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Cats and Bears

October 27, 2021, 9:58 AM ET [48 Comments]
Matt Ross
Florida Panthers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It’s a battle of the Atlantic Division tonight when the 6-0-0 Panthers take on the 3-1-0 Bruins. I had to do a double-take after trying out “6-0-0 Panthers” but it’s true, your Cats have been red-hot to open the season, managing to become only the 25th team in league history to start out 6-0-0!

For as well as they have been playing, Monday’s 5-3 win over the Coyotes showed some misteps. The biggest being nearly blowing a 4-1 lead due in part to “taking the foot off the gas” when going up 4-1.

The Panthers fell into bad habits after going up three - mainly allowing AZ to stretch them out and make poor positioning decisions. A good example of this is the below Kessel goal. You can see Connauton over-commit on the potential shooter and ends up covering Weegar’s side, leaving the left lane wide open.



Credit to Arizona for getting back into the game by using their speed to get the Cats out of position. Florida should use that game as a lesson to stay in control with luck management and make sure to play a full-60 minutes.

But the big positive I took away from this game was the the way the first three goals came about. Each of the three shared a common trait: Cats going to the net and/or having net-front presence.

- Thornton scored by following up on the play and going to the front of the net
- Vatrano battles out front and cleans up the loose change
- Hornqvist setting up in front of the AZ goalie to provide a nice screen for Ekblad’s shot

And while there was no net-front activity on this one, it’s just so sweet to watch:



It’s always a tough battle when facing the Bruins, so let’s keep the energy up and the foot on the gas!

Blackhawks Fallout

Coach Quenneville will be meeting with Gary Bettman in the near future to discuss yesterday’s release of the Jenner & Block October 2021 report.

___________________________

Let’s keep growing that win column!

Time to hunt…Go Panthers!
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