Panthers delaminate, fall to Maple Leafs 6-4
by Donny Rivette on Nov 28, 2009 10:29 AM EST
3 comments
The second of rookie defenseman Dmitry Kulikov's two goals. A big night on the scoreboard for the 19 year-old ends in depressing fashion as Florida drops leads and momentum; the Cats continue to struggle mightily at home.
Pension Plan Puppets * Leafs at Cats GameDay Central * Boxscore
Ugly. Sickening. Disgusting. And that was just the crowd.
An announced attendance of 16,101 - on a Friday evening, with an abundance of $10 tickets (among other incentives) available, and the Toronto Maple Leafs as a ferociously strong drawing card considering the snowbirds have arrived in SoFla - was rather unimpressive. Downright embarrassing.
Folks who stayed away missed dual items of importance: the first two-goal game of Dmitry Kulikov's career, and the Panthers' collective inability to hold a lead finally bite them in the standings.
An eight-game point-streak was snapped - hard - while divisional opponents Atlanta and Tampa Bay advanced to a three-point lead over the Cats.
Leafs' coach Ron Wilson simply wove magic out of his troops, coaxing Phil Kessel and former Panther Niklas Hagman into two goals apiece, a four-point performance from Alex Ponikarovsky, and a less than awe-inspiring yet good enough to seal the deal 26 saves from Jonas Gustavsson.
Peter DeBoer's boys couldn't conform to Toronto's adjustments, despite Dennis Seidenberg's two assists, Radek Dvorak's splendid hustle (1g on 5 shots), and Tomas Vokoun's 27 saves.
This was a classic Florida meltdown, and it could be felt long before the Panthers lost their two-goal lead. Just a bizarre night on many counts.
The real entertainment came at the 11:12 mark of the first period, when Colton Orr and Steve MacIntyre decided to exchange phone numbers:
What more can be said other than someone's got to take the fall for a game the Panthers had no right - statistically - to lose?
Anyway, back at it tonight against the Predators. Which begs a question: Why did Scott Clemmensen not get the nod last night, freeing up Vokoun to start against his former club?
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Yeah after we took a quick 2-0 lead I noticed we didn’t look like we were winning for long— Toronto kept the puck, had some chances, and we just looked nervous or confused. I dunno, it wasn’t one of those “How many are we going to score?” feelings at all.
It sucks that we had a guy in the penatly box for the finish yet again (Weiss did use his stick, but I still think it was a dive that helped the officials make the call).
I agree that the fans were poor. Those that turned out didn’t make much noise anyway. Even after the goals and it showed the fans, some of ours (wearing Panthers jerseys) were just sat there quietly and not even cheering. So weird.
Oh well, I still think we’ve played well enough in the previous ten games or so to take confidence going into our next few games, most of which are winnable.
I had people from Toronto sitting near me and when we were up 2-0 (and you still could hear someone cough across the rink) they said something like, “what’s wrong with these people, their team is winning 2-0 and you could hear a pin drop in here. If this was Toronto, you wouldn’t be able to hear yourself think!”
All things being equal, I am very disappointed with the homestand. We pull off a miracle on the road and then come home and manage to get 2 of a possible 6 points, and in the process we left the building disappointed on all three nights, and actually humiliated on one of them (Friday). Something has to give. It’s becoming a case of chicken vs the egg in Sunrise. What came first, the sucky team or the sucky attendance. You WILL NOT draw fans to your home arena with a 2-9 record. It’s not bad enough to come watch your team lose, but when you’re subjected to the embarrassment of having the other team’s fans chant their way out to the parking lot, it’s too much for some people to handle… That type of thing doesn’t happen anywhere else, and it’s at least part of the reason we are having attendance problems… The team has to win at home.
Old Dave and I had the same discussion that you brought forth in your opening statement. Just a strange, bizarre evening.
Very sorry to hear about the kitty, Murphy. Brighter days ahead, my friend.
by Donny Rivette on Nov 28, 2009 7:10 PM EST up reply actions
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| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Washington
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82 | 54 | 15 | 13 | 121 |
|
Atlanta
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|
Carolina
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82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 80 |
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Florida
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