Bring on the draft: Panthers fall to Sabres 3-1

The game wasn’t like Thursday, where they played two periods and then collapsed spectacularly in the third. They started out not playing very well and then woke up when Vokoun got yanked. That, btw, was the right decision. That second goal shouldn’t have happened. Vokoun overcommitted on a shot that was wide of the net, getting out of position to catch it and then didn’t, leaving the net wide open. That was a big mental mistake. Clemmensen played pretty well in relief and the Panthers played a lot harder, but the Sabres are a good, hard working team with an outstanding goalie.

Something to note. If you look at the stats, the Sabres have only one player with more points than the Panthers points leader (Weiss, 52) and no players with as many goals as the Panthers goals leader (Weiss, again, with 24). What they have is three players with 20 goals, an outstanding goaltender and they work hard every shift and know how to keep a lead. This is the team the Panthers should be. The Sabres overall aren’t that much more talented than the Panthers. Vanek and Pominville are good, but not really any better than Booth and Horton. But they have a bunch of guys like Kaleta and Grier that play hard and get in the other team’s business. (Note Kaleta goading Horton into taking a double minor for roughing). And they can score three goals and keep that lead. I watched a game earlier this season where they were up 5-1 with four or five left and scored two more before it was over, one with less than a minute left. They just never let up.

Looking dim.
I’m not so sure pulling Vokoun was the right move. At that point he had faced about 18 shots already. A time out might have been better.
Nonetheless Clem did ok.

The Den of Honor is truly wonderful. Its the first time in years that I can say the Panthers organization did anything well. It’s right in front of my seats too!

But the best part was getting to talk to Doug Maclean, Skrewy, Mellanby, and Worrell. Worrell gave me crap for wearing my “Miami Hurricanes Hockey Jersey.” That was fun!

But the Den also reminded me of just how good the team and organization once was. What did we do to deserve 10 years of failure?

1. Our team is no good and our coaching is good?
2. Our coaching is no good and our team is good?
3. Pete De Boers systems are good and our players can’t execute them?
4. Our players are executing the systems and the systems are no good?
5. None of the above?
6. All of the above?
7. Murphy’s Law?

I think our players are doing what our coaching is telling them to do (as is traditional) and the systems are not working at the NHL level. If you don’t do what your told you end up like Nick Boynton. As long as this coaching staff leads the Panthers we will never have a good season. (Gulp) To bad we have no previous NHL experience in which to evaluate Coach De Boer. Hopefully Pete De Boer will not be promoted to GM when this is finally realized.