As the Florida Panthers wrap up their 4-game road trip on the west coast, they have the chance of salvaging a .500 trip tonight at Anaheim.
One lesson the Panthers have learned on this trip is that they are still a ways away from being able to consistently compete with the NHL elite, but not that far.
Roberto Luongo stood on his head in San Jose to steal a victory after stopping 52 of 54 shots. Stability in net looks good for Florida for the next 3-4 years.
Two nights later in Phoenix, the officials missed a blatant goaltender interference call that lead to what was the game winning goal for the Coyotes and a 2-1 loss for the Panthers. The NHL sent an email apology on the blown call, but that probably didn't meant much to GM Dale Tallon, who has been championing a new rule that would allow coaches to have a video challenge on goal related plays. The challenges would include interference.
In the grand scheme of things, losing a game in such ways might not be the worst thing in the world for a team looking for the best possible draft position at the end of the year. But it was a terrible non-call nonetheless.
The L.A Kings already beat Florida 3-0 in Sunrise earlier this season, and they continued their winning ways Saturday with a 4-0 victory that had Jonathan Quick on full display as one of the best goaltenders in the league. The Panthers never got their nose dirty and shot too much from the outside to really threaten the Kings.
The injury-decimated Cats will be fortunate to beat an Anaheim team that is tied for the 3rd best record in the NHL and have a solid lineup that will contend for The Cup.
Except for yesterday, the Panthers have shown they have some fight in them even though their season is long over in terms of the playoffs. If there is any pride in that room tonight's performance will be more spirited than yesterday, and hopefully end the trip on a positive note.
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