You have a friend in Bouillon: Predators keep Panthers lottery hopes alive with 3-2 OT win
by Donny Rivette on Mar 29, 2010 10:41 PM EDT
Email
Print
The NHL's wonderfully inventive "GameCenter Live" wasn't this evening, denying those outside the BankAtlantic Center's prized Lexus Lot an opportunity to witness a Florida come-from-behind, lose-the-lead, blow-it-in-OT defeat at the hands of Nashville. Yes, 94-point Nashville.
If Barry Trotz is not in the running for coach-of-the-decade (in any sport), a tremendous injustice is being thrust upon professional hockey and Preds' fans alike. Has anyone even approached his success - with an expansion club, no less - in the past twenty years?
I didn't see this game, so a "recap" from my end wouldn't be entirely accurate, but did hear a couple of sweet Mollerisms: "Shark Week" and "His hair was perfect" sounded rather pro, going hand in hand with the others. I do need to see more movies, however, given how lost I become in a broadcast bereft of "Used Cars" references. My bad.
In any case, Carolina won their match against Atlanta, leaving Florida firmly ensconced in 14th place. Kudos to Keith Ballard and Stephen Weiss, Florida's goal scorers, as well as Michael Frolik's two assists, and Scott Clemmensen's 22 saves. Hey...he made it to overtime.
Next up: Wednesday in Buffalo. No TV for that one either.
30 comments
|
1 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
i actually jumped out my seat on that last predators goal….i was thinking oh no they cant win when they need to and cant lose when they need to either….(sarcasm) there were fellow cat fans sitting next to me that were annoyed at me cheering for both cats lol but hey if u werent here going thru what i and every other season ticket holder has gone thru all season you should not be talking…..since they havent given me anything to cheer about other than the occasional home win i might as well enjoy myself with the last few home games left…tonight was pretty much how the year has been with them teasing missing open nets missing on onetimers shooting wide left wide right… you can only sit there and laugh at it all from the frustration they have set for us all
LETS GO HEAT!! LETS GO PANTHERS!! GO FISH GO!! GO FINS!
did u notice that we are now tied with the bolts same wins losses and ot’s
LETS GO HEAT!! LETS GO PANTHERS!! GO FISH GO!! GO FINS!
by SNOOP97DAWG on Mar 29, 2010 11:15 PM EDT up reply actions
And THEY have a 45-goal scorer to go with their non-effective former 43- and 52-goal scorers.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 29, 2010 11:18 PM EDT up reply actions
On that note...
…why is TB below FLA in the standings? They have an identical record but scored more goals…in the same number of games.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 29, 2010 11:21 PM EDT up reply actions
non-effective? St. Louis has 87 points and Lecavalier has 66 which is 11 more than our leading scorer (Weiss). You can make the case that Lecavalier certainly isn’t producing at a rate quite like he used to or for someone of his pay, but you can also argue that this is about what his career average was other than his two 90+ point seasons.
If you want to mention non-effective players this season, how about Alex Tanguay. How glad are you that we didnt sign him and his 9 goals this season? Just Imagine him and Olesz on the same line. OH THE MAGIC!
I haven’t seen many Tampa Bay games but it is pretty apparent that they are in desperate need of some goaltending which has possibly been our biggest strength. If they had Vokoun, I would not doubt seeing them contend for a playoff spot this year
Im just rambling… not really sure what I was getting at there.
Was being a bit sarcastic, given Stamkos’ charge up through the ranks in his second year, making the big boys look pedestrian in comparison.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 29, 2010 11:50 PM EDT up reply actions
I figured you were being sarcastic, but I was curious enough to look at their stats so I figured I’d share.
Could you imagine what our record would have been if we somehow had to start Clemmenson all season rather than Vokoun? We could easily have less points than Edmonton and that just goes to show how valuable Vokoun has been to us.
I do feel that we have a few players that could lead us to being a pretty solid playoff team, Horton being one of them if he remains healthy with the right line mates. Kinda on the fence about where I feel we are heading next year though. I want to dump a handful of players but lord knows what we can get in return.
I’ll be the first to stand up and declare my support for Clemmer upon his signing. I was ecstatic about the acquisition and crowed from the mountaintops about it.
This may be one reason why I’m not a scout.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 30, 2010 12:19 AM EDT up reply actions
Clemmensen hasn’t been that bad down the stretch. When DeBoer’s let him play he’s been good. He never looks comfortable and he doesn’t steal games, but he makes most of the stops he should make. He’s a good backup, but one that needs to play a game every couple of weeks, not sit on the bench for 20+ games in a row.
Florida Panthers: Giving the league a punching bag since 2000.
In return? Not much. An uber- skilled GM could perhaps tap-dance that mine-field and get some serious assets. Helluva poker game.
Is Sexton the guy? No idea, but he’s The Man right now, and with Luce, we have to hope and just short of pray for the best.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 30, 2010 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions
Just got home from tonight's game - had to make some comments.
Gotta give huge props to Scott Clemmensen. He came up huge even after the Preds had a second and third whack at a puck in front of the net due to defensive breakdowns by the Panthers. Also – one MAJOR fact that was not stated was at the end of the game, the Panthers got caught on a line change and neglected to clear the puck past center ice. The Preds turned it around and made a great shot against Clemmensen. Matthias has obviously been studying film of David Booth, as he consistently made the outside lane HIS lane as he cut in towards the net. Devo had several opportunities where he failed to pull the trigger, and there were more open and empty net chances that were missed time and again. Also – Rostislav Olesz was missing from the bench for the better part of the final 2 periods. Not sure why. Disappointing result to be sure. Again, this was a winnable game for the Panthers, but they continue to find ways to lose.
Interseting about Olesz…especially in his 300th career NHL game.
by Donny Rivette on Mar 30, 2010 12:24 AM EDT up reply actions
With a real shot at the #2 pick (projected to be Taylor Hall), can the Cats shank the rest of the season? 0-7 is possible, and they control their own fate against TB with a home & home to close out the year. We can dream, can’t we?
Well, the Sabres have their division by 7, but are only one behind Pittsburgh, so they’re looking for some more wins for a better seeding. The Rangers are still trying to sneak into the playoffs. The Devils are only two points back from their division leaders. Ottawa’s trying to catch up to Buffalo. So, they’ll probably screw it up and go like 6-1 because the only team they have left with nothing to lose is Tampa.
Florida Panthers: Giving the league a punching bag since 2000.
I thought Hall was supposed to go first followed by Seguin?
Mind you I don’t care as either one should be an NHL ready scorer which is something we desperately need. If we can just finish 15th we would be guaranteed a top 3 pick (unless I’m missing something about the lottery) and have a better than 50% chance at a top 2 pick.
I was pissed when I saw OTL online. If you are gonna lose at this point you might as well do it in regulation and avoid the rather pointless point. I don’t want to see our cats laying down every night but at this point I really want to finish second to last (since nobody can suck as bad as Edmonton) and get either Hall or Seguin to put a scoring threat on our forward lines. Mind you, if we end up going third and getting one of those top blue liners like Cam Fowler, I won’t complain too loudly since defensive breakdowns are a big reason the Panthers are where they are in the standings.
NY Jets = NFL's Chicago Cubs
There's a fine line between hopeful and desperate. Just look @ Jets fans.
by TheFinReaper on Mar 30, 2010 9:50 AM EDT up reply actions
I’d prefer to select Seguin, and have he and Weiss and our #1 center acquisition lead the squad. Then you can have a little competition going in training camp to see who will round out the 4th line, with Matthias possibly getting the nod.
Then you’ve got Booth – #1 C – Horton/Frolik, and Bitz – Weiss – Horton/Frolik as our top 2 lines, which look great on paper. I won’t bother naming names for the 3rd and 4th lines since I’m hoping for movement in the offseason, but knowing the top prospective Center and Matthias will be at center for them gives me hope.
That will probly be our best bet.
NY Jets = NFL's Chicago Cubs
There's a fine line between hopeful and desperate. Just look @ Jets fans.
by TheFinReaper on Mar 30, 2010 2:10 PM EDT up reply actions
This sucks.
I hate seeing us lose and we need to. To think if we had lost to Toronto we would have 70 points right now and we’d be 15th in the east and 29th overall. I don’t like seeing us lose but we need to finish 29th.
Looking at the odds we would have a 60.8% chance of getting Hall or Seguin if we finished 29th but where we currently are we would only have a 10.7% chance. If we finished 29th the worst case scenario (39.2%) is that we pick third, Edmonton and the lottery winner take Hall and Seguin, and we either take a top international forward or Blue-Chip Blue-Liner Cam Fowler.
By contrast, if we finish where we currently stand (27th), we a 10.7% (lottery winner only) chance of getting Hall or Seguin while we’d have a 66.7% chance of picking 4th and all but guaranteeing we won’t get either of them and we’d have a 22.6% chance of picking 5th and eliminating Hall, Seguin, and all but certainly Fowler.
NY Jets = NFL's Chicago Cubs
There's a fine line between hopeful and desperate. Just look @ Jets fans.
Lol, technically us finishing in 29th gives us a 100% chance of getting Hall or Seguin.
I see your point though, I agree that a pick below 2nd is pretty much a fail for us unless they risk picking one of the highly touted Russian forwards. I say this because in my mind another defenseman is not going to help us one bit. We need a play maker, someone to spark our offense. I think we have at least an average defense that is made to look below average because our offense can’t maintain pressure. One exception would be if we did get Fowler and he managed to liven up our powerplay. I would still rather take a forward.
Forgetting the math.
I agree with everything you said. There would be the chance of taking one of the Russians over Fowler but name our effective D-men on the power play (besides McCabe). Fowler is a talent that could anchor our power play for years to come which would be a huge first step to rebuilding. Besides, Boston could always take Fowler. I know, don’t hold my breath. Best hope is to get behind Toronto for 29th overall and get that 60.8% of Hall/Seguin.
Just for Reference:
29th Overall Team’s Lottery Odds
18.8% Chance of Winning Lottery – 1st Pick
42% Chance of 2nd Pick (25% Chance Oilers Win Lottery + 17% Chance team #7 thru #14 Wins Lottery)
39% Chance of team #3 thru #6 Winning Lottery (Team 3, 4 or 5 moves to #1 and team 6 moves to #2)
Therefore,
60.8% Chance of Top 2 Pick (Hall/Seguin)
100% Chance of Top 3 Pick (Hall/Seguin/Fowler or Int’l forward)
NY Jets = NFL's Chicago Cubs
There's a fine line between hopeful and desperate. Just look @ Jets fans.
by TheFinReaper on Mar 30, 2010 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Thank you.
I did a whole spreadsheet for us if we finished 30th all the up to 21st. It was kind of fun to see how the lottery plays out. I actually like this system now since it really only affects those teams at the bottom.
For instance, the team finishing 21st overall has a 94% chance of not moving from 10th overall pick. It lessens the strategy of tanking down the stretch to more or less a crap shoot, but you can’t be hurt too bad if you finish in the bottom 5 while you’d have a shot at getting the #1 overall pick.
NY Jets = NFL's Chicago Cubs
There's a fine line between hopeful and desperate. Just look @ Jets fans.
by TheFinReaper on Mar 31, 2010 8:07 AM EDT up reply actions
If we catch Carolina (25th Overall, and the likely highest we can finish)
Our Odds become:
0% Chance of 1st Pick
6.2% Chance of 2nd Pick
80.7% Chance of 6th Pick (76.8% Chance Team 1-5 Wins Lottery + 3.9% Chance Team 11-14 Wins Lottery)
13.1% Chance of 7th Pick (Teams 7-10 Wins Lottery)
I hate it but we need to lose most of our remaining games (something like 1-5-1 should get us in the top 2 before the lottery). 76 points will likely get a team the #2 or #3 pick (depending on Toronto’s final 6 games)
NY Jets = NFL's Chicago Cubs
There's a fine line between hopeful and desperate. Just look @ Jets fans.
by TheFinReaper on Mar 30, 2010 4:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Litter Box Cats
Related FanShots on Litter Box Cats
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
