Scratched/Injured: Greg McKegg (Healthy); Jakub Kindl (Healthy)

Who’s Hot: Vincent Trocheck (6-3-9) in his last 8 games.

 

 

Green Line to Watch: This line will be playing their first second of ice time this regular season together tonight. It will be interesting to see how the chemistry works out. In an interview a while ago, Panthers Chairman Doug Cifu said that “The way they [Huberdeau, Barkov, Jagr] cycle the puck is almost telepathic. They always know where their linemates are. They have that type of chemistry”. 

The Mighty Ducks Movie Review

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

So, this movie is about a lawyer named Gordon Bombay who is good at his job. When he was a child, he was a star youth hockey player. He stopped playing after he missed a penalty shot that would’ve won his team the Hawks the championship. His coach last name Riley always told him “It’s not worth playing unless you can’t win” . As a lawyer he doesn’t always follow the ethical rules in the courtroom. One night, he gets arrested for a DUI and is sentenced to Community Service. His boss suspends him and makes him coach a pee-wee hockey team known as “Minnesota District 5” (yeah, great name) for his community service. He initially starts off following Riley’s direction of winning, his first game they play the Hawks who ironically are still coached by Riley and get blown out. The next game isn’t that good and after the game he goes off on his team and they almost quit, but his former boss as a kid when he had a job Hans, the owner of a hockey shop tells him that it’s about fun not winning. So he gets the team back and they do these wacky practice drills. He gets his team better equipment and names them the Ducks after his law firm boss/team sponsor Ducksworth as part of a deal. Then, the Ducks get better. They add new pieces such as a teenager to play defense who has a great shot and they get the Hawks star Adam Banks, who turns to live out in the Ducks district to play for them. Then, they face the Hawks in the championship after they barely qualify and go on a playoff run. Banks gets taken out on a cheap shot. With only a few seconds left, Charlie the kid who is like the Captain gets tripped and is awarded a penalty shot (like Gordon was back in 1973 when he was with the Hawks). Charlie scores and they win. I like this movie because I like hockey and I think it shows how to find a proper balance between competitiveness and winning. Unfortunately, I can’t say anymore because I have to go but I will finish my review in another post.