I’m going to need Panthers fans, players and coaches to look right here...
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The Cats were blown out by the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night in an embarrassing 6-1 loss.
It’s one of those games where you tell yourself to forget about it and move on. Sure, going the Men in Black route is a good way to make yourself feel better after getting handled, but that would be a mistake to simply chalk it up to a bad night.
While Florida is off to their second-best start in franchise history, there is a recurring issue that has cropped up throughout their play thus far.
I’m talking about the lack of even-strength production.
The Panthers are right where they left of last season, and the one before that, and so on...dependent on the Power Play. They are a one-trick pony offensively that needs to be on the man-advantage to get on the scoreboard.
And sometimes that doesn’t even matter, because the Panthers failed to convert on any of their advantages Saturday night, going 0/4. On the flip side, they allowed Tampa to score on one of their three man-advantage opportunities. Props to Vasilevskiy for being Vasilevskiy.
Interesting to note that the previous game, where the Panthers won 5-2, the Lightning’s two goals came on Power Plays, where they were were 2/3 on the man advantage. So the Florida PK has seen its struggles the past two games, too.
But back to the even-strength issue...this is also concerning when you go back and look at the trend of one-goal wins (often coming from OT or SO), and often against weaker opponents. That inability to find the net consistently when 5-on-5 is not only frustrating, it’s going to sink this team’s chances in the Central.
Yes. Vatrano scored at even-strength. But one goal isn’t going to make a difference against a team like Tampa majority of nights. Just imagine if some of their key guys weren’t out with injury. Oh, while writing this, and I just saw the news that Stamkos was taken off the COVID protocol list.
via Gfycat
Some serious offensive production needs to start in and it needs to start fast.
Who Were Those Guys?
What perplexed me the most about Saturday was how a team could play arguably the best game they have had in a long time just two nights prior, and then come out and look like that.
After holding Tampa to only four shots in the first, the Panthers looked like a completely different team from the second period on.
I think Weegar said it the best:
“We just didn't come to play tonight for the full 60 minutes.”
Adding:
“We were in there for a bit, in the game for a bit, but then the second period came and they just kept taking it to us.”
We used to refer to this phenomenon as the “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” routine in last year’s blogs. While the Cats still have had me concerned with the number of one-goal victories (as mentioned above), and have had a couple shaky outings, they have been playing consistently better/tougher than in recent years.
Defensive collapse and mental mistakes are going to happen all the time. It’s about being able to minimize those issues. Hopefully Saturday night was a fluke and these guys aren’t going back to their old ways.
What Positives (If Any)?
Aside from looking really good in those Reverse Retro sweaters, there was obviously not much to be excited about.
But if there was any good I pulled out of that game, it was the physicality and responses from Panthers’ teammates.
In years past, the Cats have been generally passive when it comes to physicality and sticking up for teammates. It was nice seeing Weegar mix it up with Killorn after his hit on Tippett.
And that wasn’t the only scrap. There was a number of them on Saturday - undoubtedly from frustration on Florida’s side - but it was still nice to see that fire.
Even the Panthers’ website touched on it:
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The Panthers aren't going to be pushed around. Taking exception to a hit on rookie Owen Tippett, Weegar go into it with Lightning forward Alex Killorn late in the opening period tonight. Ryan Lomberg also got involved in the action at one point, grappling with an opposing player while the refs worked to separate Weegar and Killorn.
After both Weegar and Killorn were assessed penalties, the sparring turned verbal in the box.
"When we play a team 2-3 times in a row, things can get out of hand a little bit," Weegar said of physicality on the ice throughout tonight's matchup. "But it's good that we're sticking up for our teammates and showing a lot of character. Standing up for one another is great. Love to see it."
In the third period, the bad blood continued to boil over. After Radko Gudas dropped the gloves with Blake Coleman at 1:33, Patric Hornqvist and Yanni Gourde scrapped at 12:01 and each got two minutes for rouging. With 4:50 left in regulation, Keith Yandle and Gemel Smith got chippy.
"It's a physical game," Weegar said. "I hope we're physical on them next game. We've got to take away their speed, and physicality is one way to do it."
Moving Forward
I think Q summed up the 6-1 loss the best you can:
And now it’s up to the the Cats to have a serious response. I hope Weegar is a man of his word when he talks about a big push back this evening:
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What Florida team shows up tonight? Expecting a fiery one...Go Panthers!
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