The Cats narrowly escaped with a win in Montreal on Thursday night. Credit to the Habs for taking it to Florida on a number of occasions by capitalizing on Panthers’ mistakes.
No doubt about it that Florida’s blueline was way out of sorts. Chiarot and Hagg getting their first action in a Panther sweater seemed to throw off the backend - which is odd because they played well (in my eyes) and should have improved their partners and overall defense.
I’m not sure if it was a case of learning the new guy’s playing style, but there was a number of times I saw Weegar and Montour (who’s no stranger to this) floating over to their partner’s side and getting completely out of position. A lot of lapses on defense is what helped MTL hang around the whole game because they took advantage of the mistakes by stretching passes to streaking teammates who then had a breakaway or odd-man opportunity, and using their speed to get the Panthers out of position in Florida’s defensive zone.
“We knew it was going to take them a little bit to get accustomed, but I thought they fit in well. It was nice to see them on the ice together. Now we'll work to get a little chemistry and a rhythm with them."
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) March 25, 2022
✋ Takeaways ⬇ï¸https://t.co/Np5OrkcEmg
It was pretty shaky back there Thursday night for Florida and they’ll want to get that sorted out before heading into Ottawa tonight because the Sens - though not in a good spot in the standings - do have some talented youth that can put things together some nights and be a real threat. And being a young team looking to prove themselves, I have to believe doing it against this current Panthers squad is huge motivation.
Here’s a bit more on the Sens per Florida’s website:
“In the fairly early stages of a rebuild, the Senators sit in seventh place in the Atlantic Division with a 23-36-5 record. With wins hard to come by, they've come out on top in just four of their last 14 games while being outscored 50-33 during that slump that began back on Feb. 26.
That being said, the Senators enter tonight's matchup on a high note after ending their three-game road trip with a 5-2 win at Winnipeg on Thursday. Against the Jets, Brady Tkachuk had a pair of goals, while Tyler Ennis, Colin White and Connor Brown also found the back of the net.
Tkachuk leads the Senators in scoring with 46 points (22 goals, 24 assists), while Josh Norris has scored the most goals (26) and Thomas Chabot has handed out the most assists (28).
Turning aside 22 of 24 shots in Winnipeg, Anton Forsberg, who has established himself as Ottawa's No. 1 option in net, improved to 15-13-2. Giving up two-or-fewer goals in six of his last 12 outings, he's posted a 6-5-1 record with a .923 save percentage during that solid stretch.…
Along with some Panthers stats worth mention heading into tonight:
- The Panthers are nine goals shy of surpassing their previous single-season record of 264.
- Radko Gudas leads the NHL with a franchise-record 282 hits.
- Florida has won each of its last three games at Canadian Tire Centre.
- Aleksander Barkov leads the Panthers with 17 goals on the road.
- Sam Reinhart leads Florida with 10 power-play goals.
- Huby stays hot and is third in the NHL in points (88), first in assists (67) and will play his 655th, breaking Stephen Weiss’ record for most games played
___________________
Looking to see that defense take the right step tonight. Go Panthers!