Number Crunch: Panthers Off To Most Sustainable Start Of NHL’s Unbeaten

This is the first time in NHL history that four different teams have gotten off to undefeated starts in their first five games of the season.

The Edmonton Oilers, Carolina Hurricanes, St. Louis Blues, and Florida Panthers haven’t lost a game through two weeks of play. Also in the mix are the Washington Capitals, who haven’t yet lost in regulation through their first six games.

In Wednesday’s edition of Number Crunch on The Daily Faceoff Show, Rachel Doerrie broke down what these teams are doing right, why they’ve been successful, and she explained which of them is the most likely to see their success continue.

“Florida is getting really good goaltending from both Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight and they’re really deep on defense and at forward. So I think if that goaltending continues, we could see Florida challenge for the Atlantic Division. They’re my pick there.

If not Florida [sustaining their hot start], it would probably be Carolina because you look at how they’ve played the last couple of years, and yeah, they don’t have Dougie Hamilton, but they still look pretty good. I expect their level of play and those numbers to continue.

I see Edmonton continuing to win because of how poor the Pacific Division is, but I don’t expect that Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are going to continue to shoot 40 percent and that their special teams is going to remain top-five at both ends.

Those are my teams. I would say Florida first and foremost, though.”

You can watch the full episode here. Number Crunch begins at 17:45…