Cats Salvage Point in Montreal

The way I see it, the Panthers just came back from a 4-game losing streak and took 3 of a possible 4 points in 2 very hostile arenas. After their awesome win in Pittsburgh, the very next day they had to travel across the border to Canada and face the powerful Montreal Canadians. Granted, its disappointing that they had to claw their way back after jumping out to a 2-0 lead, but in the end, its only the points that matter.

Another nice thing about these past two games is the number 11. And while I would love it to be about our boy ‘Soupy’ Campbell, he has no points in the 2 games. The 11 stands for the amount of goals the Cats have scored in those 2 games, their highest 2-game goal output since scoring 9-goals in back-to-back games against the Rangers (also a win and a shootout loss).

The Panthers have gotten a nice mix of scoring from the usual suspects (Booth, Horton) and their role players (Dvorak, Peltonen, Zednik). They also bailed out Craig Anderson, who did make some key saves but also let up some Voky-like goals that leave you scratching your head.

A little more about Radek, my childhood favorite Panther, who is using his speed more and more, hopefully getting the encouragement from the coaching staff. I never understood how Jacques Martin didn’t utilize him more for his speed, but I’m glad we are seeing him flying down the wings on a gamely basis. Radek had 2 big 3rd period goals, including the game-tying goal with 1:44 remaining.

Is it just me, or does this team have a knack for late-game tying heroics? Off the top of my head I can remember late game-tiers against the Rangers, the Devils and the Lightning (all home games that I was lucky enough to see. Jealous? Then get your butt to Sunrise and see a game; the Panthers will even pay for it)

There is another point that I wanted to get out there. I notice that David Booth has a lot more success when he dumps the puck past the defenseman and then uses his great acceleration to get past the D and regain the puck. The more he does this, the more I love it and we can only hope he will continue to figure out more ways to use his extreme strengths to his (and our) advantage.

Big game in Toronto on Tuesday that I’m sure the Cats are looking at as a seesaw game. A win and they are back on the right track towards the playoffs going into a big division matchup Thursday in Sunrise against the DiveCanes. A loss and there will be more questions to answer and I’m guessing more blame to be put on the goalies.