Game 3 Tonight!

The Panthers won their first game of the season on Saturday when David Booth scored in OT against the Thrashers.  Once again the Panthers played an aggressive game and deserved to win.  If they can keep this pace up then I think we will have a shot at a playoff spot.  I was happy that Frolik and Stewart were in the lineup.  Hopefully they play tonight as well.  I would like Kreps to play instead of Peltonen so that the young guys can continue to develop. 

Game 3 is tonight at home vs. Minnesota, a team that has had the Panthers’ number over the years.  It will be interesting to see how the Panthers uptempo game will do against the Wild’s trapping style of play.  Here’s hoping the Panthers can push through the trap and can keep the Wild out of their zone.  McCabe likely won’t be in the lineup tonight but at least his back is not broken as initially reported by TSN.  Skrastins may play tonight as well which will be good for the team since Bouwmeester, Allen, Ballard and Boynton have put in a lot of ice time in the first two games. 

I will be watching the first couple of periods tonight since I have to leave after 9 to go play in my pick up hockey game.  Hopefully I survive my game to write a review tomorrow.  As George Richards from the Miami Herald points out, this would be a big win tonight since the next game is Saturday against the Islanders.  Win these next two and the Panthers are in okay shape going into a stretch of 8 out of 10 games on the road. 

This was a quick post since I’m on my lunch hour but I want to be back sometime tomorrow or Saturday with a Game 3 review and preview against the Islanders.  Thanks for reading.

Game 1 Review and Game 2 Preview!

Game 1:  Loss at Carolina 6-4

The Good

The forwards played very well, especially Booth and Horton.  Moving Horton to centre looks like it will pay off since the team has two lines that can score between Horton-Stillman-Olesz and Booth-Weiss-Zednik. 

David Booth’s first goal.  It was a beauty and if he plays all year like he did last night then he should score 30 this year. 

Seeing Richard Zednik back on the ice.  He looked fine out there and that is awesome.

Jay Bouwmeester played an excellent game, setting up the Booth goal and making 2 or 3 excellent outlet passes that led to Panthers breaks during the game.  He is playing with a confidence that we haven’t seen from him and getting him away from Martin’s suffocating system is a plus.

The system the Panthers played.  It was so much fun to watch the Panthers attack for once.  They have some adjustments to make in their own end but their forecheck and speed off the rush was excellent.  It seemed like the Panthers had more puck possession time than in past years.  This is a good thing and I think the Panthers can only improve from this point on.

The Bad

Tomas Vokoun.  He was a slow starter last year too but this team needs all of the points it can get and the team can’t afford bad goals against.  I’m sure Tomas knows this and will get stronger as the year goes on.

The defence at times was a little unorganized.  This is expected since the full team did not play much together in the preseason and guys are getting used to new partners.  Boynton seemed a bit lost out there and Ballard loves delivering the big hit but skated himself out of position a couple of times.  McCabe looked like McCabe for his time on the ice and did alright.  Allen had his good shifts and bad shifts which is a usual night for him.  Murphy played okay but not well in his own end which has been a problem for him ever since he joined the league.  Bouwmeester played great tonight and was the bright spot of the D.  I’m sure they will adjust and play better as the year goes on.

The McCabe injury stinks.  The media says it is a back injury.  Shades of Bertuzzi?  Probably not.  Hopefully it’s a minor thing and McCabe is back on the ice soon.  Well guess what?  I just checked on tsn.ca and he may have broken his back.  I can’t see a guy coming back soon after breaking his freaking back can you?

I want to give DeBoer the benefit of the doubt especially since it was his first game.  But I don’t understand why Frolik, Stewart and Welch watched this game from the press box.  Frolik is one of the team’s top prospects and should either be playing with the Panthers or in Rochester playing top minutes with Matthias.  Stewart was the team’s best forward in the preseason and did everything the Panthers asked him to do over the summer and they reward him with a press box seat?  The Panthers know what they are going to get from Ville Peltonen and Wade Belak.  Let’s see what they can get from Anthony Stewart for once.  I want the team to give him 20 games where they tell him “if you have a bad game you are staying in the NHL”.  I want to see how he can play without looking over his shoulder after every shift.  As for Noah Welch, he will play tonight since McCabe probably isn’t playing with a broken back.  I thought he should have played instead of Murphy last night.  He missed most of last year with the shoulder injury and like Stewart the Panthers need to see what they have in him.  Is the result last night different if DeBoer makes those lineup changes?  Probably not.  But these are choices that will pay off 30 and 40 games from now.  Here’s hoping the forwards are in the lineup with Welch tonight.

Game 2!

Game 2 is the home opener tonight against Atlanta.  It’s Canadian Thanksgiving and I’m going to the parents for turkey so hopefully I will get home to watch the last two periods of the game.  The Thrashers beat the Capitals 7-4 last night so hopefully this will be a let down game for them.  Kovalchuk always plays well against us so the Panthers need to contain him.  I don’t think Atlanta makes the playoffs this year but their goaltending, if Lehtonen is healthy, is solid and their D is going to be above average this year.  This will make them a team that is hard to play against.  Not that the Panthers make anything easier for themselves. 

Thanks for reading.

Panthers Preview!

Let’s try a new title since posting every 3 months doesn’t work for You Heard it Here First.  The Panthers start the 2008-09 season tomorrow in Carolina.  The opening day roster is per www.nhl.com:

Forwards

The forwards on the roster are:  David Booth, Gregory Campbell, Radek Dvorak, Michael Frolik, Nathan Horton, Kamil Kreps, Brett McLean, Rostislav Olesz, Ville Peltonen, Anthony Stewart, Cory Stillman, Stephen Weiss and Richard Zednik.

It will be interesting to see how fast the team cna develop chemistry up front since there were a lot of nagging injuries with Weiss and Booth in particular missing some time.  They both should be in the lineup tomorrow night so that is good.  I am a fan of trying Horton at centre since the Panthers aren’t as strong down the middle as other teams in the league.  There are 13 forwards (14 if you count Belak as a forward).  It will be interesting to see if Frolik or Stewart will play.  Stewart was one of their best players in the preseason and I think the Panthers should give him 20 games of solid minutes so they can finally see if he can fit in and be a good NHL player or if he needs even more time in Rochester.  I think Frolik has to play because it hurts his development to watch games in the press box when he could be on the top line in the AHL.  Matthias was sent down today and I am fine with that.  He will play a lot in Rochester and will be ready to join the team sooner rather than later.

Defencemen

The defencemen on the roster are:  Bryan Allen, Keith Ballard, Wade Belak, Jay Bouwmeester, Nick Boynton, Bryan McCabe, Cory Murphy, Noah Welch, Karlis Skrastins (on injured reserve).

I think Murphy (who cleared waivers yesterday) and Belak will be in the press box tommorrow.  I hope Welch plays so that he can get himself back into game shape after missing so much time last year.  It sounds like Ballard and Boynton are going to play together.  We will see if Bouwmeester plays with McCabe or with Allen.  Allen on the third pairing is better for the team as he can be a solid 16-18 minute defenceman.  He gets a little overexposed when he’s out there for too long.  This might be the best defence corps in the Panthers history.  This should be a strength of the team and not a weakness for the first time since the late 1990’s.

Goaltenders

The goalies on the roster are Tomas Vokoun and Craig Anderson.  This is the backbone of the team.  Anderson’s emergence as a solid backup should allow Vokoun to stay fresh throughout the year as he tired around the all star break.  These two should be one of the best pairings in the league this year.

Coaching

This is the one part of the team that I am the most excited about.  Peter DeBoer is going to implement a much more aggressive game which will benefit this group of forwards who have good speed.  Hopefully the adjustment period to the NHL doesn’t take too long for DeBoer and hopefully Jacques Martin gives him space and lets him grow without suffocating him with pressure or expectations. 

All in all I’m excited about the Panthers this year.  I think we have a chance at winning the Southeast.  I don’t think any of the experts have the Panthers making the playoffs but I think they have a chance.  Other than 3 or 4 teams the East is wide open and 7-8 teams will be fighting for 4 spots.  Carolina has a couple of injuries up front in Williams and Walker so hopefully the Panthers can take advantage of this and beat the Hurricanes.  Game 2 is the home opener against Atlanta and the Panthers need to win that game for both the home crowd and for the team’s confidence. 

I will try to update more as the season progresses.  Thanks for reading.