theScore's new series, "The Noise," is published every Monday. It kicks off each week with a quick look at three teams or players making headlines, good or bad.
Some bite
Deployed as they were designed, finally, after rolling out a diminished lineup for 51 games to start the year, the Panthers looked like the playoff threat they were pegged as in preseason Friday night.
Simultaneously returning from 15-game and 16-week absences, respectively, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau picked up right where they left off on the top line with Jaromir Jagr, driving play in a 2-1 win over the Ducks. The victory, the Panthers' third in succession, lifted them to within two points of the third postseason slot in the Atlantic Division.
Barkov, Huberdeau, and Jagr produced 36 goals together at even strength last season, second only to the Chicago Blackhawks' scoring line of Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin, and Artem Anisimov. In itself, losing a line that's outscored top defensive units at better than two-to-one has been a major detriment to the Panthers. But the absences had a much more profound effect.
Vincent Trocheck, Reilly Smith, and Jussi Jokinen feasted on mismatches created by the top unit last season, generating even greater margins at even strength than the No. 1 line. This season - as the focus of the opposition - the second-line trio has mustered just three goals in more than 200 minutes at five-on-five.
Batten down the hatches
It won't quite be the media throng awaiting him next week when he makes his only visit to Toronto this season, but John Tavares and the Islanders will experience an appetizer with the Maple Leafs and their reporters in New York on Monday.
Speculation surrounding Tavares' future has been an omnipresent narrative in Toronto and across league circles for months now, but still hasn't matched the hoopla that surrounded Steven Stamkos before he eventually decided to re-up in Tampa.
Part of that is because Tavares - still not a free agent until 2018 - has shot down the idea at every opportunity. But cooler heads are prevailing, for the most part, because Toronto's dynamic offense has a) eliminated the need and b) served up enough of a distraction.
Regardless, Tavares will have to repeat himself Monday, before doing so again for a larger audience in just over a week.
Oilers still starving for secondary scoring
The Oilers had 150 goals in 51 games at the All-Star break, boasting an overall offense in the runner-up position among Western Conference teams. They've scored just three in four games since, and would be winless (and five points back in the Pacific Division) if Montreal hadn't been equally impotent in the Super Bowl Sunday shootout snoozer.
As has been a problem for much of the year, Edmonton's depth has been unable to pick up Connor McDavid when he falls into brief inactive spells. Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Milan Lucic - the team's three highest-paid players who take up $18 million of cap space - have counted eight goals over the past 20 games, with Lucic serving up a single.
With the Oilers now hanging up the blades for five days for their mandatory bye, the coaching staff ought to be hard at work devising a strategy to help take the pressure off McDavid for the stretch run.
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