Updated Preview Of Defensive Pairings For Carolina Against Florida

As the race for the Wild Card heats up, the Florida Panthers have moved into the top spot but it is still anyone’s game between the New York Islanders or Pittsburgh Penguins. But since Florida is the current front runner, and the Carolina Hurricanes continue to sit atop the Metro Division (only needing four points to clinch the division as of this writing), here is an updated run down on the defensive pairings matched up.

Pairings

First Line

Carolina: Brent Burns, Jaccob Slavin

Season: 21 G 62 A 83 P

Last 5: 0 G 3 A 3 P

Florida: Gustav Forsling, Aaron Ekblad

Season: 27 G 52 A 79 P

Last Five: 3 G 4 A 7 P

Second Line

Carolina: Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce

Season: 22 G 43 A 65 P

Last 5: 2 G 2 A 4 P

Florida: Marc Staal, Brandon Montour

Season: 18 G 68 A 86 P

Last Five: 1 G 9 A 10 P

Third Line 

Carolina: Shayne Gostisbehere, Jalen Chatfield

Season: 18 G 34 A 52 P

Last 5: 0 G 0 A 0 P

Florida: Josh Mahura, Radko Gudas

Season: 6 G 22 A 30 P

Last Five: 0 G 1 A 1 P

Unit By Unit 

Carolina Hurricanes

Season: 61 G 139 A 200 P

Last 5: 2 G 5 A 7 P

Florida Panthers

Season: 51 G 144 A 195 P

Last 5: 4 G 14 A 18 P

As the updated numbers still show, Carolina has a serious edge over Florida as a defensive unit in the goals department for the season. As pairings go, Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce continue to be Carolina’s ace defensive duo. When this line is good, the Carolina Hurricanes are good. On top of this Carolina has depth at defensive scoring. All three of the Carolina’s parings have more than 15 goals on the year, and the third line of Gostisbehere/ Chatfield has as many (18) on the season as Florida’s second line of Staal and Montour (18).

Florida, however, has started to find itself on a late season run putting themselves in the top Wild Card spot. Their defense has provided 4 goals and 18 points towards that run. Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad (Florida’s 1st D-line) have scored 3 of those 4 ,and Florida’s defense has 16% of the total scoring in the last five. Inversely, Carolina’s defense has started to match the overall slowdown of goal production from the Hurricanes. With just 4 goals in the last 5 games, 36% of Carolina’s total scoring coming from the defense.

Defensively, as three pairings and player for player Carolina has the edge over Florida in season numbers. Brent Burns has set the record for the most points by a Hurricanes Defenseman and is 8th on the single season goals list. Jaccob Slavin has cracked the top ten in single season points as well. Brady Skjei is tied (or past depending) the record for the most goals in a season by a defensemen and is 20th on the points list. Jalen Chatfield continues to play well, and Shayne Gostisbehere will provide offense on the power play. All of this will play a heavy factor in Carolina’s updated potential match up in the Stanley Cup Playoff against the Florida Panthers.