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.