After suffering their first loss of the season to the Boston Bruins in OT of Saturday night’s tilt, the Panthers had a nice four-day break to rest up and get back on track against the Washington Capitals tonight.
Aside from Ovi chipping away at Gretzky’s goal record, the Caps sit in third place of the Metropolitan Division with NYR in second and CAR holding the first place spot.
Per Winners and Whinners:
“After opening the season with at least one point in eight straight games, left-winger Alex Ovechkin finished without a point in Monday’s loss versus Tampa Bay. Ovechkin leads Washington with 15 points this season, which ranks third in the NHL. The 36-year-old has also scored an NHL-high nine goals in nine games this year.
Vanecek is scheduled to patrol the crease once again for the Capitals on Thursday night in Florida. The 25-year-old is 2-1-2 with a 2.40 GAA and .906 save percentage in six games this season but he’s surrendered at least three goals in three straight starts. Despite a relatively slow start, Vanecek has actually been better on the road compared to at home this season. He’s posted a 1-1-0 road record to go along with a 2.02 GAA and .923 save percentage but owns a 1-0-2 record with a 2.62 GAA and .895 save percentage at home this year. This will be Vanecek’s first career start versus the Panthers.“
It would be nice to see the Cats jump on this guy early and often.
As of yesterday it looks like Gudas, Nutivaara, and Bennett are not expected to play tonight. Throw in the Jumbo injury and the Cats are certainly feeing the bumps and bruises through this early part of the season.
Expecting Brunnette to provide and injury update at some point today…
The Bench Boss
Florida finds themselves in both an interesting and strange position with their head coaching situation.
The knee-jerk reaction in these times is to immediately bring in a veteran coach to lead as quickly as you can. To many fan’s joy - or horror depending on how you feel about him - John Tortorella’s name was one of the first to float around…but I don’t see that happening.
According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now Zito and the Panthers will be taking their time and of making any hasty decisions:
…Much appreciation to Andrew for stepping up and helping,… Zito said on ESPN before the Detroit game.
“We’re methodical, we’re not going to rush out and chase anything for the wrong reasons at the wrong time. We’re going to take our time and go through the process. For now, Andrew Brunette is the interim coach and I can’t really tell you what the temporal scope is other than honestly, we’re worried about tonight.…
An odd statement to make, openly admitting that you’re worried about a game and coach (when reading between the lines), but putting that aside, Florida is in about the best/ideal position a team can be in that’s missing a head coach.
This is a squad that’s loaded with talent and surging. They should be able to ride that and buy time while Zito searches for a new head coach.
Or maybe he’s not searching that hard…
Zito has not steered this team wrong yet since coming aboard as GM a couple seasons back. Part of me thinks what’s actually happening is Brunnette is getting on-the-job training as Florida’s new head coach and not an interim placeholder.
Brunnette has been with this team since 2019 when they really started taking steps in the right direction and building up to what we’re seeing now. He’s been around for a few years and knows these guys. Yes, knowing guys and knowing how to lead guys are two different things. But Zito has built his success in South Florida by having a knack for under-the-radar moves and finding hidden gems that fit this organization’s needs. He’s a good evaluator of talent in players, so why wouldn’t that translate to coaches?
I believe the job right now is Brunnette’s to lose. With this roster, he just has to keep it loose, stay the course, and let their talent continue to blossom. A number of players have already made comments expressing their respect and support for Brunnette, so a good relationship foundation appears to be I n place.
I say ride this thing out. If the wheels start to get a little wobbly, then call in the vet coach - you know they’re out there and ready to start working at the drop of a hat.
Until then, let’s see what Brunnette can do. Maybe this guy has head coaching chops and this is just the team to bring it out.