Thursday Caterwaul: Panthers Open Forum

by Donny Rivette on Nov 4, 2010 12:27 PM EDT

Everything that could have been done to win Wednesday's game was executed almost perfectly, short of a couple of goals Tomas Vokoun admitted he wanted back. Fifty-five shots were thrown in the direction of Atlanta netminder Chris Mason, who appeared disjointed and rather shellshocked through the first frame, but picked himself up to stand tall with 52 saves.

It was one of those nights, I noted early in the chat, where it looked as if Florida would get all the shots (David Booth had 9) but none of the luck; indeed that was the outcome. We knew going in the Thrashers were a tough bunch, able to play through adversity and achieve winning results through sheer willpower. They were every bit as advertised (more from Bird Watchers Anonymous here).

Jason Garrison, Bryan Allen, and Steven Reinprecht's efforts had kept the Cats on top through most of the evening, but Vokoun's 19 saves proved less effective than would be required, as Fredrik Modin (2), Dustin Byfuglien, and Niclas Bergfors made the absolute most with their appearances in Florida's zone, capping a 4-3 come-from behind victory before 11,212 (announced) at the BAC.

Chalk up the loss to...bad luck? Not really fair to Atlanta, given their dedication to not rolling over, which was a distinct possibility. Four Panthers had 5 SOG (Rostislav Olesz, Dennis Wideman, Stephen Weiss, and Shawn Matthias); that's 29 when Booth's output is figured...can't call it a lack of effort.

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Certainly not a lack of effort

The whole team played hard and the scoring chances were greatly in favor of the Cats. It’s an encouraging thing to see, but to kick the rotting corpse of Sea Biscuit: it’s gotta happen game in and game out.

Vokoun has had better games, but you can’t pin this loss on him. This team is missing finishers, guys who have a knack of scoring when presented with chances like Olesz, who was given a free shot, uncovered, 6 feet in front of Chris Mason, and didn’t make it count. Note that I’m not picking on Rusty, who I thought looked utterly dominant out there last night at times. I’m just highlighting what we all already know: This team has no finishers on it, no pure scoring threat.

Also, I have an issue I want to bring up: Bryan Allen. His up-ice momentum is horribly slow, his outlet passes miss quite often, and his turnovers are up there. He does not look like a top 6 defenseman to me at all anymore and I really think he needs to be sat for Keaton Ellerby or someone else. Thoughts?

by Ryan Meier on Nov 4, 2010 12:49 PM EDT reply actions

This team is missing finishers

Couldn’t agree more.

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by Donny Rivette on Nov 4, 2010 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions

I was very encouraged by Matthias again too. He should be centering one of the top two lines.

by Ryan Meier on Nov 4, 2010 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions

tell the coach that, we all agree with you

by Colt1235 on Nov 4, 2010 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Ya, Allen is usually pretty bad with the puck but he’s the man in his own zone where he uses his stick pretty effectively.

His goal last night was pretty suprising, he’s usually more likely to miss by 10 feet than score.

I say keep him, he’s a lot safer than anyone else who could replace him. And it’s not like we need another defensemen to create scoring chances, theres plenty of scoring chances to go around.

by pukeoncops on Nov 4, 2010 6:37 PM EDT up reply actions