Panthers and McCabe Come Back to Haunt Toronto
It was scenes of undulating jubilation on the faces of the Florida players as they clinched the winner and no one was happier than the guy at the bottom of the pile; Bryan McCabe.
A thrilling game came to an exhilarating end for the ex-Maple Leaf McCabe, who quieted the boo boys with an overall excellent display and the game winning goal in OT. Skating swiftly down the ice he joined the goalmouth-rush, was fed the puck from Nathan Horton and made no mistake; a vicious slapshot that trickled by the Toronto keeper Vesa Toskala and gave the Panthers two invaluable points and the eighth spot in the Conference.
It started as the last game ended. The Florida players were not on top of their game and rather the Maple Leafs stepped up theirs. Former Panther Nicklas Hagman got the first goal, a highlight reel slalom run from the right hand corner. He sidestepped challenges from Horton, Cullimore, Bouwmeester and the pokecheck from Anderson, before slotting the puck home in an open net. No matter what team you were rooting for – it had to be admitted – that that was a very very pretty goal!
Gregory Campbell made it a consecutive goal scoring night as he attacked the goalmouth, and on a Peltonen pass from behind the net he connected to tie the game at one. Unfortunately for the Cats they let up another goal just before the period buzzer, this time from Alexei Ponikarovsky who found some space beneath Craig Anderson’s stacked pads.
Craig Anderson was called upon today to make a rare appearance after David Booth’s flu apparently had spread also to No.1 goalie Tomas Vokoun. Poor Tomas looked absolutely miserable on the bench and was no doubt praying Anderson wouldn’t get injured, so at the very least he wouldn’t have to play competitive Hockey in his state, sitting in a freezing stadium was no doubt bad enough. Craig on the other hand had not played for quite some while and looked a bit rusty at times early on in the contest, but later in the match he’d be the one that kept Panthers in the game when it looked like they were down and out.
It was tough luck to let in a goal so late in the first period, but it was undoubtedly a well deserved lead that the Maple Leafs took with them to the dressing room. The unfortunate (in this case) consequence of late scorings is usually that it affects the mental balance of the game and more often than not the team that got the late goal – score another when the next period commences. This was no exception to that rule. Nick Antropov handed Toronto the 3-1 advantage by scoring on an Anderson rebound early in the second.
Panthers now stepped up their game and pressed back the home side in search of that life-giving goal but, even though they rattled the Leafs at times, they could not shake them enough to get that goal. Especially Nick Tarnasky, getting a one-punch knockout on Toronto bad guy May, and Anthony Stewart piled on the pressure going forward and hitting the defenders. Yet, the killer instinct was lacking in this period and Toronto came away with the two goal lead.
The statistics don’t read too well when Florida are down two goals entering the third period. The Cats have made some spectacular comebacks to claim a share of the spoils, but not taken two points – up until this point in the season. That was about to change.
However, as the Panthers started to throw caution to the wind, the Maple Leafs started to look increasingly dangerous on the breakaways and it would take a couple of spectacular saves from Anderson to deny the home team. Florida also cashed in on some luck as one Toronto puck somehow failed to cross the entire goal line before being knocked away by a Cullimore skate. Ensuing reviews in slow motion showed that the puck crossed most of the line – but the entire puck wasn’t over… No goal!!
But as the saying goes; you deserve your own luck. And the Panthers, while looking flat in front of goal, were working very hard in the second half of the game. It was rewarded when Cory Stillman used some of that considerable experience and vision to find Stephen Weiss driving at the net. It was a wonderful cross-ice feed and Weiss needed only to put the stick to puck and the game was there for the taking; 2-3.
The tying goal would however take its sweet little time and with only 1:25 on the clock, Toronto finally succumbed to the pressure and took its first penalty of the evening. Alexei Ponikarovsky took a needless boarding penalty, Pete DeBoer pulled Anderson, and it was 6on4 for the remainder of the penalty. An opportunity too good to pass on and the Florida power-play, which was 0for6 against the Islanders, quickly clicked and put the Maple Leafs to the sword: With 0:53 remaining Campbell found Stillman at the back post and the winger raked in the all-important leveler.
Going in to overtime the momentum was firmly with the Cats and it was here that Bryan McCabe stepped forward to haunt his old club; scoring the winner 3:30 in to the OT.
Overall it was a lucky escape for the Panthers, they had put themselves in a tough spot by not working hard enough in the first half of the game, but in the second half they created their own luck and with gritty determination tied the game late and finally got an overtime win.
But what a breathtaking Hockey spectacle it was for the Florida fans watching! From despair to ecstasy and the playoff dreams resurfaces again on cloud nine. With a little help from other teams in the league, the Panthers are in eighth spot and looking up!
