On Tuesday night the Florida Panthers lost to the Arizona Coyotes, the team occupying the 29th spot in the standings.
On Thursday night the Cats blew a lead - and almost the game entirely - to the San Jose Sharks, the team sitting in 28th place.
I know we were expecting some regression this year and being only 11 games in, I’m not flipping the panic switch, nor am I on the anti-Maurice train. But damned if we aren’t seeing some shades of those past Panthers teams that could not protect a lead and/or win decisively - even against bottom feeder teams.
Somewhat in the Panthers defense, they ran into another solid goaltending performance with James Reimer turning away 41 of 44 shots. And thankfully Bob had a good game as well and really saved Florida’s bacon in OT.
The reality (at least from my perspective) is that the Panthers got really lucky with this road win.
The two biggest luck factors:
1. The Power Play goal in the first period was one of the luckiest I’ve seen. After squandering four-and-a-half minutes of a five minute man advantage, the Cats finally notched one. But it wasn’t the kind of goal that comes from a confident, well-oiled special teams. It came off what looked like broken play; one where there was a ridiculously unneeded pass (IMO) from Barkov to Lundell, where the latter had no possibility of getting a shot off because he was covered. Fortunately, Lundell managed to get the puck back to Barkov, and with Reimer overplaying the pass and unable to get back into position, Barky buried it.
Now I’m not being a downer. I’m obviously happy they finally scored on the PP, and a goal is a goal no matter how it goes in, but there was just frustrating watching the PP units run around for 95% of the man advantage and then clumsily score (as goofy as that may sound).
2. With about a 1:30 left in the third, Carter Verhaeghe found a space (that was probably the diameter of the puck) top cheddar and buried it to tie the game at 3-3 and force OT. If he doesn’t score there, I’m pretty confident the Panthers hot the locker room with a 3-2 lose.
Look…don’t get me wrong. I know luck is part of the game and I’m glad the Panthers capitalized when it struck Thursday night. But what’s going on with this team thus far? They are outshooting their opponents by a wide margin each game (sometimes with a number of high-danger opportunities), playing good 5-on-5 hockey, but then routinely blowing it on special teams.
These guys are a couple games over .500 with a 6-4-1 record and could just as easily be a couple below if it wasn’t for some luck, and we know you can’t rely on luck…
So heading down to Los Angeles tonight to play a Kings team coming off a hard-fought 2-1 loss to the Blackhawks, I’d like to see a decisive win. One that generates from beating their opponent at special teams and manufacturing goals through skill and grease, not luck.
Still waiting on an update regarding Hornqvist after exiting Thursday’s game with what looked like a head injury, but the Cats have announced they recalled Heponiemi.
Cats roster update:
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) November 4, 2022
• We have recalled Aleksi Heponiemi from @checkershockey.
Hopefully Reinhart’s GWG in the shootout loosens him up and gets the goal production going for him now that the monkey’s off his back.
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Go Panthers!