Roblogg’s Panthers Portal

The Panthers have had a bad habit of starting slow sometimes in the first period and once again this came to haunt them. Perhaps the many comebacks by the Cats have caused a failure amongst the players to highlight the importance of getting a good start in games. Maybe there is a chirpy sense of non-urgency within the Florida ranks from game to game; an attitude of “we’ll ware them down eventually” looming in the locker room. Well, that may work against a Toronto team, currently in rebuilding mode, but against the top teams of the league it backfires every time; it’s practically guaranteed.

And make no doubt; the Chicago Blackhawks is one of the best teams in the NHL. They have all the qualities and attributes to be successful. They are hungry and ambitious, skilful, speedy, tough and resilient. It’s a youthful side that plays with fervor and raw enthusiasm; they have two excellent goaltenders, but perhaps lack a little veteran leadership to truly be a contender – already this season that is. But experience will soon start adding up and this Hawks team is back at the top to stay.

Florida got the opportunity to witness Chicago’s skill and speed first hand yesterday; as the Blackhawks stripped down the Panthers with four unanswered goals. It wasn’t however, a one-sided affair from start to finish. The Hawks got the jump on the game and took the lead mere minutes in to the contest as Andrew Ladd was left alone in the crease to jab at Tomas Vokoun and score the opening goal after 3 minutes of play.

Tomas Vokoun coming up big against Troy Brouwers power-play screen.

The Panthers started to get its wobbly legs skating after half the period played and especially the energy line of McLean – Kreps – Stewart created some good goalscoring opportunities. However, someone needs to take the time to teach Anthony Stewart how to shoot. He plays with tremendous speed and power, but while he fashions several opportunities for himself every game – he just can’t put them away (Stewart has 2 goals in 48 games so far).

Cristobal Huet in the visiting mesh moreover looked composed from the get-go and denied any-and-all attempts from the Florida shooters. Tomas Vokoun meanwhile, was having a stellar night too; keeping the Panthers in the game when they perhaps should have been a couple of goals down.

Ville Peltonen tries to find a way past Cristobal Huet in the Chicago Blackhawks goal.

Things didn’t improve radically in the second period as the Panthers took unnecessary penalties and were on the ropes several times during the ensuing power-plays. Karlis Skrastin’s continued his sacrificing defensive play in this game and stopped a Troy Brower breakaway. The successful penalty kills did help the Cats regain some confidence and they ended up getting 11 shots on goal, compared to the Blackhawks’ 7 in the period (overall they were outshot 31 to 42). David Booth also had a glorious opportunity to tie the game up at one; but Huet would have none of that.

David Booth attacking the net only to be denied by the fantastic Cristobal Huet

In the first half of the third period, Tomas Vokoun kept the dream alive with a string of saves – all the while the Panthers weren’t given any breaks by the officials, who made some dubious calls to gift the Blackhawks the chance to bury this game one and for all on the man-advantage. The Hawks seemed to have done just that 8:32 in to the final period, when Ben Eager was presented with a bounce that gifted him some net to aim at – and he made no mistake.

The Cats landed on their feet however and Nathan Horton was soon off to the races and found himself alone with the netminder; only to be denied by Cristobal Huet – who made two highlight-reel saves on Horton’s goalward attempts – to keep the 2 goal cushion intact for the visitors.

The saves came to break the backs of the Panthers who seemed to give up hope of ever beating the amazing Cristobal. And when Head Coach Pete DeBoer made the frenzied call to pull the goaltender – with four minutes still left on the clock – Florida’s number was truly written on the wall. Chicago captain Jonathan Toews thanked DeBoer for the act of desperation and 10 seconds after the goalie withdrawal, calmly slotted home the Blackhawks third of the game.

Ben Eager then doubled his tally with a minute to go – beating Vokoun to the top shelf with a terrific wrist shot. The game finished 4-0, but by now most of the fans had already packed up and gone home.

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!!

The Florida Panthers players, staff and fans are in the midst of gearing up for an epic combat in Raleigh this evening. The eighth spot is up for grabs and whoever wins the contest will set themselves in pole position, as we enter a hectic and very thorny stretch of games here in February for the Cats and the other playoff hopefuls.

Neither combatants saw action last night, but there were skirmishes elsewhere with massive implications for the Eastern Conference playoff race. Let’s take a look at the results and standings to see what the repercussions are for Florida.

New York Islanders @ New Jersey Devils 2-4

The Islanders put up a good fight, especially their goaltender MacDonald saved any potential blushes with an impressive performance. However, the Devils proved too good for the New Yorkers and especially Langenbrunner and Parise continued their goalscoring ways with two each; winning the game for New Jersey 4-2.

This shouldn’t have too much bearing on Florida as New Jersey look far too classy to ever get involved in the playoff race, they are more comfortable up-front among the Divisional leaders.

Washington Capitals @ New York Rangers 4-5 SO

The big story here was that Washington defenseman Mike Green continued scoring (2) to tie the record consecutive goals scored for a defenseman in the league. Nonetheless it proved not to be enough for the Caps as the Rangers – for the ninth time this season – prevailed in the shootout. If they ever do make the playoffs they owe a debt of gratitude to goalie Lundqvist who keeps winnings those shootout challenges for his team. Another positive for Rangers was that they finally managed to score some goals(!)

Disappointing for the Cats as we would have hoped a dejected Rangers side would show up here in Sunrise tomorrow and that we then would be able to rise past them in the standings. Yet, by getting another shootout win in New York, it should see their confidence levels markedly increase and it will now be another tough game for the Panthers. No one seriously doubts at this moment in time that Washington won’t win the Southeast Division and qualify for the playoffs, but they can nonetheless not afford to start relaxing quite yet.

Chicago Blackhawks @ Atlanta Thrashers 3-1

The Atlanta Thrashers are of course dead and buried as far as the playoffs are concerned, but they did put up a massive effort against the Hawks and only an stupendous string of saves from Khabibulin could stop them from winning this game. Chicago are not as comfortable away from home, but have now strung together some nice victories on this latest 8 game road trip they’ve been on.

Blackhawks will grace the Bank Atlantic Center ice next Thursday, and looking at this result it will be a tough game for the Panthers. They are young, hungry and aggressive – it will certainly be a good test for Florida to see how well we match-up with the better Western teams. As for Atlanta the best they can wish for at the moment is getting that No.1 draft pick this summer…

Ottawa Senators @ Buffalo Sabres 3-1

The Sabres were let down by their bungling power-play and could not get enough pressure on the Ottawa net to score plural goals and win this game. The Senators meanwhile had a good game as their top-line was in the mood to play. That is not always the case, but when they are – Ottawa win more often than not. Shame for them it happens at a point in the season when it doesn’t really mean that much; the playoffs remains firmly out of the Senators reach.

Ottawa win one for the books and Panthers fans will be delighted. This means we are merely two points behind the Sabres with two games in hand! Also, it must be mentioned, the loss of top-scorer Vanek for several weeks will be a very tough blow to Buffalo’s hopes of making the post-season. But then again that is the risk you take as a club if you are too dependent on one or a couple of players to perform. Maybe Ottawa should take some notes here…

San Jose Sharks @ Pittsburgh Penguins 1-2 SO

After affirming their Stanley Cup credentials against Boston (5-2), the Sharks came up empty handed against a more desperate Penguins side. It was a goalie match-up that went all the way to a shootout; were Crosby scored the winner on Sharks goaltender Boucher. Both netminders had spectacular games between the pipes, but it was Fleury that claimed the bragging rights at the end of the tiebreaker.

Not good for Florida as the Sharks again let us down badly. They have now in short time lost both against Carolina and Pittsburgh and San Jose have certainly not been helping us in the playoff-scramble one bit. (Maybe it is there revenge on us for beating them earlier in the season…) Anyway, Pittsburgh win and put themselves within a point of the Panthers, but with more games played. The Penguins may prove to be a difficult team to shake off; which makes it all the more important to beat Carolina and catch up with Buffalo tonight.

Montréal Canadiens @ Edmonton Oilers 2-7

Montreal’s woeful trip to the Northwestern parts of Canada continued with another hammering; this time against Edmonton. In truth the Oilers just had one of those days were all the pucks bounced their way and the Canadiens couldn’t get any breaks whatsoever (especially not the poor goaltender Price). Nonetheless a disturbing loss if you are a Montreal fan – hoping for centennial celebrations at the end of this year. The Oilers meanwhile put themselves back in to the playoff contention in the West with this win.

Losing seven straight games on the road is not the way to get yourself in to the playoffs, and indeed, Montreal may now be on the way of not only getting embroiled in the playoff race – but also slide down to the wrong side of the standings if nothing changes dramatically and soon. This is good news for the Panthers as it means we have another team locked in sight that we can catch up with – and pass – down the stretch.

It may be chilly in Chicago and snow a possibility for the upcoming Winter Classic, but a sense of real expectation and returning pride are warming the hearts of Hockey fans in “the Windy City”. The young braves of Chicago have discovered winning ways and don’t want to let go of that sensation. Yesterday’s victory over the Minnesota Wild gives the Blackhawks nine straight scalps. The win at the Xcel Energy Center ended 4-1 to the visitors and after the game Chicago Coach Joel Quenneville said: “You have to commend the guys on how committed and how diligent they are”.

Indeed, the Chicago players have shown themselves being not only talented, but also hard to break down and free scoring. There is a strong sense of team spirit in the Blackhawks dressing room and it is showing both on the ice and in the result column. Chicago is now only four points behind archrivals, and reigning Stanley Cup Champions, Detroit. The Blackhawks also have two games in hand on the Red Wings. This will undoubtedly make the much talked about Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, yet more anticipated.

Polls show that Chicago fans and neutrals alike, believe Chicago have a real chance to break double digits against Detroit, when it comes to maintaining their straight victory spell intact. They also show a belief that Detroit will end up behind Chicago at year’s end. The optimism isn’t without grounds, but I’m sure the Red Wings won’t want to surrender the crown without a real fight for it. The first round of greater importance will be played on Thursday. The winner will take two important points, bragging rights and real confidence of success – in to the new year.

The Blackhawks had, previous to yesterday’s game, won eight straight victories two times before; in December 1971 and January 1981. The club’s latest taste of success was in the early 90’s, but the team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1961. Indeed, with the talents coming through the Blackhawk ranks, it seems quite possible that Chicago might again witness a trophy laden early decade; in the 2010s. That’s assuming the Blackhawks can keep their emerging stars together.

Of course there isn’t anything stopping the team from making Stanley Cup headway before that point, the youngsters enthusiasm can carry a team a long way down that stretch. More realistically though; the Blackhawks might need more experience before achieving such a Cinderella run in to the playoffs. After all, they haven’t made the playoffs since an early exit in 2002 and no one knows how the players will respond to the added pressure of the games.

There is however more than one way to get experience in to the lines: Adding one or two seasoned professionals with leadership qualities and familiarity with Lord Stanley, might be the right medicine.

It was therefore not surprising to find the Blackhawks sniffing around free agent Mats Sundin this autumn. In the end he chose Vancouver instead, but there are other fish in the sea. Fellow Swede and former Blackhawk, Michael Nylander of Washington Capitals, is one that there has been much talk about being traded to Chicago. While he perhaps is not in the Sundin category of players, his familiarity with the team might make him a more viable option. Other trades have been mooted, most notably goaltender Nikolai Khabilbulin and pending free agent Martin Havlat. The problem is; when you have a winning team you don’t want to break the flow, by making interruptive trades either.

It is a tightrope of present and future considerations that Chicago must balance perfectly if they are to fulfill their potential, now or in the upcoming years. At the moment the imminent prospect of mounting achievements are great and optimism will continue to follow the young Blackhawks. It is a step by step ladder to success, and the next step could be taken on Thursday – by rising to the Winter Classic challenge – that Detroit, no doubt, will provide.