Apologies to the three readers of my blog for my recent lapse - work and other events have decided to pop up all at once it would seem.
Nevertheless, I wanted to crank out a quick little column ahead of tonight's game in Toronto.
If you were looking to cook up the best way to lose a game against one of the best teams in the league, the Panthers had the perfect recipe Saturday night against the Bruins.
- A (massive) helping of turnovers - A generous amount of defensive miscues - A dash of blueliners pinching/getting involved too much, too often and too low - A dash of inability to finish/capitalize Make sure to not clear the front of the net before mixing all these ingredients together, and then let stand for 60 minutes in front of a rookie goalie.
Serving size: 3-7
The loss on Saturday night was the ultimate culmination (and illustration) of the Panthers' problems this whole season: defense and self-destructive tendencies. Hard to win in the this league like that. It's just too cut throat and strong teams like Boston feast and expose just how bad (and worrisome) those problems truly are.
To his credit, Boughner said it best:
"We beat ourselves. Twenty-four turnovers. The first four goals all came off our sticks on turnovers."
Think about that...24 turnovers that lead to four goals against you. No way you're winning that game.
And now they have to turnaround and play another strong team in Toronto tonight, who, by the way, trail the Bruins by seven points for second place in the division.
In comparison, the Panthers trail Montreal by 10 points for the second wild card spot...yikes.
Pysyk (who recently welcomed a baby) will be replaced by Ian McCoshen. I saw a report on NHL that Florida's projected lineup had Sceviour, Hunt and Keeper (amongst others) scratched.
I don't agree with Hunt in the press box. I like the guy's energy, speed and hands. He also gets to the front of the net and I feel like he's showed some nice progress with the time he's been given.
Interesting, however, regarding Keeper...
They must feel there's really something there if he's practicing regularly with the team. I had read last week that there was the possibility he could get some time on the backend this year.
Hey, why not?
The organization is pretty high on the guy and apparently landed him ahead of other teams. It makes me kind of wonder if maybe there was an agreement that if he signed with Florida he would see game time before the season was done. Who knows...
At this point, I'm down with calling up some of the young guns and seeing what they have. While they're not mathematically eliminated, they're pretty close. I'm not saying throw in the towel.
It's actually the opposite.
There's something stale and/or "off" about the current lineup (as we've known all season). Sometimes injecting fresh guys in can help bring a spark. Sure, it's 50-50 as to what will happen, but after Saturday's loss, they really don't have anything to lose.
I'd be down to take the gamble and give the nod to some rookies and hope they take off and help the team finish strong.
Let's face it, Boston showed the massive gap that exists between a legitimate playoff team and this Florida club. One was disciplined, structured and worked as a cohesive unit. The other was the opposite.
It's funny, after writing the above, I know full-well that the Panthers could come out and realistically get the win tonight - because that's the Jekyll and Hyde act this team has put on all year.
Well see what happens...
Go Panthers!