After a heartbreaking 3-2 loss and a classless brawl started by Vancouver at the end of the game Monday night, the Florida Panthers head into Calgary in the hopes of starting a new winning streak.
The incredible streak of 12 straight wins for Florida was the talk of the NHL. Despite dropping Monday's tilt in overtime, the Panthers have a commanding lead in the Atlantic Division by 6 points over the Red Wings with the same amount of games played.
The novelty has not worn off on how far this team has come in the last 6 weeks. Another season in peril gave way to the most successful stretch of hockey in franchise history. Even during the winning streak, the Cats were not happy with their play over the last several games. Now with a loss that stings, perhaps that will motivate the team even more to clean up some inconsistencies.
The most glaring problem over the last few weeks is shots on goal. Seemingly every game Florida was dominated in this category. Their scoring percentage was way up during that time, thanks to incredible passing by Jonathan Huberdeau and other timely/ugly goals. But they had to know that type of game was coming to come back to bite them.
For the season, the Panthers are 17-0-1 when scoring at least 3 goals. Even head coach Gerard Gallant has said that is the magic number for this team with the way they are playing defense and the stalwarts Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya have been between the pipes.
The Panthers definitely have skilled offensive players. There is no reason why they shouldn't be firing pucks from everywhere. But often times they rely a little bit too much on the perfect pass that just letting it rip and pounce on the rebounds.
They simply cannot rely on near-perfect defense and otherworldly goaltending for the entire 2nd half of the season.
If there is any silver lining to the loss in Vancouver, the offense seemed to finally wake up in the final two periods. After being outshot 13-7 in the first, it looked like the Panthers were on their way to another game where they had to hold on for dear life to pull out their 13th consecutive win. We all know that type of approach is unsustainable, as it was that night. Hockey is a funny game, because the Panthers outshot the Canucks 21-17 for the final two periods and OT but came out on the losing end even after being up 2-0.
The last time the Panthers outshot an opponent for the entire game was Dec. 27th at home against Columbus. In the seven games since, the Panthers have been outshot badly, including a 32-16 deficit last week in Ottawa. That trend simply has to end, because playing cute and tight won't cut it the rest of the way. If Florida can bring the momentum from the last two periods Monday into Calgary perhaps a little more sustained offensive pressure will take the pressure of the defense and goaltending that has been so good for so long.
Dan Spiegel... Florida Panthers Media Follow me on Facebook Follow me on Twitter Join the Florida Panthers Insiders FB Page Connect with me on Google Plus