Roblogg’s Panthers Portal

Yes, the Chicago Blackhawks are coming to town and it will be a rare sight for Panthers fans to see the skills of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Brent Seabrook – and all the other highly skilled Chicago youths – on display. Next year the match-up between the two teams will take place in Helsinki, Finland, so if you want to see the Cats vs. the Hawks live – you’d better get out to the Bank Atlantic Center tonight, or you’ll have a long wait to the next opportunity…

It had been rumored for quite some time that next year’s game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Florida Panthers would take place in Europe. At first it was thought the game would take place in the Czech Republic; and considering the amount of Czech players with the Panthers – that would perhaps have made more sense, but now it is official that the game will take place in Finland’s capital Helsinki instead. Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues meanwhile, will play a regular season game in neighboring Sweden.

It will mark the first time the Panthers play outside of North America. The Blackhawks on the other hand played an exhibition game at Wembley Stadium in London, England, back in 1992 versus the Montreal Canadiens.

There is a sense of excitement among the comments from Florida’s staff and players alike about the prospect of playing in Europe, but no one is more excited than the Cats’ veteran Finn – Ville Peltonen – who said on Panthers’ website:

“They will pack the stadium and there will be a buzz around the city. They’ve been waiting for a game, a regular-season game, to be played where there are points on the line. It will be totally different than just playing an exhibition game. Fans will appreciate what the NHL is doing.”

This will be an incentive as great as any for Ville to decide to keep on playing beyond this season and sign a new deal with the Panthers, one would think. He is currently the only Finnish player in the squad and one of several UFA’s at season’s end.

Ville Peltonen (18) telling Radek Dvorak (14) about the sights and sounds in his native Helsinki, Finland?

So, in other words, if you want to see the Panthers vs. Blackhawks you’d better get out to Sunrise for tonight’s match-up. Chicago will come to the Bank Atlantic Center brimming with confidence after beating Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 and winning seven of their last ten games. They are currently 4th in the Western Conference with 72 points in 55 games.

The Blackhawks placed C Patrick Sharp and G Nicolai Khabibulin on IR yesterday. Sharp leads the Hawks in goals, 23, while Khabibulin leads them in wins, 17 and a .924 save percentage. They will be missed for the game against the Panthers, but Chicago are blessed with plenty of depth and Cristobal Huet will take the goalie spot as his; while Jonathan Toews (20), Patrick Kane (18), Martin Havlat (19) and rookie Kris Versteeg (16) all have the ability to cause havoc around the crease. In fact, Chicago has 10 players with more than 25 points on the season – with sophomore Kane leading the way with 51 points.

Chicago has established themselves as a top team in the NHL again this season after several years in the doldrums. They have a young and energetic team, a quick and high scoring defense and very skilful forwards that can outmaneuver any team on their day.

The Panthers will have their work cut out, but if they can beat the New Jersey Devils the way they did on Tuesday; they can certainly defeat the Blackhawks also. Either way, this is an eagerly anticipated game that no true South Floridian hockey fantast would miss for the world…

I certainly, literally, can’t wait!!

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