Lightning score early and often to sink listless Panthers
by Chris S Roberts on Nov 26, 2011 9:49 PM EST
in Florida Panthers Game Recaps: '11-12
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PrintFlorida Panthers @ Tampa Bay Lightning, November 26th, 2011: The Game That Never Happened. Or at least the game undiscernibly smudged by a coffee stain on Kevin Dineen's schedule, because his team forgot to show up tonight. And Craig Ramsay missed the bus to Tampa. And Gord Murphy had a pee-wee game to catch. In fact, no one showed up tonight against the Lightning, sure the 5-1 boxscore sounds bad enough but without Jacob Markstrom in net we're looking at double digits. On all accounts it was a bad game, 13 players with negative ratings, 0-29 on the powerplay, the force field keeping the Panthers out of Tampa's zone. All bad. The bright-side? None, I was just getting your hopes up.
Seriously though, the last scoring crisis we had sent David Booth packing, and while that shouldn't be the case this time, the whole team needs to step up. Kevin Dineen could really use a captain to emerge if this losing trend is to end any time soon. Recap after the jump.
- More from Raw Charge here
1st: Jacob Markstrom, the impressive rookie goaltender for the Panthers would get the start and the Sean Bergenheim line would take the opening faceoff. Immediately skating strong, the Lightning would take an early lead when Marty St. Loius would earn his 300th goal as he tapped the puck past Markstrom at 2:07 into the period, assists to Brett Connolly and Brett Clark. Tampa made it clear early that they wouldn't be boring team we saw last night but the familiar offensive minded Lightning of last season. Tampa would be called for a trip and the Panthers would go on their first powerplay of the night. The man advantage wouldn't tie the game, with only a few shots making it towards Matthieu Garon. Minutes later Michal Repik would be pulled down by Steven Stamkos to give Florida their second powerplay of the period. Again, nothing. The period would end with Marty's goal the only score.
2nd: The second period would start with a little more energy from the Panthers, but they would be kept to dump and chase for the first few minutes. Tom Pyatt made a beautiful move to undress Erik Gudbranson, skate past a sliding Ed Jovanovski and backhand the puck home past Markstrom to take a 2-0 lead. That wouldnt be all though, as Stamkos would deflect the puck from a Teddy Purcell shot for a 3-0 lead. Oh they weren't done there either: the Panthers got caught on a bad change (again) giving the Lightning a 3-on-2, the resulting goal going to Ryan Malone. 4-0. Another completely pathetic powerplay for the Panthers would come up short leaving Garon smelling a shutout. Dmitry Kulikov would take a holding the stick penalty, so the Lightning enjoyed their first powerplay of the night. Tampa Bay would take a too many men penalty while on the powerplay resulting in 4-on-4 hockey. And then the period ended.
3rd: Again, Florida seemed interested in playing hockey during the first five minutes of the period, but that would slowly slip away as Tampa tightened the stranglehold again. The rest was just a painful blur. The short of it: Shawn Matthias would score off a misplay by Garon, assist going to Jack Skille. SECONDARY SCORING! Then Stamkos would intercept Kulikov's ill-timed breakout pass to make the score 5-1. Then we lost.
Observations:
- Who's the mentor and who needs the mentoring? Jovo made some rookie mistakes out there while Gudbranson played like the veteran.
- Markstrom sure is a good goalie when his team shows up.
- Powerplay? Awful.
- Maybe Mikael Samuelsson wont be the scoring savior we all hope, but bringing in a veteran for the lower lines certainly can't hurt.
- The San Antonio Express line was about the only good one tonight for the Panthers. Lots of speed and chances, too bad none can finish a scoring chance.
- Garrison/Campbell, please put the offense aside and return to defense. Kulikov/Weaver, back to playing defense. The forward lines will find their scoring touch eventually, until then we need defenders to defend.
- Did I mention how bad the powerplay has been?
- Garon looked like a brick wall tonight. What a joke when the high-flying Panthers are intimidated by a marginal backup goalie.
- Washington lost, too bad we keep handing points to Tampa Bay.
- Baaaaaaaaaag skaaaaaaaaaate. I want those words to echo in the ears of the 22 skaters who 'played' tonight.
Up next: The wrath of Kevin Dineen. After that, our first look at Cam Ward and the Hurricanes.
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So little physical play. And this was an area Tallon spoke of when he was hired (“they’re easy to play against”). Granted the Tampa strategy makes that difficult but not impossible. Pick up those hits!
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Nov 26, 2011 10:02 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Couple thoughts
First off, how have we seen Tampa for 5 of our 6 meetings and we are just getting our first look at Carolina on Tuesday? Weird..
Second, if the 2nd\3rd lines don’t start chipping in, we’ll be in trouble. Flash\Weiss\Versteeg have been awesome, but they can’t keep up the pace they’ve had if they don’t get any help. Teams will learn how to shut down one line. The Santos, Skilles, Sturms, Kopeckys… gotta start turning that hard work into points.
Third, no reason to panic. Teams have bad games, but the good ones bounce back (kinda like we did after that St. Louis game). It sucks we gave up 4 points to TB, but enjoy the couple days off, forget about this one, get back to work Tuesday.
Those other lines have been turning out a great effort. At this point effort has to be results. Or else NJ Elias is right. And we can’t have that happen can we?
Fish, Heatles, Cats, Fins, Noles
by National Mario on Nov 26, 2011 10:10 PM EST up reply actions
Third, no reason to panic.
As long as the points you brought up are addressed, I completely agree that there is no reason to panic. Get some guys healthy, too.
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Nov 26, 2011 10:40 PM EST up reply actions
Next days off should be just the trick. I’m burnt out from all my sports teams since last Saturday. 5 Panthers games, 2 Dolphins games, and 2 Noles games.
Fish, Heatles, Cats, Fins, Noles
by National Mario on Nov 26, 2011 10:55 PM EST up reply actions
Yet another killer avatar, NM :)
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Nov 26, 2011 11:11 PM EST up reply actions
Made it a little tougher looking. Hopefully the Panthers follow suit. I want this one to stay for a few games.
Fish, Heatles, Cats, Fins, Noles
by National Mario on Nov 26, 2011 11:25 PM EST up reply actions
I’m putting here for reflection later on in the season…. #14 Tomas [Fleischmann] is getting a 40G season. FLASH COUNT: 10G/13A
by RPC on Sep 17, 2011 5:20 PM MDT
Find me on Twidduh And look at my Marmots
by Chris S Roberts on Nov 26, 2011 10:22 PM EST up reply actions
1. We need people that hit. Matthias, Skille, are basically it right now. Jovo does nothing, Garrison doesnt hit, and Guds is a little preoccupied with other aspects right now.
2. Tallon really needs to get someone that can score. Period.
Tallon really needs to get someone that can score.
Samuelsson is – theoretically – That Guy for the second line. How long to wait, though?
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Nov 26, 2011 11:13 PM EST up reply actions
There’s a been a couple guys go through the waiver wire that I was kind of hoping we’d take a look at, last ones being Bergfors and Comeau. But with the injuries starting to mount in the depth lines, what would it have hurt? Sure they haven’t really done a whole lot since their rookie year’s, but a 30-40 point guy that would fit in with that Skille, Sturm type role would only push the Bergenheims, Dadonovs, etc… to fight for playing time. Bottom line, we have to find guys who can contribute not just in the effort department, but also on the score sheet.
Bergfors had his NHL opportunity (five-fold), but I was surprised Comeau was dumped. Worked out for the Isles so far.
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Nov 26, 2011 11:32 PM EST up reply actions
Bergfors had a 12 G, 36 point effort last season and ended the season here in FL. You don’t think he’d be able to chip in more than Bergenheim or Upshall have so far on a 3rd line? Not that I know whether or not Tallon even wanted to re-sign him, but clearly the biggest weakness of the good looking team we’ve seen is secondary scoring.
Of our top 10 scorers, 3 play on the top line and 5 are defensemen…
Re: Bergfors…the penultimate defensive team who is always looking for chip-in scoring (NSH) found no use for him. That’s enough for me.
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Nov 26, 2011 11:46 PM EST up reply actions
And remember we had the opportunity to render him and offer and didn’t. I am superposed by teams giving up on him honestly as he could easily be a 20+ goal scorer. There must be something that us fans can not seeing with him.
Yes thats me in the white Jersey and Red hat. Follow me on Twitter @Ad1zzl3 or Children Battling cancer @CBCnonprofit
by Ad1zzl3 on Nov 27, 2011 11:01 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
waiver wire...
Not really any good pickups unless you find a grabner in there.
by Hawkseye on Nov 27, 2011 2:25 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
And remember we had the opportunity to tender him and offer and didn’t. I am superposed by teams giving up on him honestly as he could easily be a 20+ goal scorer. There must be something that us fans can not seeing with him.
Yes thats me in the white Jersey and Red hat. Follow me on Twitter @Ad1zzl3 or Children Battling cancer @CBCnonprofit
by Ad1zzl3 on Nov 27, 2011 11:01 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
And remember we had the opportunity to tender him and offer and didn’t. I am surprised by teams giving up on him honestly as he could easily be a 20+ goal scorer. There must be something that us fans can not seeing with him.
Yes thats me in the white Jersey and Red hat. Follow me on Twitter @Ad1zzl3 or Children Battling cancer @CBCnonprofit
by Ad1zzl3 on Nov 27, 2011 11:01 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I couldn’t fully watch the game as we had some people over, but I did have the TV on so I watched the score or what not. However, from what I’m reading it was a stinker, so I’m glad I didn’t watch it. lol.
Point #2 though it seems is exactly what is above:
A) Secondary scoring is needed.
B) A more physical play is needed. (Please tell me I have not been saying that since day 1). This team just does not hit, except for the occasional Skille, Upshall, Matthias or Kulikov hit.
On to the Tuesday game, some days off might do the team some good!
Perspective on hits:
FLA has 435 (23rd in NHL, last in SE)
Top six in league (hits):
DAL – 699
CBJ – 561
LAK – 539
PIT – 521
CAR – 526
WPG – 522
(Included WPG since they are ridiculously close to 5th, and in the SE)
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Nov 26, 2011 11:40 PM EST up reply actions
Is there anything to be gained from such a list? Not on the surface (thank you Jackets), but could a little more bang-bang hurt the Cats?
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Nov 26, 2011 11:41 PM EST up reply actions
Yea, don’t really see much connection between hits and wins, as basically outside of PIT, the top 6 hitters are in the bottom half of the league. I still stand by the better teams are the one’s that control the pucks and win majority of races to loose pucks, hence they are probably getting hit more than hitting. But no, a little more bang-bang couldn’t hurt :)
(Dal – 13th
CBJ – 30th
LAK – 15th
PIT – 1st
Car – 26th
WPG – 24th)
•Garon looked like a brick wall tonight. What a joke when the high-flying Panthers are intimidated by a marginal backup goalie.
Garon isn’t a marginal back-up goalie. He’s one of the more reliable guys to have as a back-up, capable of 30-40 solid games, if needed.
Wouldn’t call us high flying until other guys contribute as well
Fish, Heatles, Cats, Fins, Noles
by National Mario on Nov 27, 2011 2:14 AM EST up reply actions
I wasn’t able to devote my full attention to the game (or the game thread for that matter) tonight but when I saw the final score this kernel of wisdom came to mind immediately. Every team is going it throw a stinker or two, heck look at some of the game the Broons have been accused of “playing in” this season. Last night was flat and tonight was apparently worse. We all know what needs to be addressed so I’m sure the guy they’re paying to stand behind the bench knows just as well. If ever in the last decade I felt we had a coach that could whip this team back to a froth it’s KD! I look forward to seeing what they bring to Raleigh on Tuesday.
Benefit of the bang.
Hitting keeps opponents honest. It forces players to keep their heads up and not hold onto the puck so long. But it must be done with respect and responsibility. If you just go out looking for that, teams will make you pay. Evidence is CBJ in that department. What the Pens are doing right is just making sure they finish their checks. So many times I see the Panthers pulling up rather than finishing up. Maybe I’m asking too much that Stephen Weiss finish up more often, but damn straight there’s no excuse when our big guys like Jovo and Guddy are not doing what quite frankly is in their job description.
CFS93
by chesterbardo on Nov 27, 2011 7:26 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Well that sucked, but on a bright note its only the 2nd time I felt like saying that!
When Coach Dineen calls me to ask what I thought (lol) I will make sure we go over these finer points:
1. Our guys need to work on finishing the play, ie hitting the opponent. I’m not saying the 1st line but everyone in the D (Jovo!) needs to be reminded its part of the game too. Missing Bradley for some of that so hurry up and get healthy.
2 Second,
if the 2nd\3rd lines don’t start chipping in, we’ll be in trouble. Flash\Weiss\Versteeg have been awesome, but they can’t keep up the pace they’ve had if they don’t get any help. Teams will learn how to shut down one line. The Santos, Skilles, Sturms, Kopeckys… gotta start turning that hard work into points.- THIS. We brought it up and hey its happening already. Good job on Skille & Matty to put one in but where is Bergie, Daddy-O, Santo??
3. I’m not saying we need to panic more so we need to work on the little things that make decent teams great ones. This IS the opportunity to get Captain Weiss at the helm!! We’ve been lucky in our division but the Caps will not stay down for much longer & Tampa has been re-energized.
I hereby predict Captain Mike Weaver #43 will score 6G 20A -RCR 0G8A 11/21
Be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions, always do your best...
I still believe in Captain Soup. Let Weiss worry bout scoring. Secondary scoring less to be desired, part of the problem that
they need to shoot at the net with traffic. Skille and Kopeky should be going to the net and shooting from there. I’ve seen them shoot a lot of low percentage shots.
by Hawkseye on Nov 27, 2011 2:29 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
turd on ice
that was an abomination last night. Weak all around effort and terrible defensive play. I really think Jovo needs to get into the press box rotation with Guds and Ellerby. Maybe he simply needs a rest once in awhile or maybe he needs a wake up call. His play this year hasn’t been that good imo.
Nothing much to add to the above posts as I think I was the first one to start bitching about the lack of secondary scoring from the bottom three forward lines so I don’t have anything new to post on the subject. The posters who pointed out that some of the D-men are trying too hard to provide offense are right. They need to worry about the own end first and jump into the offense in a more timely and smart fashion.
I’m sure the Panthers will bounce back with a better effort in Carolina. Hopefully some of the walking wounded will be back soon and the team can get back to full strength. It’s November 27th and Panthers are in first place so I can’t be too upset although letting the Lightning gain back 3 points in this back to back was not good.
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