Cats Recap: Clawless Panthers shut out in second straight game, fall to Sabres 3-0

Might be time for the famous “Deboring Bag Skate” before this gets out of hand.

Who would’ve thought that, after losing vokoun and signing theodore and having clemmensen injured, our single only positive for two straight games would be goaltending

Anyone know the extent of Jovos injury?

Let this be a lesson to Dineen. Rotate your defensemen, no point in sitting Ellerby 3 games, putting Jovo in back-to-back games and wondering why Ellerby is rusty and Jovo is injured! We have 7 guys, rotate!

I actually thought Scottie Upshall played his best game as a Panther thus far. He seemed to me to be the only skater for us playing with some emotion. I guess Yahoo’s article about him being a bust must have gotten to him.
The Ellerby/Gudbranson paring was toothless. I belive for the first and second goal they were out there. I also think we can utilize Guds a bit more in the offensive zone. I think it would be fun to see him paired one day with campbell and kulikov with either jovo or ellerby. I still like the chemistry of Kulikov and Ellerby.
Too many “Pretty Pass” attempts. We aren’t the Red Wings (yet). The best games we have had are gritty games where we go after the puck and stay in the front of the net.

Just to note, 5 of the 6 games so far have been against last years playoff teams. No shame in losing to PIT or WSH. 3-3-0 is not a bad place to be right now
 2 of the next 5 are against last years playoff teams, two low seeded ones at that, meaning these next games are a better indicator.

Step 1: Name Weaver captain
Step 2: Call up Scott Timmins
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Playoffs!

It’s like Buffalo watched Washington’s game plan against us and said “Hey, we can do that and do it better.” For most of the game, their defensemen never left the blue line even once we got control of the puck in our zone. They just sat at the line waiting for our weak, aimless chip up the boards trying to clear and kept us pinned in. First two goals came after we tried to break out and repeatedly failed.

I’ll say this… through 6 games, we have 4 even strength goals (if my math is right). Four. And only scored more than 2 once and that was that PP outburst. I know chemistry is going to take some time, and we’ve played what could easily be the top 4 teams in the east for 5 of our first 6. 3-3-0 is not a bad place to be. But… outside of the first game of the year, the other 2 wins come via shootout and a freak 5 PPG game so yea, I’d say it’s time to be concerned.

I missed the majority of the game due to volunteering with the 50/50 raffle but what little I did see we looked flat. The team could not seem to break into the offensive zone and were tripping over themselves in the defensive zone. Mind you, this was with about 10 min left in the third but from what I gather it was like this all game. Maybe some line shuffling is in order. Maybe you scratch some players for a game or two. all I know is we changed the players, the coach, the uniforms, the paint scheme in the building, and are working on panther land yet we suffer from the same fundamental issues from the past.

We knew there would be nights like this, likely many. Still burns when they turn up, though.

This was honestly one of the very worst performances I’ve ever witnessed, and I’m including Hartford in that statement.

Buffalo had sustained pressure, resulting in a circus of missed passes, slips-and-falls, etc.

One thing I’m certain of: Vokoun would have done no better than Theodore in the same situation. Jose was remarkable.

Instead of shooting defenseless animals in Alaska over the summer…he should have been shooting the puck at an topless garbage can . Sit him out.

We are only in to 6 games, there was always going to be some kinks to sort out and and some chemistry to form with a huge turn over of players. I think the players we got in this team have a bit of character and I still think the future is positive. Goto find there groove.

That was exactly the kind of performance the Panthers didn’t need as they attempt to win back fans. That was way too reminiscent of the last decade of garbage.

The offense is now officially a big problem. shutout in back to back games… ugh. Throw out the game in Tampa and we are talking about 6 goals (plus another counted for the shootout) in 5 games. That’s pretty pathetic.

The only stat David Booth is adding to his resume is in the minus column.

Gudbranson needs to go back to the OHL. He is not quite ready yet. Other than fighting he has been a non factor.

And to think it was the goaltending we were worried about.

I guess 3-3 is OK as chemistry is being worked out but I don’t find solace after losses by saying the team that beat them last night made it to the playoffs last year. The chemistry thing isn’t a legit excuse for too much longer and know the key to this season is going to be beating up on the average to bad teams but there a lot of good teams in the league so they have to be able to beat teams with winning records here and there.

Despite all the depth the Panthers added to the organization (which was an impressive feat) they are still lacking true first line forwards which always puts them at a disadvantage against the better teams in the league. Our top line is still in my mind a second line on an very good to elite team. I know they are trying to develop them in house but the panthers still need a center that can put up 80+ points and at least one winger capable of scoring in the 40 range. Until they have those players staying comfortably over .500 is going to be a struggle.

I only saw the last 8 minutes or so, when Dineen was double shifting the top line and Skille-Goc-Kopecky, but it was not pretty. Versteeg got the puck in deep a couple of times, but then they were overwhelmed by Sabres. When Booth’s line did get out there, Upshall put some pressure on, but Booth just looked lost.

The end of that game showed what it is I like about Lindy Ruff. The Sabres played that game to the last second. Even up 3-0 at the end, he took a timeout on an icing. And to be fair, so did Kris Versteeg, who got the puck in the offensive zone and got a decent shot on Ryan Miller with like 30 seconds left, but it didn’t look like he had a whole lot of support.

Heres hoping Santorelli is the cure all

I told my wife I would do ten push ups every time we score at home…At this point I need to lay off the parfaits in order to keep losing weight.