Apologies for being absent a couple games. Lots of things moving on this end.
Life. Work. Responsibilities. Repeat.
Hit the barn Monday night for a late men’s league tilt. Always feels good to breathe in the mixture of fresh ice and zamboni exhaust.
Ahh...
60-plus minutes of a different talents churning up and down the ice. Plenty of chirps and cheap shots throughout.
The game ends and it’s back to reality. The alarm goes off much quicker the morning after a game as it’s nearly impossible to scrape yourself out of bed. It takes time before the sleep lifts from your brain like a thick fog.
Back to work to grind it out like a mortar and pestle for eight hours. Get home and hang with the family before your bed calls out and you have to repeat the process again.
Time flies and somewhere in that process the Panthers split two games.
Third Period Thriller
How many people put down money that Mark Pysyk would score, let alone a hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs?
I’m guessing no one.
But that’s what happened Monday night when the Cats played the Leafs. This game saw Florida fairly outplayed for the majority of the first and second periods. Credit to the Panthers for keeping their heads and figuring out how to claw their way back into it and hold on.
While it was Florida scoring four goals in the third to ice the game, there were some other factors that helped them get this win. A big one was Bob making a number of key saves and having an overall great game. But there were also some subtle things going on that were nice to see.
While outplayed at the dot, the Cats tipped the scales in the physicality department by out-hitting the Leafs 30-10. This was great to see. Nothing like taking the body to help wear a team down over the course of a game.
The other encouraging stat was the fact that Florida only turned the puck over 4 times to Toronto’s 16, and the Cats managed 13 takeaways to the Leafs 8.
These factors are great things to build off of with the playoff push in full swing.
Loss to the Jackets
I’m probably the reason the Cats lost this game. If you remember, I wrote a blog saying that the last thing the Panthers want to do is lose to Merzlikins back when he took over for Columbus when their starter went down. At that point, he had not won a game at the NHL level.
Fast forward to now and he’s been a solid workhorse for the Jackets with a 11-6-4 record, earning himself the #1 star in this game and his fourth shutout of the season. This guy has won 10 of his last 12 starts.
Yep. I jinxed the Panthers.
Personally, I love these type of games. Low scoring nail biters are what it’s all about if you ask me and that’s exactly what this game was.
The silver lining is that the Cats earned a point in this loss.
The major positive?
This was a tremendous game for Bob having come off a previously excellent outing against Toronto. With 44 saves, he looked like the guy they had in mind when they shelled out that monster contract. The Jackets were often swarming the Panthers and putting on waves of pressure, but Bob shut the door. He was incredible and will continue to have to be this way going forward.
Knights in Town
Tonight the Cats will face off against a Vegas team that, like the Panthers, sits in third place of their (Pacific) division and have bounced up and down in the standings.
This feels like a little bit different of a Knights team. The firing of Gallant still feels bizarre and it could be that these guys, while still very dangerous, are coming down to Earth a bit since taking the NHL by storm a couple years back.
Keep your eyes on Theodore, Tuch and Glass. I loved watching these guys when they were with the Chicago Wolves and they’ve gone on to start carving some nice NHL careers for themselves. Any of them (especially Theodore) would look great in a Panthers sweater...but the dude I really want on the Panthers is defenseman Nic Hague.
Deadline Decisions
And so it has come to that time...the traded deadline approaches.
There’s a great interview over at NHL.com with Tallon where he talks about the Cats plans heading into this crucial time.
No surprises here, but they’re looking to add a veteran defensemen- something we’ve been saying for a loooong time. I think there’s plenty of talent on this team and in Springfield that can be packaged up as a means to obtain this commodity.
Let’s see if Dale can get it done...
[Photo from NHL.com]
_____________________
Let’s get it done tonight, boys...go Panthers!