The holiday and subsequent flu had knocked me out of Panthers hockey the past couple games, but I can say I’m a 2024 Man Flu Survivor…
Maybe I should stop watching all together, as the Cats are on a nice little streak here, downing divisional rival Carolina Hurricanes two games in a row - the second game coming with a nice shutout for Knight and a convincing 6-0 mark.
Florida will take on a Penguins team that is in a weird spot. They have an aging core in Crosby, Malkin, LeTang, Karlsson, etc…with a lot of criticism on the latter.
Despite their very poor start, Pittsburgh is seemingly pulling it together a bit as they inch closer to .500 sitting at 10-12-4, good enough for last place in the Metropolitan Division.
As Litter Box Cats says:
…The Penguins have rebounded from a depressing 2-5-3 run by posting consecutive victories over the Vancouver Canucks, Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames. Kris Letang and Michael Bunting each registered a goal and two assists in Saturday’s 6-2 home ice win over the Flames. Ageless wonder Sidney Crosby, who has played in all 26 games, leads the Penguins in scoring with 25 points.…
These are the games the Panthers tend to fumble. On paper, the Pens are a weaker opponent, this is sometimes dangerous for Florida, who is capable of playing down to another teams level.
Despite a bad season so far, Cats need to take the Penguins serious because they still have several talented players that can produce.
Barky will stay hot regardless!
Maurice on Barkov's incredible November: "He's got some sort of spy thing, CIA thing, going on. He can be as good as he is and then walk out of the room and nobody talks about him. It's like 'Is he here? Did we see Barkov play tonight? He had 700 points.'"
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) December 2, 2024
Go Panthers!