The Cats stormed out of the ASG break and crushed their in-state rival on Monday night by a 7-1 score.
I honestly couldn’t believe the final score. It was like a different Panthers team out there against the Lightning. Pouring on 49 shots and going 1/2 on the man advantage, the victory put the Cats three points out of a playoff spot.
At 25-22-6, Florida can’t afford to miss out on any points going forward — especially against weaker teams like the Sharks, who they will play tonight.
San Jose is 16-25-11 and currently sit in seventh place of the Pacific Division. With rumors of all their players on the block (save for maybe one or two guys), the Sharks have been a place of resurgence for defenseman Erik Karlsson, who has 13 points (4G, 9A) in his last eight games.
There’s some potential history on the line tonight as Bob has a chance to collect his 350th win, making him only the 25th goalie in NHL history to achieve this feat.
Barkov sits out tonight to avoids his injury becoming a “lingering thing.…
Maurice on Barkov: "He’s getting better every day. It was just kind of a decision where we’ve got to hold him for a night so that we have more confidence that we can get him on the next and we don’t have to worry about this for the next two or three weeks."
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) February 9, 2023
With #16 sidelined, Lu will most likely fill in as the 1C:
Here's what the Cats could look like tonight based on this week's practices:
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) February 9, 2023
Lundell - Luostarinen - Reinhart
Verhaeghe - Bennett - Tkachuk
Lomberg - Staal - Cousins
Smith - Tierney - White
Forsling - Ekblad
Staal - Montour
Mahura - Gudas
Bobrovsky
Knight
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Gotta hope the Cats don’t come out flat against an opponent like SJ and lose out on some points they should get…Go Panthers!