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Game #21: St. Louis Blues |
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Who was that Panthers team that took the ice on Wednesday night and beat the #1 team in the NHL by a score of 5-2?
Entering Wednesday’s tilt on a three game skid of very lackluster play, I had little hope in the Cats being able to compete with the Big Bad Bruins — let alone beat them. The difference-maker for the Cats was special teams (can’t believe I’m saying that) and Spencer Knight, who bounced back in a big way after sleepwalking through his previous start.
While Florida gave Boston way too many chances on the man advantage (6), the PK managed to surrender only two goals. On the flip side, the Bruins gave the Cats a surprising amount of Power Plays (7) and the Florida PP unit took advantage, managing to net three goals on the man advantage.
Florida also pushed a good pace throughout the game, something I hope they continue tonight against a St. Louis team coming off a loss last night. Carrying that PP mojo over will be great to see as well. They are 11-for-30 on the man advantage over the last eight games, good enough for a 36.7 success rate. And if you can believe it, five of those goals have come from Reinhart.
This is a different Blues team than we have seen the past few seasons. Instead of being dominate and steady in the standings, this group has been very streaky. They won their first three games of the season, then lost eight in a row. They recovered by winning seven in a row, but currently on a two-game skid. Sitting at .500 with a 10-10-0 record, STL is kind of a mystery in terms of which team will show up.
But when they do show up this evening, we’ll see an old friend. Noel Acciari now wears the blue and yellow sweater and is sitting on nine points (5G, 4A) and will most certainly be his competitive self when he meets his old team. Wouldn’t be surprised if he and Lomberg mix it up a bit…
While goaltender Jordan Binnington has been getting the majority of starts for STL, my guess is he won’t get the nod because the Blues are coming off a loss to Tampa last night. That’s a bummer because Binnington rubs me the wrong way with some of his antics and I was hoping he’d be in net and the Cats would light him up.
Keep an eye on Barky’s status as Jameson Olive reported this yesterday:
Let’s keep building off that victory over Boston!
Trade(s) Coming
Since the last blog where I covered the budding trade rumors surrounding Florida, it seems like more and more experts/outlets are reporting that the Panthers will be moving a guy(s) prior to Duclair being activated off LTIR.
Being right up against the cap is crunching Florida and putting them in a serious bind. They have no leverage and will most likely be moving a bigger name. I’ve now seen Reinhart and Bennett rumored to be guys who could possibly go.
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Go Panthers!
Florida Panthers Blogger • 
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