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Claws and Cannons

December 7, 2019, 12:35 AM ET [11 Comments]
Matt Ross
Florida Panthers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
I know what you're thinking: "Did the Panthers fire 47 shots on net, or only 46?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement of the first two periods, I kinda lost track myself. But being that this team that was poised to do some serious offensive damage, and should be scoring more, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky that these guys are still in a playoff spot?' Well, do ya', punk?

Like the Dirty Harry reference is familiar to so many, Tuesday's loss was very familiar for this 2019-'20 Florida Panthers team. It was another case of get the lead, lose the lead, lose the game.

Why does this seem to be happening so often?

Let's not slip into the "it's the defense and goaltending's fault" for the sake of this brief thought/analysis. Instead, I want to bring up a couple things I observed from the loss to Minnesota...

Quality of Shots

The Panthers sure can pour the puck on the net, but how good are the shots? One would think that a team who puts on 46 shots to the opposition's 26, should score more goals and win the game. While there's a lot of factors at work during a game that we know come into play to determine a winner, one of the main ones is quality of opportunity.

Sure, you can rip 46 shots on net, but if they're going straight into the goalie's chest and/or there's no traffic out front, it's probably going to be difficult to score.

Make no bones about it, Kahkonen played good for the Wild (props to him). But a lot of the shots he saw, he was able to see all the way. There wasn't much of a presence, if any, in front of the net. The two goals the Cats scored had the benefit of being really well placed shots with no one on the doorstep.

Yes, there were some close calls with some pucks off the iron, but I think if the Panthers want to really increase their chances of the puck finding the back of the net, they need to get traffic out front and they need to start getting "ugly" goals. Sure, weaving in and out of players and toe dragging looks great, but the scoreboard doesn't know the difference between that kind of goal and one that goes off a guy's shin pad who is screening the goalie.

I'd love to see the Cats get a real net-front presence going forward - park a guy out front, put 46 shots on and I bet there's a different outcome.

Waiving Your Stick in the Middle

The other thing that stuck out to me was the Cats did an awful lot of waiving their sticks at Minnesota players who were cutting through the middle, rather than taking the body. In fact, this type of play led to the second and third goals - namely the latter.

I know it was a heck of a play by Soucy to transfer the puck from his hand to his stick, but notice how Stralman (below clip) goes for the stick lift instead of standing him up and using his body to separate Soucy from the puck. Granted, it was a quick play and easy for me to nitpick from my couch, but I still think you need to play the body on that and that's an area the Cats are sorely lacking in from the defense.




Going forward, Florida really needs to make the middle of the ice in their zone a miserable place for the opposition to try to work/operate. Sometimes it's just too easy for teams to come into the zone and cut or pass through the middle and give themselves a high caliber opportunity.

Focusing on Tonight

The Columbus Bluejackets make their way South to the BB&T Center on a three-game losing streak. They sit second-to-last in the Metropolitan Division with an 11-13-4 record, just above the lowly Devils. It's a drastic change for a team that shocked the hockey world last season by sweeping the heavily favored Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.

Perhaps the loss of guys like the Breadman, Bob and others are taking their toll a bit.

Bob should be laser-focused and ready to go against his former team. With the lengthy homestand split so far (1-1-0), this would be an important game for him to capitalize on and get a convincing win.

I think the two points I mentioned earlier should be a main focus for tonight. To quickly recap:

1. For the offense, get those bodies out front. Boyle was signed for a number of reasons, one of them is to use that big frame and park it in the blue paint. Each line should have a guy going to the goal mouth and looking to screen, redirect or clean up any loose change. Time to get ugly, boys!

2. If the defense can't keep them to the outside, then make it miserable for them trying to come through the middle. Don't lazily swipe at the puck carrier's stick and let him get around you. Get bodies on these CBJ players and separate them from the biscuit.

Saarela Called Up, Hawryluk Close

The Cats recalled center Alexsi Saarela yesterday.

I think this is a good move. The offense has been in need of secondary scoring for sometime and they must feel Saarela could be the spark to get that going.

From the Panthers site:

"Saarela, 22, has appeared in 17 games with Springfield this season, recording 10 points (4-6-10). The 5-foot-10, 200-pound native of Helsinki, Finland, also played in five games for the Rockford Ice Hogs (AHL), posting one assist (0-1-1).

In 2018-19, Saarela produced 54 points and a team-leading 30 goals for the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) over 69 regular season games. He won the 2019 Calder Cup with Charlotte, notching 15 points (7-8-15) over 17 postseason games.

Florida acquired Saarela from the Chicago Blackhawks on October 22, 2019, in exchange for defenseman Ian McCoshen. He was originally selected by the New York Rangers in the third round (89th overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft."


He has some impressive numbers and it sounds like he has high hockey IQ and knows where to be n the ice.

Hey...Q and Barky seem to approve, so I imagine that's a good thing.




Jayce Hawryluk was also spotted on the ice doing some solo workouts after his injury a few weeks back. Q said he believes he'll be back to full practice with the team soon.

_______________________

Let's get after it early and keep the pedal to the metal!

Go Panthers!
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