Cats Quickies: Skille's skills not enough, as Panthers fall to Pens
by Ryan Meier on Apr 2, 2011 10:11 PM EDT
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Despite a solid first period offensively for the Cats, the tanking continues, as Pittsburgh walked out of the Bank Atlantic Center Saturday evening with a 4-2 victory. Goals by Jack Skille and Clay Wilson, just 22 seconds apart in the first period, gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead going into the second period, but Pascal Dupuis would pull the Pens even just 45 seconds into the second period. It would remain tied until midway through the third period, when Zbynek Michalek would blast a slapshot by Scott Clemmensen. Craig Adams would ice it with an empty netter later in the third period, and the Pens would hand the Panthers their eighth straight loss.
Looking for positives? How about the solid two-way play of Clay Wilson, he of the 15.4% shooting percentage, whose laser wrist shot in the first pulled the Cats ahead. Much can be said of Wilson's small stature, but his defensive positioning and timing when jumping into the play have been superb and his play this season may give him a leg up on any competition in training camp next year. Skille finally potted his first goal as a Panther off a sweet saucer pass from Marty Reasoner, and overall Skille played an energetic and solid game.
Notables: Tyler Kennedy scored his 20th of the season, his first 20-goal season in the NHL, so hats off to Kennedy. David Booth again led the Panthers in shots, with Chris Connor leading the Penguins, both players notching five shots each. Dmitry Kulikov led all skaters with 23:40, again cementing himself as a long-term solution on the blueline.
More from our friends at PensBurgh here. Next up for the Panthers: at Washington, 7PM EST, Wednesday, April 6th. Don't be late!
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Not a terrible loss...
Big step up from Thursday I though, Compton-Assed Jack Skille was absolutely huge in this game, probably his best game with the Cats. Carter again grinded his way through the game, Booth was flying, Repik impressed me and Wilson is awesome, seriously, who is he???
No Weiss=No Win
Nice meeting all of you during these last two games, I hope the Panthers are scheduled for another home strech during spring break because I have really enjoyed my stay down here:)
The unaimed arrow never misses
Trying out this whole Twitter thang...@RhyminChrisR
by Chris S Roberts on Apr 2, 2011 10:49 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Last night was more like what we usually see: the team playing hard and maybe coming up short. I’m glad you got to see that once. Once Tallon gets closer to what he wants, I think it will look about like that every night only with more goals and wins.
It was nice to meet you. Come see us again!
"We don't need the designated goon. Those fights aren't even fun to watch." -Mike Milbury
Litter Box Cats - Your Panthers Colossus.
Like I said last week in a post to which nobody responded "Where is Clay Wilson?". Now you know!
I have always liked Clay Wilson’s performance at the few games that he has been sent up for. Pistol Pete never wanted to play him. One game here then sent right back.
by trapazoid on Mar 11, 2011 1:17 PM EST
You better enjoy his play for the last few games, it’ll probably be the last we see of him in the organization.
by Craig Fischer on Apr 3, 2011 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Do you really think so? Im not sure of his RFA/UFA status or any other matters of that sort but it seems to me he would be a cheap defenseman with scoring potential that Tallon would want to keep in the organization even with the emerging d-men rising through the ranks
The unaimed arrow never misses
Trying out this whole Twitter thang...@RhyminChrisR
by Chris S Roberts on Apr 3, 2011 3:58 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Wilson has one year remaining at $500,000, one-way (cap hit same, per CapGeek)
He was a beast on Saturday, at least visually.
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Apr 3, 2011 7:55 PM EDT up reply actions
He’s a UFA, along with Callahan & Sulzer. Keaton Ellerby is an RFA. Messrs. Garrison, Weaver and Kulikov all have a year left.
"We don't need the designated goon. Those fights aren't even fun to watch." -Mike Milbury
Litter Box Cats - Your Panthers Colossus.
He’s a guy who’s thrived in the AHL for a few years now and never been given a chance, he might get an offer, but I can’t see him taking it— he’ll probably go to an organization with very weak defensive depth for a chance to actually crack the lineup.
by Craig Fischer on Apr 4, 2011 2:57 AM EDT up reply actions
Awesome meeting you too
Hopefully the team will win the next time you’re here.
by Alexander Calloway on Apr 3, 2011 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions
My apologies for no introduction…that’s what we get for winging it. NEXT TIME, tho…
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Apr 3, 2011 8:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Glad to see Skille finally score as a Cat, like his playing style and had numerous chances while playing with us thus far. Maybe compare him to Dadonov a bit, since he misses on golden chances too much during the season. Both hopefully will be with us next season. I’m just getting pissed off even more now at DeBoer. Plante deserves to start a game now. Clemmenson was OK this game, but he gave up soft goals and Plante needs to play so we can know if he’s ready to play next year or not.
- Go Panthers -
Agreed on Plante, he should have been starting tonight – but Skille is the RFA other than Ellerby that’s most guaranteed to be going no where. Tallon didn’t trade a reasonable, though slumping, roster player in Frolik for him if he didn’t expect him to play next season. He’s played hard his time on the ice and doesn’t get knocked off the puck – it’s nice to see him come back after being hurt and finally net one. Hopefully, the first of many, many more to come.
It was nice to see/meet those of you who came to the game!
This game was almost good.
Maybe shouldn’t have pulled Clemmer with that much time left, when it wasn’t a sure thing we’d end up in possession of the puck. :/
I’ll be more radical. I think he should have pulled Clemmer when they got the 4-on-3 power play. This team has been very good 5-on-3 this season and it’s a lot harder for the defenders to get the puck down to the other end when they’re outnumbered by 2.
And what do you have to lose at that point?
"We don't need the designated goon. Those fights aren't even fun to watch." -Mike Milbury
Litter Box Cats - Your Panthers Colossus.
Deboer will continue to play clemmer.....
in hopes of salvaging his job… But the previous issues are too glaring to be salvaged at the end of the season.
The most glaring is how well the Panthers were at scoring on 5 on 5 compared to on the powerplay.
I thought he was playing Clemmer because of Vokoun’s hissy fit.
by Craig Fischer on Apr 3, 2011 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions
Hope he can come back for one game just so fans can make peace with him before draft day
The unaimed arrow never misses
Trying out this whole Twitter thang...@RhyminChrisR
by Chris S Roberts on Apr 3, 2011 4:01 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I WANNA SEE PLANTE! BAH!
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Apr 3, 2011 8:06 PM EDT up reply actions
I still think we will. I don’t think Vokoun’s coming back. I can’t imagine Pete starting Clemmer on Friday and Saturday.
"We don't need the designated goon. Those fights aren't even fun to watch." -Mike Milbury
Litter Box Cats - Your Panthers Colossus.
Pete’s pulled the goalie with 4 minutes left 5-on-5 before, so it’s not like it would have totally been out of left field or out of character.
"We don't need the designated goon. Those fights aren't even fun to watch." -Mike Milbury
Litter Box Cats - Your Panthers Colossus.
In retrospect I have to agree. Absolutely nothing to lose, beyond a top-three pick.
And PDB is NOT interested in that aspect of the business.
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Apr 3, 2011 8:05 PM EDT up reply actions
A personal note:
Mega-thanks to Marmot, Dave, and Crooklyn for joining Johnny, Maple, CLG and I, as well as meeting up with the Boosters (a tremendous group of wonderful people). It was a great night which will be a bit more “formalized” next season. Really hoping to get a few more out-of-towners down here in 2011-12; we’ll keep y’all posted.
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
To those unable to join us: you’re as much a part of this operation as anyone, so hang in there…we’ll get you to one of these things too. :)
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Apr 3, 2011 8:03 PM EDT up reply actions
Lets hope the NHL schedulers figure out that people travel down to So. Fla during spring break and that it would be sensible to give the Panthers a leisurely homestand instead of a 5 game NE roadtrip…
The unaimed arrow never misses
Trying out this whole Twitter thang...@RhyminChrisR
by Chris S Roberts on Apr 3, 2011 10:04 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
It’s tough, though, because everyone’s spring break is at a different time. A lot of colleges have spring break in March and we had a seven game homestand in March. And a lot of the high school spring breaks are so close to the end of the season that no one has a big home stand.
Of course, they shouldn’t have a big road trip either, in theory, but that doesn’t always hold.
"We don't need the designated goon. Those fights aren't even fun to watch." -Mike Milbury
Litter Box Cats - Your Panthers Colossus.
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