I think there’s a reasonable argument to be made that Gerard Gallant’s Florida Panthers are the ultimate X-Factor as it pertains to the Eastern Conference playoff race, primarily due to the fact that most prognosticators had this team suffering through another tough year as their young team develops. Air Jordan 12 Retro Australia . The fact that Florida has suddenly developed into a quality playoff hockey team has to be particularly disheartening to the couple of Eastern Conference teams who are hanging on for dear life right now. In particular, Toronto. One of the biggest – and really, only – endorsements one can give Randy Carlyle’s team right now is that there isn’t a whole lot of competition outside of the top eight with the ability to throw them from a potential playoff berth. Beyond that, the Maple Leafs once again stand on shaky ground. What makes Florida particularly fascinating as a contender is that it seems as though everything’s come together at the right time. Obviously, competition isn’t ripe right now in the East. But, they’ve benefited greatly from a combination of faster-than-expected player development and the venerable Roberto Luongo in net, who is able to bail the team out of trouble when things get dicey. As to this Panthers team as a whole – let’s first look at the team historically. It’s important to remember that this isn’t a team that’s really ever been ‘above average’ for a lengthy period of time, especially in the analytics era (2007-Present). The red vertical dotted line signifies the beginning of the 2014-2015 season. Notice two things – one, Florida has been able to control possession this season consistently above break-even, and two, it’s verging towards becoming the highest point of success for this team in the last eight years. The laundry list of young talent keying this run is something to behold: Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck, and Aaron Ekblad are something of a ‘big five’, all at or under the age of 22. The amazing thing? Every one of these players is in the black as it pertains to Corsi%. In a league where being successful at an extremely young age is quite difficult, the Panthers are making it look relatively easy. The play of these youngsters is one of the big reasons why they’ve picked up 40 points in 33 games, and the team’s collective underlying numbers continue to spike. To illustrate that climb, let’s look at the Eastern Conference by Score-Adjusted Corsi% over the last twenty games, to see how the Panthers stack up recently against other playoff hopefuls. Over the last twenty games, only three Eastern Conference teams – Tampa Bay, Detroit, and the New York Islanders, all of whom feel like playoff locks – control play better at 5-on-5 than Florida. And, perhaps more importantly, they sit significantly ahead of other teams fighting for those final playoff berths. But, as we know all too well, simply controlling play at 5-on-5 does not guarantee victory. Goaltending is a crucial part of hockey, and even quality possession teams – like, say, this year’s Minnesota Wild! – have extreme difficulty winning with ugly save percentages. Here’s where the acquisition of Roberto Luongo comes into play. We know, based on years and years of performance, that Roberto Luongo is a great goaltender. So, whereas a .927 EVSV% for one team may be a bit suspicious, it’s not for Florida – a team with a goaltender as established as any in the National Hockey League. Luongo, over the past few years, is just about as good as it gets in the crease. A quick comparison of his performance against other regular goaltenders in the Eastern Conference highlights just how awesome he has been. (Note: bubble size indicates ice-time; the larger the bubble, the more the goalie has played). Henrik Lundqvist is universally accepted as one of the league’s three best goaltenders. His performance since 2010 is virtually indiscernible from that of Roberto Luongo. So, here’s what we have in Florida: a team that generally out-shoots the competition, backstopped by one of the league’s better goaltenders. In a league where sixteen of thirty teams reach the post-season, and barring something drastically changing, that’s generally going to be enough to get beyond game eighty-two. Oh, and one more thing. The Cats currently have over $10-million in cap space, which makes them a team to watch both on and off of the ice over the next few months. Air Jordan 12 Australia Online .ca has you covered for whos in, whos out and what to expect from all 30 teams. Cheap Jordan 12 Wholesale . Wall made the comment in a speech to a Regina business crowd that included Lesnar. The U.S. wrestler and retired mixed martial artist says he was visiting his brothers farm in Saskatchewan and decided he wanted to hear what the premier had to say.(CCA) - Braden Calvert and his Winnipeg team notched two more wins on Saturday, including a 6-5 victory over first-place Norway at the World Junior Curling Championships in Flims, Switzerland. "I guess well take the win after a game like that," said Calvert, who handed Norwegian skip Eirik Mjoeen his first loss of the round robin. "We got off to a bad start. I threw a really bad rock in five and we had to come back from that. Luckily, we did and we pulled through." After giving up consecutive steals and trailing 3-0 at the break, Calvert and his team of Kyle Kurz, Lucas Van Den Bosch, Brendan Wilson, alternate Matt Dunstone and coach Tom Clasper fought back in the sixth. Calvert made a tricky angle raise double to score two and followed that up with a steal of two in the seventh to go ahead. "That was huge in terms of the momentum we got from that shot," Calvert said about the double in the sixth end. "We gained a lot of confidence and basically got back at them." Against Switzerland, the Canadians "came prepared to play," according to Canadian Team Leader Andrea Ronnebeck. "The Swiss fans, as always, were enthusiastic but so were the Canadian fans," said Ronnebeck. "The arena was rocking (pun intended) with a full house of Norwegians, Swiss, Scots, Italians, Americans and Canadians. It was awesome. Cow bells and all!"& And the Canadian supporters had a lot to cheer for as Calvert led the team to a 7-2 win over Switzerlands Yannick Schwaller, improving Canadas record to 4-3 and moving them into a three-way tie for third place (with Scotlands Kyle Smith and Schwaller). Air Jordan 12 Australia.  "Were starting to get on a bit of a roll," said Calvert after the game. "Were starting to gain some momentum and confidence. We were really sharp out of the gate tonight and grabbed an early deuce. That was definitely the turning point in the game and we kept fighting and were able to pull it off. All the teams here are tough and each game is going to be a battle." On Sunday, the Canadian men will take on USAs Jake Vukich (2-5) and Austrias Sebastian Wunderer (3-4) to finish up the round robin. On the womens side, Kelsey Rocque defeated USAs Cory Christensen 8-4 to move into first place in the standings, tied with Korea, Switzerland and Russia, all with 5-2 records. Rocque and her Edmonton team of Keely Brown, Taylor McDonald, Claire Tully, alternate Alison Kotylak and coach Amanda-Dawn Coderre led the USA 6-4 after eight ends and scored a deuce in the ninth to put the game away. The Canadian women have now won three in a row and will try to keep the momentum going in their final games of the round robin on Sunday against Scotlands Gina Aitken (2-5) and Denmarks Christine Svensen (0-7). Wholesale China Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Nike NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Nike Basketball Jerseys Hockey Jerseys China Supply Baseball JerseysFootball Jerseys Sale Authentic College Jerseys MLB Jerseys China Stitched Soccer Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap Nike Jerseys ' ' '