Roblogg’s Panthers Portal

Having had a holiday from hockey I now feel ready to dig in to and continue this hockey blog about the Florida Panthers. It’s been a busy time for the Cats and the Assistant General Manager Randy Sexton. After Jacques Martin skipped the ship, to take up the Head Coaching job with the Habs, Sexton has been left with a real tangled mess to try to sort out. So let’s sum up and take a look at what moves he has done so far:

May 29th: Panthers sign G Alexander Sálak

Before Jacques signed off with the Panthers he made a move for, and signed, goalie prospect Alexander Sálak from TPS Turku of the Finnish League. The 22-year old goalie was signed to an entry level contract. The previously undrafted prospect played 53 games last season for TPS, posting a 2.40 GAA and .923 save percentage.

June: Panthers Development Camp in Toronto

One of Randy Sexton’s first priorities, when stepping in to Martin’s shoes, was to talk to the agents of restricted and unrestricted free agents Bouwmeester and Booth. While those attempts may have stolen most of the pundits’ attention, Randy also took time to visit the Panthers’ Development Camp – held in Toronto, Canada. He was quoted as expressing himself as very impressed with a trio of youngsters: Michal Repik, Keaton Ellerby and Michael Frolik. Whilst Frolik has already burst through the NHL scene, Sexton’s comments could also be seen as foreboding the imminent breakthrough of Repik and Ellerby on the big scene as well. Later Sexton also mentioned that D Jason Garrison could be ready to push for a place in the Panthers’ squad.

June 19th: Steven Reinprecht signed to 3-year deal

Randy Sexton’s first major move was for pending UFA Steven Reinprecht of the Phoenix Coyotes. The Panthers gave away the rights to Stefan Meyer, who was one of the leading scorers in Florida’s Rochester farm team last season, and in return received the exclusive negotiating rights to the veteran center Reinprecht. Steven was then quickly tied to a 3-year deal. The 33-year old will bring a wealth of Stanley Cup experience after having tasted glory with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001. To the Panthers he also adds some competition for the center slots of the team. Described as a high character (was assistant captain in Phoenix) and hard working player, Sexton will be hoping that Steven can help the Cats win a few more face-offs while also injecting some speed into the team.

June 26th: NHL Entry Draft in Montreal; Day One

With the spectacle that is the Entry Draft underway in Montreal last Friday, people were expecting plenty of pending moves to be announced. However, with the notable exception of the blockbuster move of Chris Pronger to Philadelphia from Anaheim, it turned out to be a quiet occasion. Not even Jay Bouwmeester’s name was read by the commissioner – to most people’s surprise.

NY Islanders sealed John Tavares with their top pick and Tampa Bay sealed much needed blueline talent in the form of the giant puck moving Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman with the #2 pick. Matt Duchene went third; to his favorite team the Colorado Avalanche. These were of course the “Big Three” names of the draft and the selection of them went pretty much the way everyone had expected.

Expected to go higher in the draft was the talented puck moving Russian defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (Ranked #11). Many analysts projected him to go among the top ten and it must have come as quite a surprise to Randy Sexton that the talented defenseman was still around when it was time for the Panthers to pick at #14. Teams had been scared off Dmitry due to the “Russian factor”, that is the fear that a Russian player might leave for the KHL without compensation – now or in the future, but Sexton and chief scout Scott Luce knew a steal when they saw one and selected the defenseman with their first round pick (14th overall).

Scott’s verdict of Kulikov was summed up in four words: “Smart, driven, determined and passionate”. In addition to this, the player himself has been said his lifelong dream was to play in the NHL, and for a Russian to come to Florida to live and work – it surely is a dream move in more than one way. In fact, he might even be plying his trade here in South Florida this coming autumn already. Scott Luce at least seems to think he has that kind of immediate upside. At the very least he’ll be given a fair chance to make an immediate impact this coming season.

The last year Kulikov has been playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and won the Rookie of the Year Award after scoring 62 points (12 goals) for Drummondville. Drummondville’s assistant coach Danny Brooks said about Dmitry: “He could’ve made life easy and stayed in Yaroslavl Locomotiv and been a superstar in the KHL. But his dream is to play in the NHL and bring his family from Russia to North America….He’s a North American player who happens to have a Russian last name.”

June 27th: NHL Entry Draft in Montreal; Day Two

Jay Bouwmeester was finally put out of his misery here in South Florida and was traded to the Calgary Flames for their 3rd Round Pick in this year’s draft and the rights to pending UFA Jordan Leopold (D). Since then Bo has signed a 5-year deal with the Flames worth #6.68 million a year and he seems happy enough to be back in Alberta, Canada. The Cats has of yet, not been able to tie down Leopold to any deal, but are hoping Keith Ballard’s old collage buddy and golf partner – will want to partner Keith on the ice as well. We’ll see I guess…

As the actual day two of the draft got underway, the Panthers selected Drew Shore from the United States National Team Development Program. The 6-2, 200 pound center, was ranked at #28, and expected to go in the first round. But the Cats managed to nab him at #44 instead. The upside for Florida is that they get a solid, big center prospect; who also just happens to be American. This could be a very good steal by Sexton and Luce.

Thanks to the Bo trade the Cats also had a third round selection to make. With the #67 pick Florida grabbed C/RW Josh Birkholz from Fargo Force. The 6-1, 182 pound winger, is currently taking classes at the University of Minnesota and working out with Keith Ballard. It seems the Panthers may soon need to start paying Ballard some extra money for all the networking, on behalf of the organization, that he seems to be doing… Anyway, with Birkholz the Cats get another solid American prospect to swell to the current ranks.

Randy Sexton however felt the Panthers needed to further enlarge that contingent of prospects and moved to secure Los Angeles’ 4th (#107) and 5th (#138) Round selections in this year’s draft – in exchange for a 3rd Round pick in 2010.

With those picks the Panthers selected two more forwards; LW Garrett Wilson (#107), a gritty winger from Owen Sound, and C Wade Megan (#138), who’ll attend Boston University this spring – after graduating from a boarding school in Connecticut.

In between those picks, also in the fifth-round, the Cats selected C Corban Knight (#135), an offensive centerman that will attend the University of North Dakota this coming season – after having led all rookies in scoring in the Alberta Junior Hockey League this previous campaign.

Last, but not least, the Panthers selected 19-year old C Scott Timmins in the 6th Round (#165). Timmins is a player Coach Peter DeBoer knows well from his Kitchener days and scout Scott Luce believes the player is one to step up and turn pro immediately. Timmins is a good skater that won back-to-back Memorial Cups for Kitchener and Windsor.

June 30th: The Day before Free Agency

With the onset of free agency the Panthers organization, and Assistant (now inter-rim) GM Randy Sexton in particular, are by necessity going to be very active. It started on the 29th already as C Brett McLean was placed on unconditional waivers. Brett had a miserable season last year and his $1.7 million contract is now up in the air. Question is: If no one takes McLean on waivers; will his contract be bought out? In such case the Panthers would be on the hook for two-thirds of the remaining amount of the deal.

Janis Spukts, the Latvian center that played in Rochester last year, went public with his frustrations and has now been released to play in Europe instead. Other current Rochester players that were pending RFA’s and have not been handed any offers so far include: Drew Larman, Tanner Glass, Franklin MacDonald and David Shantz. Current Panthers player Steve Eminger, acquired on last trade deadline, hasn’t either been offered any qualifying deal.

Sexton however admits that he’d like to re-sign a couple of these players, including Glass and Eminger, but didn’t want to sign them before free agency. In Steve’s case it is due to the fact that he played so many games with the Lightning last season that his qualifying salary would be too juicy for Florida. Instead they are willing to take their chances with him as a pending free agent.

Two pending RFA players that have been offered qualifying offers are Panthers star David Booth and prospect David Brine. Booth will be up for a considerable pay-rise and has expressed his willingness to sign a long-term deal with the organization. And since the departure of Bouwmeester; he is now set to be the face of the franchise and a deal should be able to be sorted out before long.

Of the pending UFA’s Richard Zednik has already signed a deal that will take him to Russia’s KHL next season, whilst Nick Boynton is set to be released. Nick has a big contract and since his falling-out with Coach DeBoer has not been seen as a player with a future within the organization.

Of the other free agents that Sexton has expressed an interest in re-signing, we find veterans such as Karlis Skrastins, Ville Peltonen and Radek Dvorak. Whether or not this trio of players will be re-signed for next season – will largely come down to what their wage demands will be. It will perhaps also depend on whether the Panthers are able to compete for the signatures of any quality free agents available elsewhere. Likely is that one or two of these players will return to the fold next season; seeing as they all have been instrumental in Florida’s largely successful penalty-kill unit this previous campaign and seem settled in the area.

A couple of other players that will be UFA’s are Anthony Stewart, after he was not handed any qualifying offer and Craig Anderson. It seems unlikely either will re-sign with the Panthers, but it’s still a possibility for both. Anthony didn’t develop in the way the organization had hoped and may need to find pastures new for the coming campaign. In Craig’s case the opposite is true and he now feels ready for a starting gig in net and with Vokoun still with the Cats – he won’t get that here. If he fails to land that move however; then he may consider re-signing for Florida, but it seems very unlikely at the moment.

It will be an interesting next few days and much of the suspense will be to see what Randy Sexton and the Panthers do about their free agents and whether or not they can compete on the market for the plentiful plethora of skilled free agents available. It also remains to be seen if Randy is given the confidence to be take the reigns full time as GM – or if a new face will be brought in for the job. What happens over the next week is likely to settle both those questions…

So the Florida Panthers won the game in Philly yesterday… *yawn*… What is it about these Cats anyway? What is their problem? How come they lose the most important games and then win the one’s no one expects them to have a chance of winning?

I mean, it’s great that they beat the Flyers and finally got two points on the board, but where was this defensive display when we really needed it? Against Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Carolina – these were the games we needed to win!

Again the Panthers show that there is a plentitude of resiliency in this team, yet somehow, they don’t seem to have the mental strength or wherewithal to close out games that really matter. It really is a mindboggling paradox, isn’t it?

Being best when it matters, or rather, the lack of that quality in Florida’s case; is what makes or breaks a team and their chance of success. Wednesday in Buffalo the Panthers broke – for the fifth time in a decisive crunch game – since the trade deadline. And that’s just not good enough!

That could equally be said about constantly rebounding from adversity too, winning in Philadelphia is great – but it won’t magically catapult us in to the playoffs.

Florida seem to always be a step behind the action and react to events unfolding, rather than being proactive and forcing the hand of lady luck, this is true for the timid Cats both on the ice and off it. Resiliency is a great trait to have in a hockey team, but what about consistency? Unless it’s consistently losing, as was the case for a long time (waaaay too long!) here in South Florida, it is actually quite necessary for success in any kind of league format.

And so it comes as no real surprise that we continue to trail the top eight with seven games to go on the regular season.

Meanwhile, as the Cats grounded the Flyers, the Canadiens took care of business against our fellow West Floridians. That means Montreal remain two points ahead of the Panthers in the standings; with one game in hand.

Considering that the Habs are rediscovering that long lost work ethic and the stars are starting to star; the future looks bleak indeed for the Cats. I reckon Florida need to win six of the seven remaining games – whilst praying for a French Canadian slip-up somewhere along the stretch.

That kind of feat is not only improbable, but low and behold, it will require a consistency level that the Panthers so far have not shown themselves capable of this season. So whilst beating the Flyers is always nice, especially in their own building, you’ll have to excuse this punter for being skeptical of Florida’s distant playoff hopes.

I think we had a great chance, but spurned it – over and over – and that the final straw, when we summarize the season, came in Buffalo. Yet, I hope I’m wrong. I just don’t think so…
What is your opinion:

Is it still realistic to hope for a playoff in South Florida?

And so, a couple of notes from last night’s game:

Craig Anderson was back in goal, and as usually is the case when called upon; he did a good job. Yet, the 40 saves he made were, with the exception of one or two, not of top-notch-quality. So it isn’t really reason enough to get all carried away just yet. The Florida Panthers website and coach Peter DeBoer will of course make a big deal of the number of saves, but they both have ulterior motives for that.

The Panthers franchise will grip at any straw of playoff hope and emerging heroes; as they are in the business of building hype and selling tickets. Meanwhile, Peter DeBoer’s recent criticism of Tomas Vokoun has put the Head Coach himself under the microscope: Is he really the man for the job? Can you treat a seasoned professional the same way you would a developing junior?

I remain skeptical to that last question, whilst still positive about the first, but fact is that Vokoun needed a break and Anderson fully deserved the chance to show his metal – at this time of the season.

All teams need to rotate their goaltenders to some extent, and it was long overdue that Tomas got a break from the heavy duty which it is to be guarding the Panthers’ net. After all, no other team in the NHL let the opposing teams shoot as much – and as unhindered – as the Cats do. Although; yesterday the defenders and forwards did actually step up to relieve the goalie by making manifold game-saving blocks.

Craig Anderson finally got another chance between the pipes against the Flyers and did well when facing 42 shots.

Brett McLean and his fourth line combinations continued to produce the goods. If only we had four lines working as hard as this line does every night… No matter who’s playing here, they always seem to do a good shift. The same can’t be said about the inconsistent top two lines. Some nights they have it in bunches and other nights they virtually disappear from the action altogether.

I’ve been critical of Brett McLean at times, especially in the beginning of season and at the turn of the New Year. But, to his credit, he has kept battling through adversity and is now starting to come up big down the stretch. Yesterday he scored in his second consecutive game and got the match-winner in the third period. It seems Brett thrives in the gritty run-in hockey style of play and is feeling more at home in the current playoff climate.

Shame that that isn’t the case with many others on the roster….

Trio in focus. Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton and Brett McLean come to Vokoun's rescue and clear the puck vs. the Carolina Hurricanes. This trio has been stellar of late, unfortunately that can't be said about the rest of the team.

Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton just love playing together, don’t they! Bench Boynton and Ballard suddenly looks like a ghost of his former self. Pair them together and magical – hard hitting and productive – aggressive hockey ensues. It’s easy to see why Keith enjoys the company of Nick too. Just take the incident in the first period in Philly, when Ballard made a spectacular and clean hip-check on the hot-blooded Scott Hartnell of the Flyers.

The incensed and cowardly Hartnell attacked Ballard, who was down on the ice, and started pounding him. Guess who lead the cavalry and came charging in to his blood brother’s rescue — well, it was Nick of course!

Boynton looked like he would move mountains in his effort to free Ballard from underneath Scott’s pusillanimous assault. Nick took four minutes of penalties as he macheted his way through the Flyers’ ranks, but that is more a sign of the horrendous refereeing in this match than a chip off Boynton’s shoulders, and he made sure Keith could get up from underneath the melee and continue the game unscathed.

Ballard and Boynton where, by a mile, the best and strongest Floridian defensive pairing on the night – as they often are. Keith continued his punishing hits on the Flyers forwards and both got assists on stinging point shots that they took – when joining the rush and attacking the opposing net. The fact that Boynton has not been playing much since his run-in with Peter DeBoer, is probably a big reason behind why the Cats have been so timid of late.

It is, unfortunately, however you twist it and turn it, a sign of very poor coaching.

Hopefully DeBoer has learned his lesson and will keep Boynton in for the remainder of games and won’t continue to make the same dire man-management decisions regarding Tomas Vokoun too. In fact, if DeBoer is so desperate to find scapegoats – maybe he should take a long hard look in the mirror – and realize – once and for all; that this is not the juniors and you can’t treat seasoned veterans like they are novices to the game.

It’s about time the Panthers started to capitalize on a very favorable schedule. All through February up to the deadline they had a terrible schedule; being pitted against all the top teams – while those teams were still motivated to win their games. Yet, it is ironic that when the tide finally turned, so did Florida’s on-ice fortunes – they took a nosedive in the wrong direction…

Since the trade deadline the Cats have been in action 5 times, of which 3 games were against direct playoff rivals, and they only managed to pick up 4 out of a possible 10 points. That’s not only below .500, but worse is that in those three crunch playoff-type-games, Florida picked up 1 out of a possible 6 points. And since losing to direct rivals has a dual effect, not only do we lose two points – but the rivals gain two points, it’s actually more like losing 10 decisive playoff points.

The game versus Tampa Bay on Saturday was actually a step forward in the right direction. There is no doubt that Florida deserved to win that game on effort alone and the team played some 50 solid minutes of hockey before being hit with a double sucker punch in the last seven. And as we know from experience the Panthers need to avoid a shootout at all costs, and when that was unavoidable; so was the defeat.

Of course there can be no sugarcoating; a last gasp collapse as against the Bolts is both inexcusable, but also more importantly, a terrible blow to our collective playoff hopes. It is now the second time in a row that the Cats have collapsed when two goals up entering the third (also against Pittsburgh) and then wound up losing the ensuing shootout.

This ill must be cured and so does the ailing power-play. The Panthers need to start moving more; feet, mind, stick and puck to have any success. Screen the goalie and drive the pucks on goal for deflections or rebounds; it’s really not that hard – it’s just takes a lot of effort!

Getting Bryan McCabe back to the line-up will surely help a lot in this respect and he’s penned in for a performance against the Caps tonight. Question is who’ll be the healthy scratch amongst the back six?

My guess is Nick Boynton, despite him being our – quite possibly – best defender since his return to the line-up three games ago. Having Rostislav Olesz back amid the forwards is also a healthy sign and it was good seeing him being physical against the Lightning on Saturday after such a long time off from hockey due to his hernia surgery. With some more games under his belt, he should be able to help contribute on the top lines if needed. Meanwhile, Nathan Horton won’t be back on this current home stand and it remains uncertain when he’ll be up to playing again.

So, looking ahead at this current home-stand, we face Washington tonight, Toronto on Thursday, Columbus on Saturday and then that vital game versus Carolina next Monday. Then follows a three game road trip to Buffalo, Philadelphia and Dallas – before returning home.

With the playoff race being as tight as it is, I think it’s a fair assessment that the Panthers should need to collect at least 7 point from this current five game home-stand. That means we would need to win 3 out of the next 4 games. That certainly doesn’t seem impossible, but if we lose tonight that will obviously be all the more difficult. Hence, tonight’s game is a very important one for Florida!

Good news is that it’s not only the Cats that have been stumbling of late. Despite only picking up a point over the weekend we still didn’t lose pace with our playoff rivals; although both the Rangers and Penguins picked up W’s on Monday. Washington meanwhile seems to be in a day-to-day based form, losing yesterday in Atlanta, 1-5, after winning their previous three games.

In that fixture, the stellar offensive defenseman Mike Green was out with the flu, Jose Theodore in goal had a torrid game and was hooked after letting in four goals. Rookie netminder Simeon Varlamov got the chance for the remainder of the game and made four saves and let one in. He’s expected to get the nod today in South Florida.

Superstar Alex Ovechkin meanwhile was in search of his 50th goal of the season, but was outshone by Atlanta’s goalie Kari Lehtonen – who made 49 saves – of which 10 were on shots from Ovechkin. Alex was so furious after the game he refused to talk to reporters.

The win was all the more extraordinary for the Thrashers as they did it without their captain Ilya Kovalchuk, who missed his second straight game with an undisclosed upper body injury. Atlanta got a franchise high six consecutive victories with this latest triumph and now make sure a pumped up Capitals team will be coming to South Florida in search of revenge… Gee, thanks Thrashers!

Yet, having beaten the Caps 6-2 on their own home ice in the previous meeting, that was always going to be the case anyway.

The Panthers need only worry about themselves and their own effort. If they play to full ability, with heaps of desperation for measure, there is no reason to believe they can’t beat the Capital team again. It will however, require 60 minutes of hockey and hard work – not 40, 50, 55 or even 59 – 60! – get that Cats?

Prevailing in the playoff race is all about grit, hard work and determination – and the Panthers desperately need to clench those jaws and go for the jugular; to get back in from the chasing pack. Ninth is not good enough, not this year!

You have to be impressed by the hard skating, high level of work rate and commitment shown by both teams yesterday, in the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. Florida travelled to this crucial playoff-race game without two of its best and most influential players; Horton and McCabe, and yet continued to battle to the very end – to claim a point of the spoils.

This was playoff hockey as both teams put everything on the line in this riveting contest. Pittsburgh dominated the first and third periods. Sandwiched in-between was an outstanding second three-nothing period by the Panthers. Overall the visitors were badly outshot; 21-to-50, yet they carried a 3-1 lead going in to the third. And at this time it was the Penguins that were lucky to get back in to the game as they got a couple of fortunate bounces to tie the game at 3.

The officials also did the best they could to help the home team by taking 6 iffy penalty calls on the Panthers, while turning a blind eye on all Pittsburgh transgressions but two. I guess that’s what you get when you have rabid fans cheering for the home side – and that famous seventh man in the stands made a big difference on this night. From a Florida perspective we can only hope things even out in the long run, as they always have a tendency to do, and that the crowd in Sunrise will rise to the challenge and lend a helping hand to Cats the when taking on cross-state rivals Tampa Bay on Saturday.

The ref's liked what they saw in Pittsburgh and awarded the home team plenty of iffy man-advantages. Here a Penguin gets a penalty call in the previous game in Sunrise.

The home side started the match in a furious tempo and left the first period with a one-nothing lead (Evgeni Malkin scoring a nice backhanded goal in to the top shelf, from just outside of the crease, 18:31 in to the contest). Perhaps it lulled the Penguins’ stars in to a false sense of security and the Panthers were quick to take advantage in the second period.

Nick Boynton, back in the line-up after five games on the sidelines, shot an uncharacteristically well-placed wristshot-sledgehammer in to Marc-Andre Fleury’s top hand – right corner – to equalize the score. Nick wasn’t satisfied yet however and wanted more. Fed by Cory Stillman behind the net, Boynton loaded another shot from the point. Fleury saved this slapshot, but Kamil Kreps was in front of the goal, digging up the rebound and squeezing it in.

Although it was Brett McLean that was given the task to step in for the injured Nathan Horton, in his first line center position, it was Kreps that stole the show with his aggressive, gritty performance – earning him plenty of ice-time in reward.

Kamil Kreps was on the fly against the Penguins, scoring a goal and putting in an aggressive all-round performance that earned him some extra icetime. Here in the home game a week ago.

Keith Ballard then stepped up at the end of the second period and deflected home a cross-crease shot/pass from Ville Peltonen, to make it 3-1. But, like Boynton said in the interval “the game’s not over yet” and the Penguins came out with a fire in their belly for the third period. Jordan Staal capped an impressive overall performance by volleying home the 2-3 goal; only 2:20 in to the third phase of the contest.

The Pens kept up their unrelenting pressure on an outstanding Tomas Vokoun in the Panther goal and soon got the deserved equalizer; courtesy of Captain Sidney Crosby and a lucky bounce that had the puck deflecting off the post and then hitting Vokoun’s sprawling legs – deflecting back in to the Florida net.

Tomas wasn’t to blame for that goal, but nonetheless redeemed it by making a fantastic highlight-reel save, only moments later; when flinging himself through the air to make an incredible save on an open net chance. It was an arms-outstretched save that would have made any soccer goalie proud. Vokie now locked up his goal, threw away the keys and finished the game with no less than 47 saves to his name.

Tomas saw a lot of action in front of his net in Pittsburgh and was forced to make 47 stops. Here Campbell and Crosby are chasing the puck in front of Vokoun, with Skrastins trailing, in the previous match-up at the B.A.C.

The high amount of shots produced by Pittsburgh in this game (50!), and the previous one against the Panthers at the Bank Atlantic Center, is a direct result of new coach Dan Bylsma and his attack mined hockey-philosophy, as defender Sergei Gonchar described after the game: “We are spending a lot of time in their offensive zone. […] We made a goal for ourselves to shoot the puck as much as we can. We take shots and those shots are creating lots of scoring chances.”

It payed off in the third period as the game was tied at three, and in the ensuing shootout the Penguins proved far superior; scoring on two of three attempts (Letang and Malkin scored, Crosby missed), while the Cats tamely missed both their chances (Zednik and Weiss). Especially with Horton out of the line-up, Florida simply misses the skilled flair-players to be able to compete in a shootout scenario.

Hence, the Panthers should be pleased they came away with a point from a very difficult away game, but yes, one does get greedy and want both – as Florida coach Pete DeBoer admitted after this thriller of a game: "It’s a big point this time of the year, but we had the opportunity to get two and you get greedy this time of the year."

Yet, there is another opportunity waiting just around the corner – from which to take two points…

Next up is a visit to Buffalo for another crucial playoff-race game. Keith Ballard, I think it was, said it well when saying something to the effect of: “Each and every ‘next game’ is the biggest game of the season, this time of year.” So it seems when a mere point can throw a team up or tumbling down in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Sabres lost yesterday 2-5 against the Philadelphia Flyers, who on a different note look set for that 4th spot in the Conference, and the home side will consequently view the match against the Panthers as a must win game. Hence, if we manage to beat Buffalo (in regulation time) they may very well fall out of the playoff race; which not only means two vital points for the Cats, but also one less opponent to worry about down the stretch.

Sure the Sabres could still recover, as there are plenty of games left to be played, but their confidence would surely be severely ruptured by losing on home ice against Florida at this crucial part of the season. Not to mention that they are already three points behind the pack and would thus risk being five points to the rear of a playoff spot.

Nevertheless, Thursday’s game does loom large ahead with additional importance for both clubs. It’s just a shame that local TV, FSN Florida, won’t be showing the game….