The Cats have moved to an unreal home record of 22-3-0 after slaying the Knights by a score of 4-1 on Thursday night.
The game provided everything I was looking for: speed, skill, tight score (until the Cats pulled away) and a Florida win.
There’s no doubt about it that the Panthers confidence is at an all-time high when playing at home. It seems like it doesn’t matter who is in the lineup or what the line combos/defensive pairings are, these guys just deliver on Florida ice.
I thought they did a really nice job of staving off Vegas’ attacks - especially in the first period. The Knights MO is to overwhelm the opponent with waves upon waves of heavy, sustained offensive attacks, with strong puck movement. And they’re darn good at it.
The Panthers stumbled in the faceoff department though with a miserable 37.0% to VGK’s 63.0%. Thankfully the Cats managed to neutralize Vegas’ strong possession game and hold them to just one goal.
When it was all said and done, Florida had another win and Barkov hit a new milestone:
Aleksander Barkov recorded his 200th career goal and 500th career point, becoming the first @FlaPanthers skater to score 200 tallies with the club and the second to register 500 points after Jonathan Huberdeau.#NHLStats: https://t.co/fhGc2cx3mQ pic.twitter.com/sPc8rGjVlz
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 28, 2022
Despite a lot of good play, the thing that sticks out to me the most from Thursday’s game was the insanely unselfish play by Huby on the fourth goal. If you remember, the Knights had an empty net and Huby came over the blueline with a CLEAR path to the net. It would have been a tap in. Instead, he chose to dish it off to Bennett, who then buried it.
Huby…what a guy.
Tonight
The 22-19-2 Sharks come to town this evening after coming off a surprising 4-1 win over the Capitals the other night.
It should be an interesting game due to the contrast between Florida’s high octane offensive game and San Jose’s struggling defense, who surrenders 3.05 goals per game. Florida is averaging 4.02 goals per game.
It will be a special night for one player in particular…Joe Thornton. This will be the first time Jumbo will play his former team since leaving them in 2020 as a free agent.
Thornton was traded to San Jose by the Bruins in 2005 and went on to become the Sharks leader in assists and second in games and points.
It looks like Vatrano will be out and Hornqvist is still day-to-day. We’ll get Bob between the pipes, as Knight - along with Heponiemi and Kiersted - have been sent to the Checkers and Priskie has been loaned to the taxi squad.
With the way the Panthers have been playing lately at full-strength and on special teams, I feel they will suffocate the Sharks in both ends of the ice. Of course, in saying that, I hope I didn’t jinx them…
Brunette on Florida's firepower on the PK:
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) January 29, 2022
"Our offensive guys even kill penalties, so you're extra blessed there. They make plays. They find the ice and the time and space. We stress defense first, but when they get an opportunity their skill takes over."
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Let’s keep this win train rolling…Go Panthers!