Can a 1-2 team have something to smile about as this season gets under way?
For the Florida Panthers, the answer is yes and no.
After a rousing come-from-behind behind win in Dallas opening night, the Blues kindly rewarded those efforts with a 7-0 shellacking in St. Louis. The Panthers looked so embarrassingly different against the Blues it was hard to figure out who this team is right now.
Then came Philadelphia Tuesday night. Apparently they got the message that a game like St. Louis is not acceptable in any way.
The Panthers played their best game of the young season, and still lost 2-1. After firing Peter Laviolette and appointing Craig Berube as their new coach, Philly still did not look all that impressive. In fact, the Panthers were the better team for most of the game. Philly's two goals were purely the result of lucky bounces and Tim Thomas injuring himself during a play.
But scoreboard is scoreboard and the Panthers are now 0-16 on the power play. Head coach Kevin Dineen said that his players are squeezing their sticks and it is obviously showing when scoring chances present themselves.
For Panther fans this may look like the same ole Panthers...creating chances and not converting. But with eight new players on the roster surely there is some mixing and matching that still needs to be done to get optimum results.
Thomas suffered what is being called a slight groin pull early in the game Tuesday, and Jacob Markstrom shut the door from there, stopping all 25 shots he faced. After last year's disappointing stats with a makeshift team in front of him, it had to feel good for Markstrom and the Panthers to see him being so dominant this early in the season.
Brad Boyes accounted for the one goal scored for Florida.
Scott Clemmensen may be called up from San Antonio to fill in as backup if Thomas is out more than a few days.
The Panthers are not strangers to making average goaltenders look like Hall of Famers, as they did with Steve Mason Tuesday night. But if that game is indicative of their consistent effort moving forward, 1-2 doesn't look bad at all, because they certainly played well enough to win Tuesday.
The four game road trip to start the season ends Thursday evening at Tampa, which has almost become a mini "must have points" game. They will then head home to celebrate their 20th Anniversary against the Penguins Friday night.
Dan Spiegel...
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