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Thursday Caterwaul: Florida Panthers GameDay Open Forum

Posted on by Donny Rivette

Having spent the bulk of his five-plus year career in the NHL’s Western Conference prior to the current season, Florida Panthers RW Tomas Kopecky has engineered better than modest success playing against the Minnesota Wild, primarily in second- and third-line roles: 5 goals, 4 assists, 1 GWG, and a .152 shooting percentage in 18 games. All 5 goals (and a plus-8) came in nine games at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center, tonight’s venue.

The Eastern Front

Rank

Team

GP

W

L

OT

ROW

PTS

GF

GA

Home

Away

Last 10

Stk

1

x-NY Rangers

77

49

21

7

45

105

213

172

26-10-2

23-11-5

7-3-0

Won 3

2

Boston

76

45

28

3

37

93

249

186

23-13-2

22-15-1

5-5-0

Won 3

3

Florida

76

37

24

15

31

89

189

208

20-9-10

17-15-5

6-1-3

Won 1

4

x-Pittsburgh

76

47

23

6

38

100

256

200

27-9-2

20-14-4

7-2-1

Lost 1

5

x-Philadelphia

76

44

24

8

40

96

241

213

21-12-5

23-12-3

6-3-1

Lost 1

6

New Jersey

77

43

28

6

31

92

208

201

21-13-4

22-15-2

5-4-1

Won 1

7

Ottawa

77

39

28

10

34

88

236

227

20-15-4

19-13-6

5-3-2

Won 2

8

Buffalo

77

38

29

10

31

86

202

210

20-11-8

18-18-2

7-1-2

Won 5

9

Washington

77

38

31

8

36

84

206

219

24-11-4

14-20-4

5-3-2

Lost 1

10

Winnipeg

77

35

34

8

31

78

207

227

23-13-4

12-21-4

3-7-0

Lost 3

11

Tampa Bay

76

35

34

7

32

77

216

260

23-14-2

12-20-5

4-5-1

Lost 1

12

Carolina

77

31

31

15

31

77

205

228

19-13-6

12-18-9

6-4-0

Won 1

13

NY Islanders

76

32

33

11

25

75

185

227

15-16-6

17-17-5

4-4-2

Won 2

14

Toronto

77

33

35

9

29

75

217

242

16-15-7

17-20-2

3-5-2

Lost 1

15

Montreal

77

29

34

14

24

72

199

214

14-15-10

15-19-4

4-2-4

OT 1

*

Why last night rocked:

Why last night jonesed:

  • Nary a jones to be found. Onward…/

Panthers Playoff Update:

  • FLA did not play, nor did any games affect them; playoff odds remain at 98.7% per Sports Club Stats /

Why tonight is a Big Deal in SoFla, beyond the obvious:

Focusing on clubs within 5 points of Panthers (89P); teams FLA needs to lose in bold…

  • WSH (84P/5GR) at BOS (93P/6GR): I’ve tossed aside all most remaining historical hatred directed toward the Broons while kneeling for a regulation victory from ABCD-whatever-Garden. Caps lead season series 2-1, though GF/GA even at 10
  • TB at NJ (92P/5GR): Devils up 2-1 over Bolts in 2011-12/

Next up for the Cats:

  • Tonight from St. Paul; the LBC Game Thread checks its sanity with a dipstick at 7:30. Meanwhile there’s recon work to be done at Hockey Wilderness…/

Did you know:

  • The first-ever meeting between the Panthers and Wild, held October 22, 2000 in Minnesota, resulted in a 0-0 tie with Roberto Luongo recording a 20-save shutout non-win. The Cats were 6-for-6 on the PK./

Wednesday’s organizational news

Talking Points