The Panthers face off against the Lightning tonight in their last preseason game before the regular season starts next week.
Florida looked more competent in their 3-2 win over Tampa on Thursday night. It could be what Jimbo said (in the last blog comments) that Maurice was driving these guys hard in camp and has pulled off the gas a bit as they get closer towards the end of preseason and with regular season action on the horizon.
"It's still preseason but at the same time we're trying to improve every game and play better as a team."
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) October 7, 2022
Catch up with Lundell, Verhaeghe, and Coach Maurice on last night's preseason win â¬‡ï¸ pic.twitter.com/qWG0KBdGTb
It sounds like Bennett, Verhaeghe, White and Cousins will all get into the lineup today. Barky will get the day off and Tkachuk will be out again, though Maurice expects him to be ready to go for opening night. Dalpe is being evaluated after exited the game Thursday and they should know more about his condition soon.
Of course the big news for Panthers fans was seeing the Flames resigned Weegar to an 8-year, $50 M extension.
Yowza…
It’s a flat $6.25 M per year across the 8 years but includes $8 M in signing bonus money spread out over first four years. $2 M SB each of first 4 years https://t.co/4iwtT3Z4gv
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) October 7, 2022
I like Weegar and am happy to see him get his payday, but that’s a spicy meatball of a contract, and one that i think is an overpay. I always felt Weegar took a big step forward a couple seasons ago, but then started regressing. To be honest, I didn’t think he was going to resign with the Flames. I was thinking he might be moved (depending where CGY was at the TDL) or test free agency after this season.
It will be interesting to see how he does in Calgary. Will he become a top guy there? Will mental mistakes rear their ugly heads? Time will tell and Cats fans are certainly curious to see how it all unfolds…
How about another win tonight?
Preseason finale goes tonight in Tampa!#FLAvsTBL 📝 » https://t.co/yvTT8cCEdV pic.twitter.com/0ThleBR3Dz
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) October 8, 2022
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Go Panthers!