Wednesday Caterwaul: Florida Panthers Open Forum
No one has necessarily crowed about the Florida Panthers penalty kill through the second half of the 2011-12 season - and understandably so - but the club has quietly turned the tables in an area which was partially responsible for so much heartache over the past month: in their last six games the Cats have allowed only 2 goals in 13 shorthanded situations, and both of those were white-flagged in a 5-0 smackdown courtesy of the Flyers last week. They've slammed the door with a suddenly effective PK over their last three, going 6-0 against Toronto, Carolina, and Pittsburgh.
RECAPS: Litter Box Cats * SB Nation Florida * Pension Plan Puppets
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The Eastern Front
Rank | Team | GP | W | L | OT | PTS | GF | GA | Home | Away | L10 | Streak |
1 | NY Rangers | 69 | 44 | 18 | 7 | 95 | 192 | 150 | 24-7-2 | 20-11-5 | 6-3-1 | Won 2 |
2 | Boston | 69 | 40 | 26 | 3 | 83 | 223 | 170 | 20-13-2 | 20-13-1 | 4-6-0 | Lost 3 |
3 | Florida | 69 | 33 | 23 | 13 | 79 | 171 | 193 | 18-9-8 | 15-14-5 | 6-3-1 | Won 2 |
4 | Pittsburgh | 68 | 42 | 21 | 5 | 89 | 219 | 173 | 24-8-2 | 18-13-3 | 9-1-0 | Won 9 |
5 | Philadelphia | 69 | 40 | 22 | 7 | 87 | 223 | 197 | 18-10-5 | 22-12-2 | 7-3-0 | Won 1 |
6 | New Jersey | 70 | 40 | 25 | 5 | 85 | 195 | 182 | 19-12-3 | 21-13-2 | 5-4-1 | Lost 1 |
7 | Ottawa | 70 | 36 | 25 | 9 | 81 | 216 | 206 | 18-13-4 | 18-12-5 | 6-3-1 | OT 1 |
8 | Washington | 70 | 36 | 28 | 6 | 78 | 189 | 197 | 23-10-3 | 13-18-3 | 7-2-1 | Won 4 |
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9 | Buffalo | 70 | 33 | 29 | 8 | 74 | 174 | 196 | 18-11-7 | 15-18-1 | 7-2-1 | Won 2 |
10 | Winnipeg | 69 | 32 | 29 | 8 | 72 | 181 | 195 | 21-10-4 | 11-19-4 | 5-3-2 | Lost 2 |
11 | Tampa Bay | 69 | 32 | 30 | 7 | 71 | 197 | 234 | 21-11-2 | 11-19-5 | 5-4-1 | Won 1 |
12 | Toronto | 70 | 30 | 32 | 8 | 68 | 202 | 217 | 16-13-6 | 14-19-2 | 1-8-1 | Lost 2 |
13 | Carolina | 70 | 26 | 29 | 15 | 67 | 183 | 211 | 17-13-6 | 9-16-9 | 3-3-4 | Lost 2 |
14 | NY Islanders | 70 | 28 | 31 | 11 | 67 | 164 | 211 | 15-15-6 | 13-16-5 | 3-4-3 | OT 2 |
15 | Montreal | 70 | 27 | 32 | 11 | 65 | 185 | 196 | 12-15-8 | 15-17-3 | 3-6-1 | OT 1 |
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Why last night rocked:
- G Jose Theodore stopped 26 Toronto shots, bringing his numbers to an impressive 93 saves on 96 shots over his past three games
Why last night jonesed:
- WSH over NYI, 5-4 (SO): Yep, they did it again - Isles surrendered another substantial lead to Caps, lose it beyond regulation/
Panthers Playoff Update:
- FLA defeated TOR 5-2; playoff odds up 4.8 to 89.6% per Sports Club Stats/
Why tonight is a Big Deal in SoFla:
Focusing on clubs within 5 points of Panthers (79P); teams FLA needs to lose in bold…
- COL at BUF (75P), 7:30 p.m. (NBC-SN): Sabs have won five straight at home
- OTT (81P) at MTL, 7:30: Sens back in our crosshairs once more; they've given up 10 goals to Habs in three games, winning once in a shootout. Clubs meet again Friday
- DAL at WPG (72P), 8:30: forget that they trail FLA by seven points - it's the Jets and they're home (21-10-4)/
Next up for the Cats:
- Homestand match number three features Da Broons tomorrow; the LBC Game Thread thinks it really was a Russian water-tentacle at 7. Need Tickets? Seats starting at $7 via TiqIQ./
Did you know:
- Florida has won three straight games four times on nine attempts in 2011-12/
Tuesday’s Organizational News:
- F Marco Sturm and D Tyson Strachan were last night's healthy scratches
- Panthers are bringing some NHL love to San Antonio in September
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