Update: The Miami Herald and now the club’s official site is reporting Kevin Dineen along with assistants Gord Murphy and Craig Ramsay have been relieved of their coaching duties. More to come…
The Florida Panthers left Sunrise, but couldn’t leave their losing ways behind, as the struggling club was overwhelmed in the third period by the Boston Bruins during last night’s 4-1 defeat at TD Garden. It was the seventh-straight loss for the Cats, who look destined for another top three pick in the Entry Draft. The Panthers have not won on the road since the season-opener in Dallas.
Boston netminder Tuukka Rask stopped 23 of 24 shots to run his career record against Florida to a sterling 9-1. It was Rask’s eighth-straight win against the Cats.
The Panthers managed to keep things close for the first forty minutes. The teams played a scoreless first period with the Cats finishing the frame with an 8-7 advantage in shots on goal.
Boston finally got one past Scott Clemmensen when David Krejci scored on a shot from the point at the 7:17 mark of the second period with assists going to Zdeno Chara and Dougie Hamilton.
The Panthers managed to hold things together and get to the end of the period only down a goal.
The wheels on the bus fell off in the third period, as the B’s extended the lead on Brad Marchand‘s tip in goal off a rebound of a Dennis Seidenberg blast and then Torey Krug continued a recent trend of the Panthers surrendering goals to the opposition’s defense, roofing his sixth of the season to make it 3-0, essentially put the sagging Cats to bed. Marchand’s goal was his first in 13 games.
The Panthers prevented Rask from posting a shutout as unlikely team MVP Jesse Winchester notched his fourth of the season. Youngsters Nick Bjugstad and Jonathan Huberdeau combined to set up the goal. It was Huberdeau’s third-straight game with a helper.
Winchester is slated for a disciplinary hearing today for his first period elbow to the head of Boston’s Chris Kelly. No penalty was called on the play but I would expect the blossoming forward to get some time off courtesy of Brendan Shanahan.
Reilly Smith, who scored the late game-winner in the first meeting between the clubs on October 17th, completed the scoring with his second of the season at 18:13. Smith also picked up an assist on Krug’s goal.
The Panthers will continue the road trip with a game in Ottawa on Saturday before facing the New York Rangers at the newly-renovated Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Due to time constraints, keeping this recap pretty basic. Feel free to let go of your feelings in the comment section as the same old, same old continues with this downtrodden outfit.