Play catch up. Tie. Take the lead. Lose the lead. Lose the game. Repeat.
That's been the formula for the Panthers for quite a while and it's not ideal.
I wanted to drop a quick thought here heading into tonight's game against a bunch of jerks (Carolina).
We can break down all the issues over-and-over, but I believe one of the biggest problems with the Cats is overall team defense. Florida surrendered 46 shots on goal Thursday night in Vegas. Granted, the Golden Knights are a very skilled team and do a lot of their attacking in heavy/intense waves, but allowing 46 shots is (especially when a lot of them are quality opportunities) setting yourself up fro failure. At that point, the percentages are working against you.
Huberdeau said it best in his the post-game interview when he said they need to manage playing better defensively because they're giving up too many chances.
100%
I think it's easy for most fans to point the finger at the defense (and there's issues there, obviously), but giving up the amount of shots they did (and have done this season) shows that it goes beyond just the guys platooning the blue line. The Panthers need a stronger effort from their forwards to get back and help out. Barkov is a great example of this. He's a two-way player that often gets back to breakup plays in the defensive zone and help out the defensemen. It would be great to get a couple guys on the squad to to adopt this mindset and start gearing their game to it.
To the above point, Vegas was able to expose Florida via the point. It felt like the Panthers wingers were lower in their zone and not up, pressuring the Knights defensemen. This freed up Vegas to not only cycle to the point, but utilize the skill their blueliners have (Shea Theodore especially) to have room to move/work their magic with little resistance.
One of the things I've noticed about Boughner's his post-game pressers is that they're always positive - sometimes overly. I understand coaches have to play the game with the media and try to stay neutral and not give them too much to work with. However, I sometimes wish Boughner would tell it like it is.
After Thursday's game, Boughner said, "I like the way we are competing. We're finding a way to get points"
It's getting harder to look past these kinds of comments. The reality is, this team consistently blows leads and games. I can't knock a guy for trying to keep things positive, but sometimes it would be nice to hear some emotion or disappointment - send a message to that locker room. The Cats took four out of six points in this three-game road trip, but they could have had them all. That's where the frustration comes in with this team.
The Panthers now face a red-hot Carolina Hurricanes team who is on a four-game winning streak, and at 35-23-6, are inching towards the playoffs.
I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing Florida's high flyers continue to produce. Hoffman, who reached the 30-goal mark on Thursday, should stay hot, while Barkov looks to extend his seven-game point streak (8 goals, 7 assists) to eight. Huberdeau got on the scoresheet with four points against Vegas to help him reach a career-high 47 assists - hopefully he'll add a couple this evening, too.
Ideally, these guys will show up tonight and some will an overall team defensive effort.
With Reimer still out, it's unclear who will be in the blue paint, but I'd be pumped to see Monty get the nod. Give Lu, who looked noticeably frustrated Thursday night (and I don't blame him), a day off and let us see what the young gun has.
Either way...
Go Panthers!