Now that the circus — err, I mean the Skills Competition and All-Star game — have wrapped up, the league and Panthers get back to reality as the season continues.
The Cats are jumping back into things against the in-state rival Tampa Bat Lightning. The rivalry has been great the past couple seasons, where it even looked like Florida would get over the “Tampa hump… at one point, but things haven’t gone too hot for the Panthers against the Bolts lately.
Tampa is just a good team all around. They’re always in the hunt and at 32-15-1, they sit in third place of the Atlantic Division.
The reality is that there are 60 points left in the season for the Panthers and they will need 44 to get into the playoffs. Not an ideal situation by any means. Add to that the up-and-down play of the Cats this season and it’s pretty easy to be pessimistic about their post-season hopes.
Unless they come out of the ASG break as the team the players frequently talk about they know they can be, it’s going to be awfully tough to get those points.
Hey, what better way to start the grind then playing your biggest rival? A big win tonight could do wonders for the confidence of this club.
Bob gets the nod and the lines were looking like the below this morning:
#FlaPanthers lines this AM:
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) February 6, 2023
Lundell - Barkov - Reinhart
Verhaeghe - Bennett - White
Lomberg - Luostarinen - Cousins
Tierney - Staal - Smith
Forsling - Ekblad
Staal - Montour
Mahura - Gudas
Bob/Knight
No Lyon; Tkachuk probably took the option.
Maurice gave an update on Duclair’s status. Hopefully he’s back soon. Would love to get that speed and skill back into the lineup.
Maurice said he's "hopeful" that Duclair will shed his yellow no-contact jersey this week.
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) February 5, 2023
"He had a good today. He got through it fine. We'll go real hard after him tomorrow in a controlled environment."
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Feels good to have regular hockey back…Go Panthers!