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Dineen-kenstein

January 23, 2013, 12:39 AM ET [11 Comments]
Dan Spiegel
Florida Panthers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
If you felt or heard a seismic event coming out of Montreal this evening, it was likely head coach Kevin Dineen erupting after a second horrible performance by his beat up and lethargic Panther team.

Drew Shore made his NHL debut, and had a few good chances at his first NHL goal, but all in all it was the second of back to back terrible performances for a team that came into this season with so much promise. Being outscored 8-1 over the last two nights is as alarming as it is stinging. Tonight's performance was especially painful as the Panthers looked beyond pathetic on the power play, and they had ample special teams opportunities to get back into the game.

In a 48 game season a sluggish start can be devastating, and the 1-2 Panthers are on the brink of such a start with Ottawa and Philadelphia coming to South Florida later this week. What was a rousing effort against Carolina last Saturday has been tempered by two games that were surprisingly sluggish and undisciplined.

There are no excuses, and every team is starting from the same point, but the Panthers sure look like a team with tons of work to do and very little actual practice time to work it out. Dineen surely is irate with the style of play his team has shown thus far.

Injuries sure are playing their part in the early going, with Bergenheim, Goc, Gudbranson, and Versteeg still out with injuries suffered over the last several months. Slowly but surely they will all be coming back within the next few weeks, although Bergenheim is iffy, but Dineen will not accept that for excuses either.

GM Dale Tallon always wears his heart on his sleeve, and I'll bet he's still boiling over the last two nights. With all the injuries chemistry is definitely an issue, and that issue alone could sink this team quickly if all the starters don't return to full speed by the end of the month.

By law of averages, every team is going to go through the injury bug as this sprint of a season progresses. Maybe it is good for the Panthers to get this out of the way now to be good for the stretch run, but the fans are definitely feeling uneasy right now, especially if they drop their next two games this week.

Amongst all the doom and gloom, Shawn Matthias, Keaton Ellerby, and Jack Skille have been very solid for this team starting out, and have provided the spark plugs needed to provide ANY sort of momentum. While that hasn't worked team-wide to this point, if their effort holds up while everyone else catches up they should be back to where they were at the end of last season.

Much more will be known by Saturday night, but expect to see a flying Panthers team Thursday as they must be embarrassed about the last 48 hours.

Dan Spiegel...
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