When the Avalanche and Panthers last met, Florida defenseman Keith Ballard was in the midst of a bizarre streak of accidentally injuring players – his own as well as the opposition – by knocking former Cat Craig Anderson from a December 2nd game in Sunrise. The Panthers held on to beat backup Peter Budaj 5-4 on a Stephen Weiss goal in the shootout. Strange evening.
Couple of quick notes: Anderson and Tomas Vokoun are the starters. The Cats have not been to Denver’s Pepsi Center since February of 2007 (a 5-4 OT FLA loss). Michal Repik will replace injured winger Byron Bitz. Former Panthers defenseman Ruslan Salei is out (torso injury). FLA has won three in a row; looked at another way, they have not lost since last week’s NHL trade deadline. Streaks: Bryan McCabe – 10 points (5 games), Steven Reinprecht – 3 points (3), Cory Stillman – 5 points (4), Michael Frolik – 4 goals (3).
Be sure to check out our pals at Mile High Hockey for their take on this one. The LBC Live Game Forum will fire up around 8pm EST or so (remember…9pm puck drop).
Floor’s yours, guys and gals…